This book is quick to read and very thought-provoking. Many of my college students are first-generation, and all are first or second-year.

Unlike many books on pedagogy that leave you with very little advice on practical application, this book is full of ideas and which ones the author implements in her classes. She gives reasons why you might want to go one direction vs another. Many ideas are results of research study she performed that included first-year students at a public university and a private university, both of which make efforts to attract a diverse student population. She includes comments from students in the study about their experiences in college, with professors, specific classes, stress and time management, and making friends.

I did a lot of underlining and expect to be referring back to it often. She also provides week-by-week ideas that connect well with where you typically are in the semester and what students might be experiencing. I am gratified to see that I use many of her strategies already, just things that felt right for my personality, but I can see many others that will be great additions to my bag of tricks.

"Nothing links person to person like the frequent passage from hand to hand of a good book."

A wandering book -- the karma of literature!