BY CASEY ROEPKE ’21

The beginning of this summer was shaped by the Trump administration’s family separation policy. As photographs of toddlers in cages, recordings of children crying for their parents and statements of utter inaction from elected officials flooded the news cycle, Mount Holyoke students sat down to read this year’s Common Read, “The Book of Unknown Americans.” Within its pages they found solace and its captivating characters and bittersweet moments were made to seem even more important by the real-world events happening in the U.S.