With more and more colleges turning their attention to diversity and how they can promote it on their campus, colleges have turned to the common read program. “More than 300 colleges and universities in the United States now assign a single book to incoming freshmen to read over the summer; sometimes all students are required to do the reading. These assignments aren’t for academic credit. Rather, they are promoted as a way of building community, emphasizing values, and giving students some shared reference points beyond music and movies” [ (Wood) ]. The common read program is more than just promoting diversity, the books also teach students about what lies ahead for them as well as other tools useful for succeeding in their future. A large majority of the books chosen are nonfiction that is important for students to read. Nonfiction is a better choice over fiction because it a reality book that allows students to relate to the story. Not only does nonfiction help students associate with the differences of other cultures, it also assists students in learning. Nonfiction plays a vital role because it stimulates the mind, develops their background knowledge, and helps promote critical thinking for the student. Critical thinking is an excellent tool for group discussion settings since the student can typically relate to the story and share their point of view. Common read books create a common ground for students that facilitate these group discussions. These discussions also help open up and bridge barriers between students from different backgrounds. This is where the diversity promotion comes in to play. Through establishing a common ground, students can gain greater understanding of diversity. This is because each student within the group will relate to the reading but the difference is that no background is the same from one student to another. Students from different demographics learn from their peers about how one another related to the story and broaden their cultural understanding of someone else.