Appalachian State University’s Summer Reading Committee recently announced its selection for the 2012 school year.

Novella Carpenter’s Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer beat over 50 books suggested by faculty, students and staff of the committee.

“We have a very democratic process when deciding on the books,” Committee Chairman Emory Maiden said. “Our goal is, by the middle of April, to vote on all the books that are still on the top of our list to get down to our short list, which is composed of about four or five books.”

Coincidentally, the short list had a seemingly environmental theme this year.

Of the four books on the short list, Farm City was the best choice, Maiden said.

Carpenter said she was grateful her book was chosen.

“I feel so honored,” Carpenter said. “I love the idea of a freshman read, that students will be at their orientations and can look at each other and break the ice in the bathroom or whatever by saying ‘isn’t that girl Novella a nutball?’ I think the book will stimulate questions about food choices, race, sustainability, which are huge issues that young people grapple with.”

Farm City chronicles Carpenter’s experience starting a small farm in an overgrown lot next to her home in Oakland, Calif.

Carpenter began documenting her urban farming projects after she took a writing class with Food Rules author Michael Pollan, who encouraged her to write about her farm.

“I had so many stories to tell about what I had learned through farming in the city, so it made sense to write a book, to share the joy,” she said. 

Carpenter will present a slide show of her farm’s progression at convocation next semester.

“The big theme is use your resources wisely, make friends and allies and think about where your food comes from,” Carpenter said.

Both Carpenter and Maiden hope students and faculty will take advantage of Farm City as a tool to promote discussion about environmental issues they are faced with daily.

“All of us might be able to do something about sustainability,” Maiden said. “I think that frame cuts across so many of our practices. If you’re asking for something sustainable you are probably asking the right questions for this day and time and we want students to ask that question.”

Story: CATHERINE HAITHCOCK, Senior News Reporter