The program selects a different book as required reading for all incoming freshmen and also encourages residents and other MSU community members to read the book.

Boo is expected to speak on Aug. 26 at East Lansing High School and is scheduled to address the incoming freshman class Aug. 27 at Breslin Center.

“Behind the Beautiful Forevers” centers on the life of three families and a group of orphan boys living in a slum near Mumbai, India.

The slum sits strategically behind a billboard advertising floor tiles that stay “beautiful forever,” and Boo lived for three years among its residents, according to a release.

Incoming MSU freshman Jarrett Gorman, from Lake Orion High School in Lake Orion, Mich., said he plans to read the book this summer.

“I think that it’s a very interesting book, since we’re going into an atmosphere with a lot of different cultures,” he said.

MSU Director of Community Relations Ginny Haas said program coordinators tried to select a work that would appeal to both students and community members.

“It talks about a very important subject: … the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth,” she said.

A seven-member committee made up of both MSU and East Lansing community members reads more than 50 books every year before making its selection, said Ami Van Antwerp, communications coordinator for the city of East Lansing.

The book was published Feb. 7 and was No. 5 on The New York Times Bestseller List for hardcover nonfiction on Feb. 26.

“We immediately started reading it,” Van Antwerp said. “We’ve never picked a book that was quite this new.”

One Book, One Community literature sometimes examines diverse issues, an aspect Haas said reflects MSU’s global aspirations.

Participation has been strong among both the campus and community in past years, but Haas said the program has room to grow.

“We feel like we’ve had great buy-in on the campus,” she said.

“That’s always a really interesting way for us to open the academic year.”