Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time
by Michael Perry

Book description from Goodreads:
Here the local vigilante is a farmer’s wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now — after a decade away — he has returned. Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy.

Why does the nominator think this would be a good book for the Campus Read?
This book is about a young man who grew up in a small northern town and went away to get an education. When he comes back to this town, he works as an EMT and the book delves into the relationship he has with the town, the people, what it is like to be an outsider and the fear, pain and stark reality of what it means to be a first responder. Ultimately the book gets the reader to think about what it means to be a part of a community.
The book explores education, healthcare, ethics, society, diversity all with humor and grace. It is a short read and cheap to buy (used to be a best seller) and we could very possibly get the author here to LSSU.