Pat Buchanan has (at least) twice mocked Sonia Sotomayor for her “summer reading”:

BUCHANAN, June 12: Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that, to get up to speed on her English skills at Princeton, Sotomayor was advised to read children's classics and study basic grammar books during her summers. How do you graduate first in your class at Princeton if your summer reading consists of “Chicken Little” and “The Troll Under the Bridge”?

BUCHANAN, May 31: Well I, again in that Saturday piece, she went to Princeton. She graduated first in her class it said. But she herself said she read, basically classic children's books to read and learn the language and she read basic English grammars and she got help from tutors. I think that, I mean if you're, frankly if you're in college and you're working on Pinocchio or on the troll under the bridge, I don't think that's college work.

As I have previously explained, Buchanan is distorting the New York Times article, which does not indicate that Sotomayor's reading consisted of “Chicken Little.”

Here's proof that Buchanan's mockery is unfounded. In a November 7, 1996 speech (PDF) at Princeton, Sotomayor listed specific books:

I spent my summers at Princeton doing things most of my other classmates took for granted. I spent one summer vacation reading children's classics that I had missed in my prior education -- books like Alice in Wonderland, Huckleberry Finn, and Pride and Prejudice. My parents spoke Spanish, they didn't know about these books.

Pride and Prejudice isn't exactly Chicken Little. Let's see if Pat Buchanan drops this inaccurate talking point.