Winsor Teacher Book Recommendations
What Your Teachers Like to Read
Recommended US Summer Reading
Ms. Mauge recommends:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
From the author's website: "In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power. Censorship works not by blocking the flow of information, but rather by flooding people with disinformation and distractions. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century cuts through these muddy waters and confronts some of the most urgent questions on today’s global agenda."
Small Country by Gaël Faye
From the Barnes & Noble website: "A novel of extraordinary power and beauty, Small Country describes an end of innocence as seen through the eyes of a child caught in the maelstrom of history. Shot through with shadows and light, tragedy and humor, it is a stirring tribute not only to a dark chapter in Africa’s past, but also to the bright days that preceded it."
Ms. Callahan recommends:
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
Warsaw Orphan: A WWII Novel by Kelly Rimmer
Ms. Bravo recommends:
Temblor by Rosa Monteiro
Ms Bravo says, "It is feminist dystopian. It is usually describe in English as Fantasy/Science Fiction and Feminist Identity Politics." It is hard to find in English translation, so you'll have to read it in Spanish!!
Ms. DePalma recommends:
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
This has always stimulated my imagination--prompting me to look at things in a variety of ways.
Here is a summary from the web: "In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo―Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear."
Ms. Macaulay recommends:
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
"From the award-winning author of Station Eleven, an exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events–a massive Ponzi scheme collapse and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea."
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Mr. Brooks Hedstrom says:
This summer I plan to be reading the Disordered Cosmos, by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.
Ms. Hatcher recommends:
Tell the Wolves I Am Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
(Bookshop.org) “In this striking literary debut, Carol Rifka Brunt unfolds a moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don't know you've lost someone until you've found them....An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I'm Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.”
Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran (a former Latin teacher colleague of mine!)
(Bookshop.org) “For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents."
Ms. Parsley recommends:
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.
Ms. Beebe recommends:
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Tara Westover writes this story of her younger years in a difficult family in such a compelling way that it reads like a novel. Westover alternates between lovely descriptions of happy moments in their beautiful part of Idaho and scary scenes of accidents and cruelty, so as a reader, I would relax at times and appreciate something pretty or calming but then by the next page, I would be riveted by a dramatic scene, and feel tense and shocked. Back and forth, up and down, like a rollercoaster. The author is brutally honest and her own emotions vary - sometimes she thinks she is lucky and other times she thinks she's crazy (not sane), so as a reader, I was caught up in her thinking and wondering along with her.
The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn
This book is not a thriller nor does it involve a murder! The book is a true story about a woman who attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, and the title is a reference to chopping onions with a sharp knife so you cry less (from the oils released by chopping). The book is filled with scenes of Paris, the French language, the skills culinary students learn, and the kinds of "adventures" that happen in a culinary classroom. In one scene, Kathleen, the writer, drops her cooked duck on the floor and has to quickly scoop it up in time to plate it for the chef! Another time a chef completely dismisses her hours of cooking during a practical because she forgot to heat her plate before putting the food on it. And in another sort-of humorous scene, a classmate drops a live lobster and runs after it with her cooking tongs - and then sings a little song to it before boiling it. If you enjoy cooking - or someone in your family does - you might enjoy this book as much as I did.
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
This Seattle writer captures the story of a big family with a big secret: a physician-mother, writer-father, and five children, all boys, except Claude, the youngest, who loves to wear dresses and wants to be a girl when he grows up. This family is modern, tight-knit, and full of antics and original characters, yet they struggle with the weight of keeping a secret. The book’s blurb reads aptly, “This is how a family keeps a secret...and how that secret ends up keeping them.” Fun at times, sad at others, always genuine, this novel is a great read and tackles an important topic with honesty and dignity.
Ms. Martin recommends:
Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement, by Nadia Okamoto (recommended for ages 12 and up)
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
“A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy” (Amazon).
Ms. Jackson recommends:
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
"Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins."
If you like mysteries or psychological thrillers, you might enjoy Tana French’s Dublin murder squad series with its thoroughly drawn characters and compelling, twisting plots.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
From the first line of this mystery novel about family dysfunction, we know that 16 year-old Lydia has died. As the novel unfolds, we learn why. This is a beautiful, heart-wrenching story about the reasons for and the effects of parental pressure and the difficulties of feeling like an outsider in American society. Although I cried a lot while reading this novel, it also offers a hopeful message about what families can do to communicate more openly with each other.
Ms. Labieniec and Ms. Jackson recommend:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
“A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other. The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.”
Mr. Schopf recommends:
Timefulness: How Thinking like a Geologist Can Help Save the World, by Marcia Bjornerud
“Few of us have any conception of the enormous timescales in our planet’s long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating for ourselves. The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earth’s atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of years—the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphere—approach the limits of our comprehension. Our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth’s deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future.”
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin
“By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.”
Mr. Didier recommends:
“A century ago, everyone knew that people were fated by their race, sex, and nationality to be more or less intelligent, nurturing, or warlike. But Columbia University professor Franz Boas looked at the data and decided everyone was wrong. Racial categories, he insisted, were biological fictions. Cultures did not come in neat packages labeled “primitive” or “advanced.” What counted as a family, a good meal, or even common sense was a product of history and circumstance, not of nature. In Gods of the Upper Air, a masterful narrative history of radical ideas and passionate lives, Charles King shows how these intuitions led to a fundamental reimagining of human diversity.”
Ms. Simpson recommends:
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
In this dark and funny novel, Korede feels increasingly put upon when she has to help her pretty and charming younger sister, Ayoola, cover up a handful of murders. Ayoola claims she has only killed in self-defense, and because Korede loves her sister she feels obligated to protect her. When Ayoola sets her sights on Korede’s crush, Korede has to decide if she is willing to keep supporting her sister.
Dread Nation and Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
In our reality, the Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederacy at Appomattox, but in these novels, the reanimation of the dead at Gettysburg forces the North and the South to come back together to stop the zombie scourge! Black girls like Jane McKeene are required by law to train as Attendants to protect the wealthy from the undead. However, Jane wants more for her life, and she breaks the rules of her combat training school to figure out why prominent families keep disappearing and to stop a plot that might destroy the entire country.
Summertime is precisely the right time to think about what you would do if a version of you from a parallel universe decides that he wants your life. In this speculative thriller, Jason Dessen goes from wondering if his life could get any more boring to bouncing from one parallel universe to another in order to get back to his “real” life. And that’s just the first half of the book!
Mr. Henningsen recommends:
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Very easy to get sucked into the world of this novel.
“The story begins as an antebellum novel about Wash, an 11-year-old slave working on a Barbados plantation run by a sadistic master. When Christopher, the master’s brother, takes Wash under his wing and teaches him to read, the novel turns more toward adventure and scientific exploration. There are inventions, twists, and turns; there is danger and intrigue; there is travel and growth. … [Esi Edugyan’s] characters are fully realized human beings. The weight of personal freedom is a theme that winds through the book, as does the opposing weight of cultural and societal expectations.” (Amazon review)
La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
In case you are a fan of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and are looking for a nostalgic return to that world of Dust, Dæmons and Alethiometers, I recommend checking out the first volume, La Belle Sauvage, in his next trilogy, The Book of Dust. The audiobook recording, narrated by Michael Sheen, is excellent and great to listen to while driving / on the T!
“Neither prequel nor sequel to His Dark Materials trilogy—Pullman calls this an “equel” and La Belle Sauvage is the first volume of a companion trio that can stand on its own. There are some familiar faces—most notably an infant Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon--and a particularly delightful new one: a boy named Malcolm whose kind heart, curious mind, and unerring sense of good, are the reason baby Lyra makes it to the safety of Jordan College. As in his earlier books, Pullman explores themes of religious and political freedom, the nature of good and evil, science and philosophy. The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage is a glorious adventure.” (Amazon review)
Ms. Ramos recommends:
Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements from Arsenic to Zinc, by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Amazon description: “Like the alphabet, the calendar, or the zodiac, the periodic table of the chemical elements has a permanent place in our imagination. But aside from the handful of common ones (iron, carbon, copper, gold), the elements themselves remain wrapped in mystery. We do not know what most of them look like, how they exist in nature, how they got their names, or of what use they are to us. Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colorful pasts, Periodic Tales is a passionate journey through mines and artists' studios, to factories and cathedrals, into the woods and to the sea to discover the true stories of these fascinating but mysterious building blocks of the universe.”
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, by Deborah Blum
Amazon description: “Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder.”
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape out Man-Made World, by Mark Miodownik
“Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does a paper clip bend? These are the sorts of questions that Mark Miodownik is constantly asking himself. A globally renowned materials scientist, Miodownik has spent his life exploring objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world. From the teacup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants, our lives are overflowing with materials. Full of enthralling tales of the miracles of engineering that permeate our lives, Stuff Matters will make you see stuff in a whole new way.”
Ms. Labieniec recommends:
Star Talk: Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Series), by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Amazon description: “This pioneering, provocative book brings together the best of StarTalk, his beloved podcast and television show devoted to solving the most confounding mysteries of Earth, space, and what it means to be human. Filled with brilliant sidebars, vivid photography, and unforgettable quotes from Tyson and his brilliant cohort of science and entertainment luminaries, StarTalk will help answer all of your most pressing questions about our world—from how the brain works to the physics of comic book superheroes. Fun, smart, and laugh-out-loud funny, this book is the perfect guide to everything you ever wanted to know about the universe—and beyond.”
Mrs. Skeele Recommends:
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
Winner of the Booker Prize
“On the Battersea Reach of the Thames, a mixed bag of the slightly disreputable, the temporarily lost, and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the great river's tides. Belonging to neither land nor sea, they cling to one another in a motley yet kindly society. There is Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by happenstance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, a buttoned-up ex-navy man whose boat dominates the Reach. Then there is Nenna, a faithful but abandoned wife, the diffident mother of two young girls running wild on the waterfront streets. It is Nenna's domestic predicament that, as it deepens, draws the relations among this scrubby community together into ever more complex and comic patterns. The result is one of Fitzgerald's greatest triumphs, a novel the Booker judges deemed "flawless." Mrs. Skeele says: The book is more novella than novel and so beautifully written that you'll find yourself savoring it in one sitting. I loved it!
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
An Amazon Best Book of March 2020: James McBride, author of the National Book Award winning The Good Lord Bird and the beloved memoir The Color of Water, has written a propulsive and comic neighborhood epic set in the 1960s with a cast of characters that are beguiling, boozed-filled, and larger than life. When a young drug lord is shot in broad daylight by a bumbling drunk known to everyone as Sportcoat, the Brooklyn neighborhood they live in is upended. As Sportcoat comically and unknowingly dodges the police, his actions ricochet around him, igniting a web of drug wars, backdoor dealings with mobsters, and church brawls that demonstrate just how vital yet fragile communities can be. Deacon King Kong tells the fictional story of one Brooklyn project, but in so doing tells a broader story of race and religion, getting by and getting out, and how grudges and alliances become embedded in the foundations of our neighborhoods. An incredibly satisfying read. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Book Review
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food that Tells Their Stories by Laura Shapiro
This is simultaneously fascinating biography about six intriguing and very different women and a culinary history of the foods that they ate and that they served to their guests and how those foods illustrated their times, their personalities and, in the case of Eleanor Roosevelt, her anger with her husband. The women include Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown. Non-fiction, but some of the things you will learn about these women you might have trouble believing!
Ms. Uhre-Balk recommends:
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
From Goodreads: “Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work. Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue adventures in science take them from the Midwest across the United States and back again, over the Atlantic to the ever-light skies of the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her lab currently make their home.”
Mr. Murdock recommends:
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Mr. Wohlleben is a forester from Germany who has spent decades studying and deciphering the secret ways in which trees in old-growth forests communicate and protect one another via the “wood wide web” through networks of fungus, root tips, and producing scents and chemicals. His writing is based both on his own experiences as a forester and scientific research. Read the book; you will not look at a grove of beech trees the same way again -- Mr. Murdock
Ms. Huntoon recommends:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of historical fiction set in WWII France and Germany.
From Amazon: “From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.”
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.
A fantastic story about a group of women determined to bring books to isolated communities in Depression-era Kentucky. “Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic--a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.”
And, if you like murder mysteries, check out the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. Best to read in order as there are larger plot lines woven into the series.
Mr. Player recommends:
Design Is Storytelling by E. Lupton
Pictures cover more pages than words, but the words cover more ground than most books. After reading this one, you’ll start to notice the hidden stories surrounding you, whispered by the carefully curated products and services that fill our experiences. The “hero’s journey” through Ikea, the three-act theater of Starbucks, the backstory of millennial pink, etc. are made transparent and you find yourself looking around your life like you’re in The Matrix. In a way, you are. And, in a way, reading this book makes you feel like the main character in that movie, whatever his name is. But, even better, you learn new ways to share your own stories.
Ms. Burke recommends:
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The best book I read last summer! The chapters alternate between two timelines; one focuses on a group of young men living in Chicago during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and the other is set in contemporary Paris, following Fiona, a sister of one of the men, as she searches for her daughter and reconnects with her past. The stories are equally compelling, a fact which made me unable to put it down!
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Everything that is great about the movie, plus so, SO much more.--Ms. Burke
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister
Both an engaging and a timely read! There are a lot of pieces--a historical look at the successes (and failings!) of the suffrage and temperance movements, a call for the importance of intersectionality in feminism, a sociological examination at the different ways women and men are perceived in the workplace and especially in politics, and a thorough exploration of the #metoo movement.
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
A funny book about grammar. No, really, I promise! Mary Norris tells the story of her somewhat unorthodox path to a career in The New Yorker’s copy department while detailing the rules of its sometimes perplexing style guide. Consider the jokes a reward for all your work in Class V English.
Ms. Allen Recommends:
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
“With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race, Small Great Things is the stunning new page-turner from Jodi Picoult.”
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
“One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars”
Mr. Griffin recommends:
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (or Men We Reaped, also by Ward)
This novel is imperfect, brutal, and memorable. Ward uses classic mythology to illuminate the epic scale of Hurricane Katrina as it bears down on Esch and her family, including the family’s dogs, which are fighters, like the family members themselves. Esch is young and pregnant, and she encounters and observes plenty of beautiful moments, reflected in beautiful prose. But the fighting and the suffering in Bois Sauvage, LA (Ward’s fictional town) tend to outweigh that beauty. Any of Ward’s works are worth reading, but for some reason this one has stuck with me.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
The Daily Show host and comedian embodies many of the tensions and contradictions of apartheid-era South Africa, and in this memoir, he illuminates not only his own character but also that of his country. Funny, informative, and memorable, this book is for just about anyone in almost any mood.
Ms Butcher recommends:
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
(Bookshop.org)
The Carls just appeared.
Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship--like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor--April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world--from Beijing to Buenos Aires--and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.
Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.
Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss
(Bookshop.org) Sarah Moss had a childhood dream of moving to Iceland, sustained by a wild summer there when she was nineteen. In 2009, she saw an advertisement for a job at the University of Iceland and applied on a whim, despite having two young children and a comfortable life in Kent, England.
The resulting adventure was shaped by Iceland's economic collapse, which halved the value of her salary; by the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull; and by a collection of new friends, including a poet who saw the only bombs fall on Iceland in 1943; a woman who speaks to elves; and a chef who guided Sarah's family around the intricacies of Icelandic cuisine.
Moss explored hillsides of boiling mud and volcanic craters and learned to drive like an Icelander on the unsurfaced roads that link remote farms and fishing villages in the far north. She watched the northern lights and the comings and goings of migratory birds, and as the weeks and months went by, she and her family learned new ways to live. Names for the Sea is her compelling and very funny account of living in a country poised on the edge of Europe, where modernization clashes with living folklore.
Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis
(Bookshop.org) Truth is a human right. It's fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn't spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government--and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father's leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him--until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human--and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
(Bookshop.org)
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends--the Liars--whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
Ms. Gangi recommends
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
(Bookshop.org) “Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people...
In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
Separated by distance--and Papi's secrets--the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.
And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.”
I loved the two characters and if you read Poet X you do not need any introduction to the greatness of Elizabeth Acevedo!
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
(Bookshop.org) “On a post-college visit to Florence, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri fell in love with the Italian language. Twenty years later, seeking total immersion, she and her family relocated to Rome, where she began to read and write solely in her adopted tongue. A startling act of self-reflection, In Other Words is Lahiri's meditation on the process of learning to express herself in another language--and the stunning journey of a writer seeking a new voice.”
Jhumpa Lahiri really captures the exhilarating and frustrating process of learning a new language and how that process made her question her identity and her writing in English.
Three of Ms. DePalma’s favorites:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.
The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of storytelling.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Set in an exotic Eastern landscape peopled by magicians and fantastic talking animals, Haroun and the Sea of Stories inhabits the same imaginative space as The Lord of the Rings, The Alchemist, The Arabian Nights, and The Wizard of Oz. Twelve-year-old Haroun sets out on an adventure to restore his father’s gift of storytelling by reviving the poisoned Sea of Stories. On the way, he encounters many foes, all intent on draining the sea of all its storytelling powers. In this wondrously delightful story, Salman Rushdie gives us an imaginative work of extraordinary power and endearing humor that is, at its heart, an illumination of the necessity of storytelling in our lives.
Mr. Brooks Hedstrom recommends:
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
Ms. McKinley recommends:
The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus by Peggy & Murray Schwartz
The recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pearl was a dancer, anthropologist, and educator who had a significant impact on American arts and culture in the twentieth century. She danced to protest the conditions of African Americans, brought the ancient dances of Africa to America, and controversially, carried her knowledge of dance, music, theater, anthropology, and education to Africa itself.
Ms. Cowan recommends:
Range: Why Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
David Epstein discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see. Range makes a case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules. But as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil reveals, the mathematical models being used today are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination--propping up the lucky, punishing the downtrodden, and undermining our democracy in the process.
Mr. Wensink recommends:
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Check out one of the all-time classic science fiction books before Apple TV+ gets their hands on it! A rough synopsis: a mathematician creates the new theory of psychohistory and develops the equations to predict the future of humankind. Originally published as short stories in a sci-fi magazine in the 1940’s, it was compiled and released as a single book in 1951. Answers the question: “What was science fiction writing like before computers?” It and the later sequels/prequels won the Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” edging out Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.