The Leader Board Blog - My Favorite Books

Leadership Blog - December 2020

My Favorite Reads of the Year!

By Kyle Arlington, Superintendent of Schools

About ten years ago, my colleague and buddy Rob suggested we each include in our email signatures what we were currently reading. I’ve been doing it ever since. (I always forget to ask Rob if he still does it.) Also, I almost always forget to update my signature, and I’m pretty sure most people glaze over it anyway.

But occasionally, someone approaches me in a school hallway or on a field and starts a conversation about a book she picked up as a result of seeing my email signatures. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it reminds me that as a community we connect with each other in all types of ways.

I spent a lot of quiet hours reading over this long, strange year. I’m sure I’m not the only one. As I share some of my favorite reads of 2020, let me know if you’ve read them, too. Why not build a little community when we need it the most? Happy Holidays

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt chronicles the story of a mother and son who flee to the U.S. after a Mexican drug cartel kills their family. Some overly generous reviewers claim it’s our century’s version of The Grapes of Wrath. It’s not. But there is so much controversy surrounding this book, the migrant crisis, and the backlash from readers who argue only certain people have the right to tell certain stories, how could I not read it? Once I started, I couldn’t put it down.

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

A former colleague took a course on Willa Cather as part of her doctoral work. After she would study one of Cather’s texts in her course, I’d read it too, and we’d talk about it together. I loved it; good conversation about books without the doctoral work. My goal is to read Cather’s entire canon at least once in my lifetime. I’m halfway through. O Pioneers! is part of Cather’s “prairie trilogy.” It tells the story of Swedish-American immigrants and the entanglement of four young people in two romantic relationships. Cather never disappoints me. And true to form, the characters in O Pioneers! and the life circumstances in which they find themselves stayed with me long after I finished the last page.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Besides what I remember from when I was half paying attention in U.S. History II class, I don’t have a deep knowledge of the Underground Railroad. Coates fictionalizes elements of history, but despite his incorporation of surreal fantasy elements, The Water Dancer reminds us of a stark reality: We can’t possibly engage in anti-racism efforts in the name of racial justice if we don’t have a deep understanding of how slavery has shaped our nation.

No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results by Cy Wakeman

Several members of the district’s leadership team and I are reading this together as part of a book study. Despite the book’s obnoxious title, there are lots of research-based assertions that the author shares, including the statistic that “over 2.5 hours of a person’s workday are spent dealing with other people’s emotional waste.” Keep track yourself and see if you agree.

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

I read this in one sitting; it was hard not to! This slender little volume is haunting, is beautiful, and sucker-punches you in the gut. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author shares the formative moments and events of her life that defined her relationship with her mother. These spots of time are infused with court records and police notes that she reviews and embeds in her memoir after her ex-stepfather murders her mother. I don’t think books teach you how to live life, but I do think they can remind you to hug your mom.

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds

This collection, which can be read as stand-alone stories or as a complete volume, had me laughing - a lot. (It also reminded me how difficult middle school can be for kids.) All ten stories take place after the school bell rings and the kids walk home - each to a different home and each to a different kind of life. Some of the ending twists happily surprised me, but they all were consistently sweet, poignant, and powerful.

The World Needs More Purple People by Benjamin Hart and Kristen Bell

I’ve read this a few times with my own kids and, each time, I close the cover with a new takeaway. It’s a great conversation-starter about how we can each make the world a better place, hidden among a bunch of corny kid jokes.

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan Higgins think I like this one more than my daughter does. I love the book’s message of acceptance and inclusion, particularly in a school setting. It’s a relatively new book, but I imagine it will one day be on the list of stories that early childhood teachers read on the first days of school, right next to The Kissing Hand and T’was the Night Before _______ (fill in the blank with a grade level).