Education
The Education Collection focuses on titles that explore teaching, learning, and knowledge through fiction and nonfiction genres. Offering perspectives from educators and students alike, these selections examine the formal and informal ways people gain and share knowledge and the social institutions that define education and schooling.
A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, is an award-winning work of fiction published in 1993. It received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction that same year. The story is arguably a work of historical fiction based on true accounts of young Black men on death row in Louisiana in the 1940s.Plot SummaryThe story opens in a courtroom in 1947 Louisiana, where a 21-year-old Black man named Jefferson, is accused of killing... Read A Lesson Before Dying Summary
Twelve-year-old Amal’s dreams of becoming a teacher are shattered when she disrespects the powerful landlord of her Pakistani village and is forced into a life of servitude in the New York Times bestselling Amal Unbound (2018). Author Aisha Saeed is a Pakistani-American teacher, writer, and attorney as well as a founder of the We Need Diverse Books organization. In Amal Unbound, Saeed calls attention to contemporary global inequities, exploring themes of social injustice, education, and... Read Amal Unbound Summary
Following in the literary footsteps of John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, Philipp Meyer’s American Rust (2010) explores the catastrophic effects of economic devastation on the lives of six characters in Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley, once home to a thriving steel and coal industry (and a solid-middle class) but now populated by broken lives and shuttered businesses. The novel was a winner of the Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, a Washington Post Top Ten... Read American Rust Summary
Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder describes one academic year in a 5th grade class at Kelly School in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Chris Zajac, the class teacher, is the focus of the story, and the author describes her actions and approach to teaching throughout the year. The author, a literary journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, uses a narrative style that makes a work of non-fiction feel like a fiction novel. He intersperses historical information and data about... Read Among School Children Summary
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business is a nonfiction book by Neil Postman, published in 1985. Postman was a professor of education and communication at New York University with a special interest in the role of technology and media in society. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York in Fredonia and a master’s degree and doctorate from the Teachers College of Columbia University. In... Read Amusing Ourselves to Death Summary
And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City High School Students is a 2000 nonfiction work by Miles Corwin, the Los Angeles Times reporter best known for The Killing Season. In this book, Corwin chronicles a school year spent with 12 senior students in the gifted program in a South-Central Los Angeles high school. The students face many difficulties and must display perseverance to remain in this magnet program. Corwin was... Read And Still We Rise Summary
Anne of Avonlea, the second novel in the Anne of Green Gables series, is the heralded sequel that brings readers back to the second chapter in Anne Shirley’s life from age 16 to 18. First published in 1909 by Canadian author L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea is set in the latter part of the 19th century in fictional Avonlea, a small town on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Filled with many familiar characters from the first... Read Anne of Avonlea Summary
In 1993, the Indian author Gita Mehta published her third book, A River Sutra. In a departure from her other books, which deal with connections between India and the West, the collection of stories that makes up A River Sutra looks at the diverse experiences across India itself. Presenting disconnected narratives about a variety of people, the book plays on the Indian concept of a “sutra” – literally, a thread, and more figuratively, a morality-delivering... Read A River Sutra Summary
A Sand County Almanac is a 1949 nonfiction book by the American naturalist and writer Aldo Leopold. The book is structured as a series of essays, beginning with Leopold’s description of a year on his farm and progressing to a series of essays on humanity’s relationship with nature, culminating in an argument for an ethical approach to the land. Published by Oxford University Press a year after Leopold’s death, the book is credited with having... Read A Sand County Almanac Summary
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid is a work of creative nonfiction originally published in 1988. Kincaid shares memories of her home country, Antigua, both while it was under colonial rule and self-governance. She illustrates how life has and hasn’t changed for Antiguan citizens because of government corruption, the legacies of slavery, and the preoccupation with tourism over public welfare. Though the book won no awards, Kincaid has won a plethora of awards for her... Read A Small Place Summary
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson, PhD, is a popular science book about astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology. The book outlines our current knowledge about the creation of the universe, supernovas, black holes, the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, invisible light, and how Earth and its materials came to be. On its release in 2017, the book became a #1 New York Times bestseller; it remained on the list for... Read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Summary
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997) is a collection of seven non-fiction essays by American author David Foster Wallace. The subjects Wallace covers range from competitive tennis, the works of director David Lynch, and a Caribbean cruise, the experience of which serves as the basis for the book's title essay. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again "should serve as a model for anyone writing cultural comment" (Publishers Weekly).In the first... Read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Summary
James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones is a guide to adopting good behaviors through incremental changes to your everyday routines. Avery first published the book in 2018, and this guide refers to the ebook edition. The book has unique pagination, with the page numbers beginning again at the start of each new chapter. Clear likely numbered his book this way because of his emphasis... Read Atomic Habits Summary
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins is a middle grade/young adult coming-of-age novel about two boys—one Burmese, the other Karenni—growing up during an intense period of violence between the Burmese military and the Karenni people. The book was named an “ALA APALA Honor Book, Indies Choice Honor Book of the Year for Young Adults, ALA Top Ten Book in Best Fiction for Young Adults, [and] International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society [and received]... Read Bamboo People Summary
Amy Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011), depicts Chua’s experience raising two American daughters according to Chinese cultural standards. Chua is a Yale law professor specializing in globalization and ethnic conflict. She is also a second-generation Chinese American, and her husband is Jewish. Chua’s strict approach is influenced by the parenting methods used by her own parents, which clash with those of her husband. Chua’s memoir was a New York Times bestseller... Read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother Summary
“Becoming a Learner: Realizing the Opportunity of Education,” Second Edition (2018) is an essay by Matthew L Sanders, who wrote it with incoming college freshman in mind. Its goal is to change the perspective that higher education prepares students for a profitable career. Instead, it teaches students to become learners.In the Introduction, Sanders writes: “The hardest thing for you to know is the thing you think you already know” (xi). Many people think they know... Read Becoming a Learner Summary
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (2010) is a nonfiction book written by Kathryn Schulz, a journalist who has written for publications such as the New York Times Magazine, the Nation, and the Boston Globe. The book explores the nature of error from a psychological, philosophical, and personal point of view, drawing from philosophical thought, psychology studies, and personal anecdotes. Some themes of the book include the fallibility of the human mind, the... Read Being Wrong Summary
Bluefish (2011) is a young adult novel by Pat Schmatz. This text is also sometimes classified as middle grade. The novel centers around Travis, an eighth grader who has lost his parents and dog and recently moved to a new school. Travis befriends Velveeta, a charismatic girl who is grieving the loss of her stand-in father figure, Calvin. As Travis and Velveeta’s friendship develops, they explore the challenges of coping with loss and family trauma... Read Bluefish Summary
Recipient of the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 for his literary career, Nigerian writer and critic Chinua Achebe is known as the “Father of Modern African Literature.” His short story “Dead Men’s Path” raises issues central to many works of postcolonial writing such as modernity versus tradition, urban versus rural life, and Christianity versus Indigenous religion, as well as the overall effects of European colonization on life in his native Nigeria. Originally published in... Read Dead Men’s Path Summary
IntroductionN. H. Kleinbaum’s Dead Poets Society is a 1989 novel based on the motion picture written by Tom Schulman. The novel was released as a companion piece to the wildly popular film—also titled Dead Poets Society and released in 1989— which starred famous actors such as Robin Williams as Mr. Keating, and Ethan Hawke as Todd Anderson. The film scored high with critics, winning the Oscar in 1990 for Best Original Screenplay and receiving nominations... Read Dead Poets Society Summary
Esme Raji Codell, author of Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, uses her memoir to recount lessons imparted and lessons learned during her year teaching fifth grade at an inner-city Chicago public school. Codell, who prefers to go by the self-applied moniker Madame Esme, is both challenged and challenging in this setting. Her irreverent humor, passion for teaching, and commitment to her values, regardless of the outcome, make the memoir a lively and... Read Educating Esmé Summary
Published in 1762, Emile, or On Education, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, launched a revolution in thinking about how society should educate and rear children. Its main tenets—that children must learn in accordance with their developing minds, and that society impedes and corrupts their growth—became rallying cries for educators in France and elsewhere. The book’s assertion that children should not be taught religious doctrine caused an uproar. Along with Rousseau’s political treatise, The Social Contract (also published... Read Emile: On Education Summary
In Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman discusses how The Components of Emotional Intelligence, like self-awareness, empathy, and social skills, shape an individual’s life. He explores key themes, such as The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Personal and Professional Success, The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Traditional IQ, and Emotional Intelligence Affecting Mental Health and Interpersonal Relationships. This guide refers to the 1995 Bantam Books hardcover edition. Content Warning: The... Read Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ Summary
Fatty Legs: A True Story is the 2010 autobiographical account of author Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton’s childhood experience in one of Canada’s residential schools for Indigenous children in the 19th and 20th centuries. This study guide is based on the 10th anniversary edition, in which several supplemental chapters written by Pokiak-Fenton’s daughter-in-law explain the larger context of colonialism that created the residential school system. These residential schools represented an attempt to strip Indigenous students of their cultural... Read Fatty Legs Summary
Frindle is a 1996 middle grade novel by children’s author Andrew Clements and illustrated by Brian Selznick. The story follows a fifth-grade boy named Nick Allen who—both for fun and to exasperate his strict language arts teacher who has a special reverence for vocabulary—creates a new word for pen: “frindle.” Nick’s new word captures more attention than he expected, and soon the town and nation engage in a controversy surrounding how people ought to use... Read Frindle Summary
In Newbery medalist Louis Sachar’s sci-fi thriller Fuzzy Mud (2015), Tamaya and Marshall cut through the restricted woods behind their school to avoid a bully—but encounter a strange mud that has the potential to destroy nearly all life on Earth. While Marshall struggles with the emotional effects of being bullied, Tamaya develops an unusually aggressive rash from the mud and worries that in protecting Marshall she has gravely injured Chad. Each character faces difficult ethical... Read Fuzzy Mud Summary
The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel is a series of five novels written in French by François Rabelais in the 16th century. The novel-cycle relates the adventures of two giants in hyperbolic, satirical prose. Using humor ranging from slapstick to irony, Rabelais explores serious themes such as the development of education and religious reformation. The books are noted for their colorful, rich literary style, bursting with puns, allusions, and social commentary. An early example of... Read Gargantua And Pantagruel Summary
Enigmatic and strange, English poet Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” has sparked multiple interpretations since its publication in 1862. The poem helped launch her career and expand the Pre-Raphaelite art movement into literature.The long narrative poem centers on Lizzie’s rescue of her sister from an enchantment cast by malicious goblins. Fairy tales and folklore inspired many Victorian writers, who felt weary about England’s increasing industrialization.Often seen as an allegory, scholars have posited that the poem’s characters... Read Goblin Market Summary
Goodbye, Mr. Chips, James Hilton’s novella about a mild-mannered teacher at a fictional British boys’ school, originally appeared in 1933 as a supplement to the British Weekly, an evangelical newspaper. Its popularity, however, led to its reprinting in the April 1934 issue of the American magazine Atlantic Monthly and later, its publication as a book by Little, Brown and Company in the US and by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom. An instant bestseller... Read Goodbye, Mr. Chips Summary
“Gooseberries,” by Russian author Anton Chekhov, is a short story that uses symbolism, subtlety, irony, and keen observation of human behavior to explore themes of the quest for happiness, the meaning of life, social expectations, privilege, and social equality. Written in mid-1898, the story is the second in what was later referred to as The Little Trilogy, together with “The Man in the Case” and “About Love.” All three stories explore the definitions of happiness... Read Gooseberries Summary
Homeless Bird, a 2000 novel by Gloria Whelan, was a New York Times bestseller and won a National Book Award. The novel focuses on Koly, a young teenager growing up in India. Koly struggles with her desire to do something with her life, while her family expects her to marry young. She lacks control in her life, something most teens can relate to, although not always on such a scale. Koly is a strong protagonist... Read Homeless Bird Summary
How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe is a popular history by Irish American author Thomas Cahill, published in 1995. The book argues that Ireland’s conversion to Christianity was instrumental in preserving the remnants of classical culture that survived in Western Europe after the Roman Empire’s demise. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for... Read How the Irish Saved Civilization Summary
Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines is a nonfiction book that aims to teach readers how to improve their reading skills. Foster, a longtime university professor, focuses on techniques that enable readers to puzzle out some of the deeper meanings of a story that exist below the surface level of the plot. Harper published the book in 2003, and the 2014... Read How To Read Literature Like A Professor Summary
I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond (2011) is a memoir written by NFL player Michael Oher and journalist Don Yaeger. It tells Oher’s story in his own words, describing his childhood and teen years up to his rookie season in the NFL. His story was first brought to the public’s attention in Michael Lewis’s book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, published in 2006. This book was made... Read I Beat the Odds Summary
English author Thomas Hardy published his final novel, Jude the Obscure, in 1895. Critics deemed it “immoral” and “indecent,” and it became a target of book burnings because of its critique of marriage, religion, education, and class structure. The narrative follows the tragic journey of Jude Fawley, a working-class man striving for education and love, whose aspirations are consistently thwarted by societal barriers, personal setbacks, and internal struggles.This guide refers to the e-book version of... Read Jude the Obscure Summary
Jonathan Kozol’s Letters to a Young Teacher, originally published in 2007, is a collection of letters containing Kozol’s teaching advice for a new first grade schoolteacher named Francesca. The format of this book is inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous Letters to a Young Poet, which has become a model for advice books for young people in different professions and callings. Although some identifying elements have been changed, the book’s letters represent a real correspondence... Read Letters to a Young Teacher Summary
Lives on the Boundary is a nonfiction book by Mike Rose, Professor of Social Research Methodology in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. The book tackles the problem of how low-performing students get left behind by the American education system. Originally published in 1989, Rose combines memoir, academic analysis, and social treatise to expose the failings of the current educational system and challenge the stereotypes that label remedial learners as incapable, unintelligent... Read Lives On The Boundary Summary
Lyddie is a 1996 novel written by Katherine Paterson, winner of the National Book Award, the Newbury Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Astrid Lindgren Award, the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. Lyddie was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Notable Children’s Book, and an Honor Book of the International Board on Books for Young People. Some of her notable books include Bridge... Read Lyddie Summary
Martin Eden is a 1909 novel by American author Jack London. Known for his stories of adventure and use of naturalism and realism, London authored more than 50 books, including Call of the Wild and White Fang, before his untimely death at age 40. London wrote Martin Eden at the height of his literary career, inspired by his own disillusionment with fame and literary critics. Although the protagonist’s individualist principles are at odds with London’s... Read Martin Eden Summary
One of the founding documents of Western philosophy, Plato’s Meno recounts a dialog on the nature of virtue between Socrates and his pupil Meno, a rising star among the leaders of ancient Greece. They discuss how virtue can be recognized, where it comes from, and whether it can be taught.Meno takes place in 402 BCE in Athens; Plato, Socrates’s most famous student, in 385 BCE wrote down his recollection of the conversation. It offers a... Read Meno Summary
In 2006, psychologist Carol S. Dweck, PhD, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, released the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, as a layperson’s guide to her decades of academic research. Initially interested in areas of motivation, personality, and development, the author gravitated toward research in cognitive motivation theory. She eventually discovered that the concepts of “fixed” and “growth” mindsets explain what motivates some people to embrace challenges and... Read Mindset Summary
Moon Over Manifest is a 2010 novel by author Claire Vanderpool. It relates the story of 12-year-old Abilene Tucker, a drifting girl in search of her father, a home, and a sense of belonging. When the novel starts, her father, Gideon Tucker, has just sent Abilene to the Kansas town of Manifest, claiming that he can’t take her to Iowa, where he is allegedly taking a railroad job. It is 1936, and the Great Depression... Read Moon Over Manifest Summary
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a children’s science fiction novel written in 1971 by Robert C. O’Brien. It tells the story of a field mouse whose son becomes ill as moving day approaches, so she enlists the help of a group of highly intelligent experimental rats for help. Robert C. O’Brien was inspired to write the Rats of NIMH after a visit to the National Institute of Mental Health’s experimental rat compound... Read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Summary
My Fair Lady, a musical by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music), opened on Broadway to tremendous critical and popular success in 1956, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s popular play Pygmalion (1914) and inspired by the Greek myth of “Pygmalion and Galatea,” the musical takes place in early-20th-century London, satirizing issues of class hierarchies, gender disparity, and how language... Read My Fair Lady Summary
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science is a nonfiction book by Charles Wheelan published in 2002. The author holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and is a senior lecturer and policy fellow at Dartmouth College. Previously, he was a correspondent for the magazine The Economist. He has written a number of other books, including Naked Statistics and Naked Money. This study guide refers to the 2019 third edition of Naked Economics.SummaryNaked Economics is... Read Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science Summary
Nightjohn is a young adult historical fiction novel written by Gary Paulsen. The story is told from the perspective of a young slave girl, as she faces the cruelty of life as a slave and learns to read and write. It was published in 1993 and adapted into a Disney Channel TV film of the same name in 1996. The idea for the novel was born when Paulsen began to research Sally Hemings, a slave... Read Nightjohn Summary
Florence Nightingale was an English nurse commonly known as the founder of modern nursing practices. Born in Italy, she became an experienced nurse and formed many of her opinions while serving in the Crimean War, enrolling in nursing school at age 24 in Germany. She penned Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What it Is Not in 1859, just a few years after serving in the war, and the work was first published in... Read Notes on Nursing Summary
Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel written by the British author W. Somerset Maugham. The novel follows the maturation of a young man named Philip Carey as he grows up in England at the very end of the 19th century. The novel incorporates elements of both realism and modernism and has been interpreted as having some autobiographical inspiration drawn from Maugham’s own life. By describing events from Philip’s life, Maugham develops themes related to... Read Of Human Bondage Summary
On Beauty by the celebrated British author Zadie Smith was published in 2005. On Beauty was shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Smith is known for writing novels and essays that analyze the intersections of identity in the contemporary world with nuance, clarity, and empathy. She is also known to be influenced by the classic English author E.M. Forster. On Beauty is loosely based on Forster’s masterpiece... Read On Beauty Summary
The nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success is Malcolm Gladwell’s third book, published in 2008. Gladwell is a prolific writer for the New Yorker, where he has been on staff since 1996. His writing often incorporates research from the social sciences, as in Outliers, in which he makes the case that the way we understand and portray success is wrong. Before joining the staff of the New Yorker, Gladwell was a reporter for the... Read Outliers Summary
Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust is a historical middle-grade novel in verse first published in 1997. Through 110 first-person free verse poems, the narrative tells the story of two years in the life of Billie Jo Kelby, young daughter of a struggling farming family in the Oklahoma Panhandle in the mid-1930s. After a tragic accident results in the death of Billie Jo’s mother and baby brother, she and her father must find a way... Read Out of the Dust Summary
Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed develops a theory of education fitted to the needs of the disenfranchised and marginalized members of capitalist societies. Combining educational and political philosophy, the book offers an analysis of oppression and a theory of liberation. Freire believes that traditional education serves to support the dominance of the powerful within society and thereby maintain the powerful’s social, political, and economic status quo. To overcome the oppression endemic to an exploitative... Read Pedagogy of the Oppressed Summary
Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is a historical fiction novel that was first published in 1977. Ngũgĩ is a Kenyan author who has written novels, plays, short stories, and essays that typically center on Kenyan and African politics and the effects of colonialism and neocolonialism on the region. Petals of Blood explores the lives of Kenyans after the Mau Mau Rebellion and subsequent independence in the small village of Ilmorog, as well as its development... Read Petals of Blood Summary
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is a nonfiction book by Susan Cain, published in 2012. It is considered part of the psychology and self-help genres. The book made several bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and National Public Radio. It also was voted the best nonfiction book of 2012 by the Goodreads Choice Awards and has been translated... Read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Summary
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (2015) is a non-fiction work by Sherry Turkle. A clinical psychologist and professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, Turkle specializes in human-technology interaction and has decades of experience writing on technology’s problematic effects on human connection. In Reclaiming Conversation, the book’s premise is in the title: Turkle believes that technology has detrimentally taken over human conversation and that we ought to... Read Reclaiming Conversation Summary
Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power by linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky evaluates the rise of income inequality in the US over the last 40 years. It argues that the main consequence of neoliberalism, which has increased since the 1970s, is a dramatic concentration of wealth and power to the elite—at the expense of the lower and middle classes. Chomsky observes how rapid financialization since the... Read Requiem for the American Dream Summary
Jonathan Kozol's 1991 book, Savage Inequalities, is a critical look at the American educational system and its failures. The main argument of the book is that a tremendous divide exists between rich and poor in education, a divide intensified by ethnic and racial prejudice. Kozol claims that in many communities and localities, American schools remain effectively segregated, more than fifty years after the criminalization of such practices. Kozol argues that while the letter of the... Read Savage Inequalities Summary
Sophie's World is a young adult book by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. The book follows main character Sophie, a young girl who is fourteen years old and living with her parents in Norway. Sophie's life changes dramatically when she receives a series of strange postcards, which ask her large, existential questions about the world around her. Each day, Sophie receives a postcard, and in the evenings she receives a package from a man named Alberto... Read Sophie's World Summary
Theresa Rebeck’s provocative feminist two-act drama Spike Heels, first produced in 1990, is a problem play, that is a drama that looks at cultural, social, and economic issues. Problem plays intended to participate in the cultural conversation have a long and significant history in the theater. Playwrights like the Ancient Greek Euripides, 19th century Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw (whose presence looms large in Spike Heels), and a wide number of contemporary playwrights have... Read Spike Heels Summary
Stoner (1965) by John Williams is a literary fiction novel that tells the story of an average man and highlights how beautiful an average life can be. It concerns a working-class man who becomes a professor in Missouri in post–WWI America. The novel was reissued in 1972, 2003, and 2006. Stoner is an American literary classic detailing the quiet life of an academic and his love of literature. Stoner is an example of the campus... Read Stoner Summary
“Sultana’s Dream” is a short science fiction story by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, also known as Rokeya Begum, written in 1905. First published in Indian Ladies’ Magazine and later republished in book format in 1908, the story began as an exercise for Rokeya to show her husband her mastery of English. It details an unnamed narrator’s dream of an Indian feminist utopia. The story is the first known work of Indian science fiction. Hossain was an... Read Sultana's Dream Summary
Surviving the Applewhites is the 2002 children’s novel written by American author Stephanie S. Tolan. Set in rural North Carolina, the story tells of 13-year-old Jake Sempler, a wayward juvenile delinquent who is sent away after inadvertently burning down his school. When he’s forced to live with an eccentric family of artists called the Applewhites, Jake struggles to fit in at first. However, through an unlikely bond he forms with E.D., the Applewhite’s underappreciated 12-year-old... Read Surviving the Applewhites Summary
Ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote the Symposium around 385 BCE. One of Plato’s best-known and most important works, the Symposium is a philosophical dialogue that explores the nature and virtues of Love (Eros) through seven speeches delivered at a symposium in 416 BCE. The Symposium is considered fiction, though the setting and characters are based on historical fact: For example, Socrates features in the dialogue, but Plato gives him a fictional speech. Plato is one... Read Symposium Summary
Tarzan of the Apes is an adventure fiction book written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912 and initially published serially in the pulp magazine The All-Story before being printed as a novel in 1914. Burroughs was an American from Chicago who had a variety of careers before building a name for himself as a writer of pulp fiction. His first story, entitled Under the Moons of Mars (1911), became the first book in the science... Read Tarzan of the Apes Summary
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom is a collection of 14 essays and interviews examining how to transform the multicultural classroom into an inclusive space dedicated to the practice of freedom for all students. “bell hooks” is Gloria Jean Watkins’s pen name, which she chooses not to capitalize so that her work is emphasized more so than her name. She is an acclaimed feminist scholar, cultural critic, writer, and educator. She’s the... Read Teaching to Transgress Summary
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, first published in 1974, is a novel that delves into the dark aspects of adolescence, authority, and conformity. Set in an all-boys Catholic high school called Trinity, the story centers around Jerry Renault, a freshman who defies the school’s two most powerful forces–the secret student group known as the Vigils, and acting Headmaster Brother Leon–by refusing to participate in the annual chocolate sale. Jerry’s act of defiance exposes the... Read The Chocolate War Summary
Jorge Luís Borges’s short story “The Circular Ruins” was originally written in 1939 and was first published under the title “Las ruinas circulares” in the Argentinian literary journal Sur in 1940. By the time “The Circular Ruins” was finally translated into English for American audiences in 1962, Borges was on his way to international renown. In 1961, he was awarded the Prix Formentor (an elite international award), and he traveled to the US to become... Read The Circular Ruins Summary
The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students, by Allan Bloom, is a non-fiction book published in 1987. The work is a critique of American culture and higher education and was considered a landmark in the culture wars of the 1980s. It was a surprise bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year. This guide refers to the page... Read The Closing of the American Mind Summary
Clouds is an Attic Comedy by Aristophanes (circa 450-385 BCE). The play was initially produced at the City Dionysia in 423 BCE, where it placed third in a drama festival. Aristophanes subsequently worked on a revision that he never completed, and it is this incomplete revision that represents the surviving text of the play known today. Clouds centers on the character of Strepsiades and his ill-conceived attempt to learn sophistry, or fallacious arguments, from Socrates... Read The Clouds Summary
The Competitive Advantage of Nations is a 1990 work of economics by American author Michael E. Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and expert in corporate competitive strategy whose influential works are frequently cited in business and economics. In this book, Porter dismantles traditional economic theories about how well a nation fares in global competition (factor costs and macro-economic policy) and proposes a model that focuses on active and malleable factors of business rather than... Read The Competitive Advantage Of Nations Summary
Originally published in 1982, The Day They Came to Arrest the Book is Nat Hentoff’s only novel for youth. Hentoff was a multi-talented scholar and entertainer, known for his years as a columnist at the legendary Village Voice, an alternative newspaper in New York City. He was also a music critic and professor. Hentoff was regarded as an eloquent, tireless advocate for freedom of speech; he made his arguments in essay form for adults in... Read The Day They Came to Arrest the Book Summary
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer is a 1995 science-fiction coming-of-age novel by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson’s body of work has proven influential in contemporary discussions about technology and power. The novel is an important example of cyberpunk (work that imagines a dystopian future created by technology), while Stephenson’s allusions to Victorian literature and culture also make it an example of steampunk, despite the future setting. This guide is based on the 1995... Read The Diamond Age Summary
Published in 1976, The Education of Little Tree is a memoir-styled work of fiction written by Forrest Carter, the pseudonym for Asa Earl Carter. The novel received some critical acclaim in the 1980s and was perceived to be the actual memoir of a child growing up in the wilds of Tennessee with his Cherokee grandparents. This premise resonated with the desire of the time to become more attuned to nature. However, the book has since... Read The Education of Little Tree Summary
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery was published in 2006 and translated by Alison Anderson into English for publication in 2008. The novel has been translated into more than 40 languages and was a major bestseller in France. The novel was adapted into a film called The Hedgehog (Le Hérisson) in 2009 to critical acclaim. The Elegance of the Hedgehog follows the narrative point of view of two erudite narrators: Renée, a concierge... Read The Elegance of the Hedgehog Summary
Betty Friedan’s 1963 The Feminine Mystique is considered a classic text of feminist non-fiction. It was enormously influential in kick-starting the second wave of feminism, a movement that began in the 1960s advocating increased rights and new social roles for women. By voicing the despair that many women felt, The Feminine Mystique galvanized readers across the US to join the feminist movement and prompted others to at least to take its criticisms of mid-century American... Read The Feminine Mystique Summary
The Freedom Writers Diary is a nonfiction book that collects the stories of English teacher Erin Gruwell and her students at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, as they move from their freshman to senior years from 1994-1998. The book is divided into eight major sections, one for the fall and spring of each year, as well as a forward and epilogue. Each major section begins with an introductory entry from Ms. Gruwell, followed... Read The Freedom Writers Diary Summary
Elif Batuman is a contemporary Turkish-American author. She received her BA from Harvard University and PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and spent several years in Turkey as a resident writer at Koç University. Her first novel, The Idiot (2017), as well as her collection of essays, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them (2010), are auto-biographical in nature and focus on life within US academia. Both titles allude... Read The Idiot Summary
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by Father James Martin was published in 2010. The book is an accessible introduction to Ignatian spirituality, a famous Catholic devotional practice developed in the 16th century by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Father Martin, who left a career in corporate finance to become a Jesuit priest, is a prolific and popular writer on Catholic topics. He is an editor-at-large... Read The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything Summary
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The Landry News is a young adult novel by Andrew Clements, published in 1998. It centers on a school newspaper and the lives it touches, the lessons it teaches, and the power it gives people to stand up for their beliefs. The book received the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 2002 and has been translated into five languages. American author Andrew Clements (1949-2019) penned many books for young readers, including his most famous work... Read The Landry News Summary
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer is a 2010 middle-grade novel written by John Grisham, and it is the first installment in the Theodore Boone series. Grisham is an experienced layer and writer of over 30 novels, with most of his writing in the legal thriller genre. Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer is Grisham’s first foray into writing for a younger audience, which the author called a challenge in shifting the way he thought about his writing approach... Read Theodore Boone Summary
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) is a novel by Scottish writer Muriel Spark. It explores the relationship between a group of six female students and their eccentric teacher, Jean Brodie, over the course of roughly 15 years. Using nonlinear narrative techniques, including flashbacks and flash forwards, the novel examines the influence of adults on adolescents, particularly in the context of their sexual and spiritual development. Set in Edinburgh in the 1930s and early... Read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Summary
The Report Card is a 2004 middle grade novel by prolific children’s author Andrew Clements that tells the story of a young genius who has kept her intelligence a secret for her entire life. Nora Rowley has never worried about report cards, but by fifth grade, she realizes the negative impact of grades and test scores on her classmates—especially her best friend, Stephen Curtis—and decides to do something about it. The story explores themes about... Read The Report Card Summary
The River Between is Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s second novel and was published in 1965 after his debut title, Weep Not, Child. While The River Between is widely interpreted as an anticolonial work, its denouncement of colonial institutions is subtler than that of Ngugi’s later, more critical works on colonialism. His later novels were originally written in the Gikuyu language rather than in English; discourse surrounding the modern-day role of African literature is ongoing... Read The River Between Summary
In The Ruins of Gorlan, a Medieval adventure-fantasy novel for middle-grade readers, young Will learns the arts of the secretive Ranger tracker-warriors and defends his kingdom against an evil baron. Released in 2004 by author John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan won multiple awards, spawned the bestselling Ranger Apprentice book series, and has been published in 18 countries. A television adaptation is in the works.Following a long career in advertising, author Flanagan shifted to book... Read The Ruins of Gorlan Summary
The Story of My Experiments with Truth is the autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more widely known as Mahatma Gandhi. A key political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, Gandhi penned this work to narrate his quest for truth and the principles that underpinned his life’s journey. Originally published in 1927, this memoir provides a meticulous account of Gandhi’s spiritual, moral, and political evolution. The literary era in which this was... Read The Story of My Experiments with Truth Summary
The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults (2014) is by American neurologist Frances E. Jensen with journalist Amy Ellis Nutt. A New York Times bestseller, the book was nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing. The Teenage Brain is a guide to the workings of the adolescent brain aimed at parents. Using scientific research data combined with real-life stories and anecdotes, the author explains the changes... Read The Teenage Brain Summary
The Tequila Worm, published in 2005 by Random House, (first edition) is a middle grade novel about a young Mexican American girl, Sofia, who comes from a family of storytellers. The tales Sofia hears strengthen her ties to her family and their traditions in the Texas barrio where they live. Though poor, the family does not struggle, finding riches in the practice of making Easter cascarones, (colored eggs) celebrating Dia de los Muertos, (Day of... Read The Tequila Worm Summary
The Wave is a 1981 young adult novel by Todd Strasser (originally written under the pseudonym Morton Rhue). A novelization of a teleplay by Johnny Dawkins for the 1981 made-for-TV movie of the same name, the story is a fictionalized account of a 1967 social experiment called “The Third Wave,” which took place at a high school in Palo Alto, California. In the novel, the experiment unfolds at the fictional Gordon High School. The story... Read The Wave Summary
The Whistling Season is one of 13 novels written by the late Ivan Doig. As with many of his other works, the story is set in Montana in the first half of the 20th century. Written in the first person, the narrative primarily takes place over the 1909-10 school year of the main character, 13-year-old Paul Milliron. Paul’s widowed father hires a housekeeper, Rose, who arrives with her brother, Morrie Morgan. Morrie, who becomes the... Read The Whistling Season Summary
Pramoedya Ananta Toer—a famous Indonesian editor, essayist, and social activist—wrote This Earth of Mankind (1980)—the first book of his series The Buru Quartet—while imprisoned in the Buru Concentration Camp following a military coup that overthrew Sukarno, the first democratically elected president of Indonesia. Incarcerated for 14 years and prevented from having writing material, Toer memorized the books of his series and recited them to his fellow inmates each day until his release in 1979. The... Read This Earth of Mankind Summary
Tightrope: Americans Reaching For Hope (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020) is a nonfiction book written by the journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who are also married. The book chronicles the individual impact of the American approach to poverty and offers prescriptions for how the United States can adopt a more human approach to those who are struggling with deprivation, addiction, and despair. Upon its release, the book was a New York Times best seller.Plot SummaryThe... Read Tightrope Summary
A lifetime student of graphic arts and highly regarded artist himself, Scott McCloud first published Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art in 1993. The book is a graphic nonfiction work—literally a comic book about comics as an art form. Soon after its publication, the book began to garner extensive praise, and it continues to be well received three decades later. Understanding Comics received several awards including the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book as well as... Read Understanding Comics Summary
Unflattening began as the first comic-form dissertation at Columbia University, where Nick Sousanis completed a doctorate in education in 2014. It was published by Harvard University Press in 2015 and functions as an argument for visual thinking in teaching and learning. In 2016 the book received the further accolade of the American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence. In a Paris Review interview with Timothy Hodler, Sousanis cited Scott McCloud’s 1993 Understanding Comics as... Read Unflattening Summary
Up From Slavery is an autobiography written by Booker T. Washington in 1901. Washington is most famous as the founder and first principal of the Tuskegee Institute, later Tuskegee University, a school for Black students in rural Tuskegee, Alabama. As the school became famous world-wide, Washington also became known as a public speaker, addressing diverse audiences around the world to promote his philosophy of industrial education. Historically, Washington is remembered as the first major Black... Read Up From Slavery Summary
Originally published in 1994, Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals primarily focuses on the 1957-58 school year at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, during which Beals was a member of the Little Rock Nine—the first group of Black students to attend the formerly all-white high school of 2,000 white students. Beals’s book, written for young-adult readers, speaks of her early life and her many adult accomplishments. Encouraged by school administrators and local... Read Warriors Don't Cry Summary
What the Best College Students Do, by American professor Ken Bain, describes how students can make the best of their college experience, not by trying to get good grades, but by studying deeply the topics that fascinate them. Filled with examples of students who followed their love of knowledge and went on to successful professional careers, What the Best College Students Do makes the case for deep learning, a process that provides benefits that can... Read What the Best College Students Do Summary
Woman at Point Zero, also titled Firdaus, is a 1975 novella by Nawal El Saadawi based on the true account of a woman named Firdaus who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1974. Saadawi was a prolific Egyptian feminist and physician, and she worked with Egyptian women who experienced various mental conditions that Saadawi saw largely as resulting from living in a patriarchal society. She had the privilege of meeting Firdaus on... Read Woman at Point Zero Summary
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a horror fiction novel by Max Brooks published in 2006. The book was a critical and commercial success, generally receiving positive reviews and spending several weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. It has sold millions of copies around the world and was subsequently turned into a successful movie starring Brad Pitt, released in 2013, and a highly rated video game, released in... Read World War Z Summary
