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.

The Eights

by Joanna Miller

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Grief, Femininity, Gender Identity, Coming of Age, Friendship, Education, War

Tags Historical Fiction, Gender & Feminism

Joanna Miller’s debut historical fiction novel, The Eights (2025), is set at Oxford University in 1920, beginning on the historic day that women are first permitted to matriculate and become full members of the university. New students Beatrice, Marianne, Dora, and Otto are assigned rooms on the same corridor. They form a tight-knit friendship group known as “the Eights.” As they navigate their first year, they contend with institutional hostility, restrictive rules, and the lingering... Read The Eights Summary

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery

Publication year 2006

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Art, Beauty, Literature, Coming of Age, Midlife, Education, Loneliness, Death, Language, Community, Appearance & Reality, Family, Friendship, Self Discovery

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Philosophy, Philosophy, Social Class, Arts & Culture, Depression & Suicide, Relationships, French Literature

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

The Feminine Mystique

by Betty Friedan

Publication year 1963

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Education, Economics

Tags Gender & Feminism, US History, World History, Love & Sexuality, Women`s Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government

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

by Erin Gruwell and Freedom Writers

Publication year 1999

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Education, Family, Language

Tags Education, Education, Inspirational, Biography

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

The Goal

by Elle Kennedy

Publication year 2016

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Guilt, Love, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Birth, Death, Family, Social Class, Community, Education

Tags Romance

... Read The Goal Summary

The Hare With Amber Eyes

by Edmund de Waal

Publication year 2010

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Art, Family, Perseverance, Fear, Memory, Race, The Past, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Education, Politics & Government, War, Beauty, Equality, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies

Tags Jewish Literature, World History

Edmund de Waal’s The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family memoir that traces the fate of a collection of Japanese netsuke across generations of the Ephrussi family. Blending personal narrative with cultural history, the author reconstructs the rise and fall of his Jewish ancestors against the backdrop of Western Europe’s turbulent modern history. The book is a meditation on the Jewish diaspora and the fragility of cultural assimilation, exploring how objects, particularly works... Read The Hare With Amber Eyes Summary

The House of Eve

by Sadeqa Johnson

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Safety & Danger, Power & Greed, Education, Mothers, Marriage, Social Class, Sexual Identity, Race, Femininity, Shame & Pride, Regret, Love

Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, Race & Racism, World History

... Read The House of Eve Summary

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

by Victor Hugo

Publication year 1831

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Fear, Gratitude, Hate & Anger, Love, Regret, Revenge, Shame & Pride, Disability, Language, Sexual Identity, Death, Family, Friendship, Social Class, Community, Education, Nation, Politics & Government, Art, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Gothic Literature, French Literature, World History

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is an 1831 gothic novel by French author Victor Hugo, originally published under the title Notre-Dame de Paris. Set in 15th-century France, the novel concerns the intertwined stories of Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Archdeacon Claude Frollo. The story has been adapted many times for theater, television, and film, including an animated film by Disney released in 1996.This guide refers to the 2009 Oxford Classics edition of the novel, translated from French to... Read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Summary

The Idiot

by Elif Batuman

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Literature, Beauty, Education, Truth & Lies

Tags Coming of Age, Life-Inspired Fiction, Immigration & Refugeeism, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

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