July is always the quietest month at work, with some vacation time thrown in. I love having more time to read professional books as well as middle grades books, in addition to my usual experiences. Don’t be shocked by the sheer amount of books I read (18!). I feel like I deserve a Pizza Hut or summer library reward, from my childhood reading days. This month I read:

• Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning by Natalie Wexler – I continue to find Wexler’s work (books and podcasts) fascinating. So much of what she covers goes against everything I ever learned in my credential program or early years of teaching, and yet some of it resonates with me today. After years of seeing good teachers struggle to meet competing demands, while student learning remains somewhat stagnant, I know we need to make some changes. This book repeats the ideas from Knowledge Matter, that articulate the crucial nature of elementary classes having a knowledge-building curriculum. In addition to that, Wexler adds now that educators need to plan with the science of learning in mind. This science will be new to most educators. One of her basic premises is that if we continue to use extended instruction time to focus on ELA and teaching kids comprehension strategies in isolation, we will never see growth. Instead, we need to use a knowledge-building curriculum to help students learn more content, through whole-group instruction and frequent checks for understanding of the knowledge. This then gives students something more specific to read and write about over time. As of the publication of this book, Wexler knew of some private schools and some individual teachers, especially in Louisiana, who were attempting to use this model. So while she shares data to explain the why, she doesn’t have robust data to back up her theory with proof that students are more successful. Her anecdotal data is compelling enough that I continue to seek out examples of this curriculum, with lingering doubts and questions in mind.
• Under the Dome by Stephen King – This was chosen for my Stephen King Summer book club, because King himself named it a best book of the 21st Century on the NY Times list. This is one of his longest, at over 1,000 pages, but I was hooked from the very first chapter and I didn’t want to stop reading it. We find ourselves in the small Maine town of Chester’s Mill when an invisble dome appears like a bubble over the entire town, cutting them off from the outside world. After much death, destruction and chaos at the town borders, the town leaders begin to take over and things quickly escalate into a non-democratic state. As evil takes over, the good people start to find one another. Like all other end-of-days apocalypse stories, what I appreciate is that there are always good people who are willing to stand up to evil. no matter the cost. Like all Stephen King books, this is full of good vs evil, children with significant intelligence, abusive men, small town politics, and some heroic actions. I loved this story so much!
• Learning by Design: Live/ Play/ Engage/ Create by Prakash Nair, Roni Zimmer Doctori, and Dr. Richard Elmore – My boss gifted me this book and another by Nair, with one specific project in mind (the future rebuild of a school). At first, I read with that principal and staff in mind, but quickly realized that this book would make a great book study with all of our principals. The combination of research on learning, real-world innovative examples, and concrete suggestions for professional learning, school construction, and re-thinking education were profound. The areas of live, play, engage, and create all had very specific action items to help lead to student-driven environments where curiosity drives learning. Much of this book asks us to look at education with a completely different mindset, and my mind struggled to visualize some of this in action, especially with very young learners. But that’s not because I doubt the young learners; I just know what a challenge it would be to shift the mindset of whole groups of educators AND parents who are used to traditional education as we currently know it. I love the message that hope, not fear, should be the primary driver of change. I have HOPE for this future [outside of the current political context]!
• Amari and the Great Game by B. B. Alston [audiobook] – I forgot about this middle grades series until Kaytee recently mentioned the third book on Currently Reading. I read the first book about 3 years ago, and I liked it, but didn’t rememeber much at all. Unfortunately, that made it much harder for me to truly get into book number two of this fantasy series where Amani uses her magic in summer camp to try to save the supernatural world. I wish I had reread #1 before this, to get back into the plot. It’s a fun series and full of magic and mystery.
• Blended by Sharon Draper – I have read and loved so many of Sharon Draper’s middle grade novels and this was no exception. In this sweet story, we meet Isabella, a biracial girl whose parents divorced, splitting her in two. She has different names at each of their houses, and each parent has a different race, so she is “blended” and trying to figure out who she is in this new world. This was such a sweet, tender story about family, race, music, and so much more. I would put this in the hand of any biracial middle grade child any time!
• Blueprint for Tomorrow: Redesigning Schools for Student-Centered Learning by Prakash Nair – This is the second book I read by this author for work this month. As mentioned above, the first was so inspiring I plan to use it with our principals this year. This book is much more specific for leaders who are going to embark on a school redesign. Many of the messages I loved in Learing by Design are mentioned in this book, with less details. Instead, this focuses on examples of actual blueprints, with some “do now” sections for leaders to try without any added costs. There are some fun tips and ideas in here, as well as some VERY out of the box thoughts, some of which I can’t even wrap my mind around. This author is really trying to turn our ideas of schools upside down and inside out, and a lot more learning and support would be needed for most of our traditional models to make changes that drastic.
• The Celebrants by Steven Rowley [audiobook]- This was such a fun book to listen to during the summer! There were laugh-out-loud funny moments and cry-happy-and-sad-tears moments. The five main characters make a pack in college to hold living wakes for each of them while they are alive, after a friend passes away suddenly. Over twenty years, they come back together during the hard times in their lives. The biggest message is to be sure to tell your people you love them and what they mean to you while they are still here. I enjoy how this author creates fun and realistic characters.
• The Space We’re In by Katya Balen – What a beautiful middle grades novel! We meet Frank and his family during a challenging time of life. Frank’s brother Max is Autistic and Max takes a lot of 1:1 care from their mother, who also happens to be feeling run down lately. Frank and Max’s father works a lot and doesn’t help much around the house. Frank starts his school year happy to be the oldest Year Six group and happy that Max is able to finally go to his own special school, so their mom can get some support. Soon, things spiral and we see this family go through some beautifully touching and also challenging times. I cried in multiple spots of this book, but they were tears full of love for this sweet family. I LOVED this book!
• a first time for everything by Dan Santat – This is a cute graphic novel about Dan, a boy who had a rough time in middle school. After many embarrassing moments, Dan is shipped off by his parents on a summer adventure trip to Europe, with a group of people who have not been friendly to him. Over time, Dan learns to accept himself, figure out what he likes, and how to make friends and enjoy the adventure. This is a great book about growing through the awkwardness of adolescence, accepting change, and surviving unimaginable tragedy.
• Iveliz Explains it All by Andrea Beatriz Arango [audiobook] – This is a beautiful middle grades story about Iveliz, a young girl who lost her father in a car accident, and who is struggling to communicate what she needs with her friends, family, and teachers. As we hear her innermost thoughts, we are taken through her journey to have her emotional needs met, through mental health supports including therapy and medication. Her depression is made real, in kid voice, for the reader. In addition, her family’s love and history from Puerto Rico enhance this story with traditions and memories.
• The Shutouts by Gabrielle Korn – I loved this queer dystopian novel set between 2041 and 2078, with different narrators telling us what happened to Earth after an explosive climate change/ global warning disaster. We follow a variety of queer young adults as they navigate their lives in these dystopian times, with found family supporting them through family drama, food and house insecurities, endless travel, and more. This story was both heartwarming and heartbreaking, uplifting and depressing. I hope our future doesn’t end up like this, but if it does, I hope there are good people around to help us all survive with dignity.
• Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by M. J. Wassmer – I loved the title of this book and the brief synoposis I heard, thinking it would be a fun summer read. It was engaging and propulsive and not what I expected, but I loved it! We meet Dan and Mara as they begin a vacation at an all-inclusive, brand new resort in the Bahamas. They are enjoying everything when the sun explodes. Literally. The sun explodes. As the world is thrown into darkness, and then cold weather begins, this becomes like my favorite CliFi novels, where the best and the worst of humanity come out to play/ plan/ destroy and so much more. This is such a fun read!
• The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali [audiobook] – This book made my heart smile! When we meet Amos, the hero of this beautiful middle grades novel, he is a volunteer at a living history museum and an out gay kid experiencing a major crush. As he and his best friend, a young Black girl, realize how much of their stories are not represented in the history they help reenact, we get to know them and LGBTQ+ and Black heroes of the Civil War. This is a DEI masterpiece and it makes me sad that all children will probably not be able to find this as easily as they should.
• Out of My Heart (#2) by Sharon Draper [audiobook] – I rediscovered my love for Sharon Draper’s work this summer. In this second book from the Out of My Mind series we catch up with Melody over the summer. A middle school student with cerebal palsy, Melody is confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak verbally or control her own body. We learned in the first book that this doesn’t mean Meloday can’t think; she is extremely intelligent and can use her “Elvira” tool for communication. Through her narration we get a deep look into all of her thoughts as she experiences a sleepaway camp on her own for the first time in her life. Her joy is infectious and this was such a beautiful story of independence, support, and friendship.
• Cultures of Thinking in Action: 10 Mindsets to Transform our Teaching and Students’ Learning by Ron Ritchhart – My professional reading this summer has included a deep dive into Ron Ritchhart’s cultures of thinking work, in alignment with the Learning by Design books I also read. I appreciate this book for the 10 mindsets he outlines, along with the research (the why), reflective questions for teachers, ways to collect street data in your current context, and videos and examples available to read and view for more specifics. This book made me think about how we help educators and the general public learn to think differently about what learning looks and sounds like, and how we share out students’ learning progress. We need to move beyond traditional grades and standarized test scores and into more authentic and purposeful demonstrations of learning, but that is a HUGE shift for most of our country! I’m recommending this to a few specific leaders to consider with their staff this year. I will be focusing on 1-2 mindsets this year in my own learning and growth.
• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans – I have seen many people rave about this book this summer and now I know why. This epistolary novel tell the beautiful life story of Sybil Van Antwerp, a lawyer, mother, sister, adopted daughter, friend and correspondent. Through her letters to anyone and everyone (she would literally write letters to anyone!), we get to know Sybil later in her life, as she begins to lose her eye sight. But we also learn of her entire life, through family and friendships, heartbreak and success. Sybil’s letters warmed my heart and touched my soul. This was a beautiful book and I was please to learn that the author graduated from my alma mater, James Madison University!
• The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera [audiobook] – I have seen various teachers in my district read this book with students, or recommend it to students, and I knew I wanted to read it. This is a unique story that starts out in New Mexico in 2060, then transitions to a space shuttle, then outerspace in the WAY distant future. We meet Petra as a child knowing Earth is about to “die” and she and her family are going to space, where she will be put in suspended animation for hundreds of years before awakening with new knowledge in her mind, ready to populate a new planet. When she wakes, nothing is as it seems. Petra has to figure out what is going on, while keeping herself safe and fighting to find her family. This is a story about family and the value of storytelling.
• No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper – I know I heard this book described on a recent podcast, but I can’t remember which one. I loved the begining, when Angie wakes up to a call from the police telling her that her husband was shot in a bar, which makes no sense to Angie, who thinks her husband is still in bed next to her. As we get to know what happened in that bar, through Angie and a variety of other narrators, we see how mass shootings affect survivors, victims, their families, and so much more. This was such a horrific topic written about so beautifully, through individual stories and kind strangers. Despite the topic, I loved this book and the author’s message.

Favorite Books

• Best BRICK of a novel about end-of-days apocalypse behavior: Under the Dome
• Best Professional learning book that gave me hope for a better future for education: Learning by Design: Live/ Play/ Engage/ Create
• Best Middle Grades Book that tugged at my heart and reminded me that these books are the best: Blended AND The Space We’re In AND The Civil War of Amos Abernathy AND Out of My Heart (so many great middle grade books this summer!)
• Best book with stories that made me laugh out loud: The Celebrants
• Best book told through letters across decades: The Correspondent
• Best book about a horrific topic handled so well that I would read it again: No Hiding in Boise