Summer Reading w/ the Mizzou Academy Team
On a bright Tuesday morning in July 2020, we brewed some coffee and sat down for a zoom with the Mizzou Academy team. It was a wonderful hour talking about books and building up our own reading lists.
|
Title |
Author |
Of note... |
Recommender |
|
Little Fires Everywhere |
Celeste Ng |
It's a book about two families who become tangled in each other's lives, one a wealthy, large family and the other a single mom and daughter who struggle financially. It tackles issues such as foreign adoptions, micro-aggressions, motherhood, and poverty. I read it in one sitting! |
Emily Gascoigne |
|
The Pioneers |
David McCullough |
For those who like historical fiction this is quite good. |
Jeff Kopolow |
|
Leadership |
Doris Kearns Goodwin' |
Fascinating study! |
Jeff Kopolow |
|
Leonardo DaVinci |
Walter Isaacson |
Absolutely amazing! |
Jeff Kopolow |
|
How to Be an Antiracist |
Ibram X. Kendi |
Mizzou Academy educator book club book. Dr. Kendi discusses concepts of racism and how to be actively and intentionally antiracist. |
Sherry Denney and Kathryn Fishman-Weaver |
|
Bold Moves for School |
Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Marie Hubley Alcock |
A great book about what teaching practices are antiquated, what we should retain, and what is needed for contemporary learners |
Sherry Denney |
|
China Dolls |
Lisa See |
A fascinating story about three girls who try to look like China dolls to appeal to American ideal of what Chinese women should look like to stay in good favor. One “Chinese” girl is actually Japanese and in hiding because of the Pearl Harbor bombing. |
Sherry Denney |
|
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria |
Beverly Daniel Tatum |
An important personal development book about race. |
Diane Johnson |
|
The Book of Lost Friends |
Lisa Winngate |
A compelling story from two points of view – 3 slave girls and a teacher who, years later, discovers their stories. |
Diane Johnson |
|
Tijuana Book of the Dead |
Luis Alberto Urrea |
Poetry from the voice of those who have struggled with poverty, repression, and rejection in Mexico. |
Lou Jobst |
|
The Splendid and the Vile |
Erik Larsen |
A book about Churchill’s first year in office that is nonfiction but reads like a novel about this historical time |
Lou Jobst |
|
28 Summers |
Elin Hildenbrand |
An addictive beach read (Lou got up at 2:00 in the morning to finish it!) about a couple who meets every Labor Day weekend for 28 years. |
Lou Jobst |
|
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education |
Christopher Emdin |
Personal development book about urban education that combines theory and story. |
Kimberly Kester |
|
American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan |
Matt Farwell and Michael Ames |
A fascinating narrative of the life of Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who was abducted by the Taliban. |
Kimberly Kester |
|
Behold the Dreamers |
Imbolo MbueI |
A great story about a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy |
Kimberly Kester |
|
Inside Out and Back Again |
Thanhhà Lai |
A novel in verse told by a 10 year-old about a Vietnamese family who flees Saigon for a refugee camp and then resettles in the United States. |
Kathryn Fishman-Weaver |
|
The Poet X |
Elizabeth Acevedo |
A novel in verse that tells the story of a Latinx high school student who is coming of age and finding her voice. |
Kathryn Fishman-Weaver |
|
Beloved and The Bluest Eye |
Toni Morrison |
This is a book to revisit again and again. |
Jessie Arnold |
|
Anything but Typical |
Nora Raleigh Baskin |
A book that even kids who don’t think they like to read will love about a boy who has autism. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, which is awarded to books that highlight disabilities in literature |
Jessie Arnold |
|
Circe |
Madeline Miller |
A story that brings to life the story of Circe, the enchantress from Greek Mythology |
Paul Craigmile |
|
State of Wonder |
Ann Patchett |
A fascinating tale that draws you into its story of a pharmacologist journeying to the Amazon. |
Paul Craigmile |
|
Station Eleven |
Emily St. John Mandel |
A fun book that’s hard to put down. Several in the book chat agreed. |
Paul Craigmile |
|
The Inheritance Trilogy |
N. K. Jemisin |
A fantasy series with a creative approach that is hard to put down. |
Lee Fent |
|
Boomtown |
Sam Anderson |
A book that weaves the history of basketball in Oklahoma with the history of this state. |
Lee Fent |
|
Steering the Craft |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
Lee’s daughter wants to be a writer, so he is reading this book about writing to steer his daughter on the craft. |
Lee Fent |
|
The Lovely War |
Julie Berry |
A beautifully written love story set in World War 1 that is creatively told by Aphrodite as she is trying to avoid being put on trial on Mount Olympus for having an affair. |
Jill Clingan |
|
The Stationery Shop |
Marjan Kamali |
A creative, lovely, and heartbreaking story that follows the story of two Iranian teenagers from the 1950s in Iran to the present day in America. |
Jill Clingan |