Summer Reading 2024
As summer break unfolds, educators across the nation take a well-deserved time of relaxation and rejuvenation. For many, summer break provides greater opportunities to indulge in favorite hobbies and pastimes, including reading.
This summer, the VEX Education Team invites you to dive into a few intriguing books that have reshaped our perspectives on education, creativity, technology, and imagination. We have included two categories that you will enjoy: Research & Professional Development Books and Just for Fun Books . Whether you’re looking to dive into research or escape into a world of fantasy, we know that you are sure to take away something meaningful. Let's explore together how we can bring these insights from the written realm into our classrooms this fall.
Research & Professional Development Books
Creativity, Education, and Society: Writings of Anna Craft compiled by Kerry Chappel, Teresa Cremin, and Bob Jeffrey
Professor Anna Craft was an international authority on creativity in education who served at the Open University, the University of Exeter, and Harvard University. This volume is filled with Anna Craft’s inspiring writings that center on five key themes: teaching and learning; the concept of “possibility thinking;” creativity and education professionals; creativity, wisdom, and ethics; and creativity and education futures. Her writings are sure to challenge your perspective on the use of creativity in the classroom, especially as it relates to problem-solving approaches to learning.
The Lost Tools of Learning: Symposium on Education by Dorothy Sayers
Considered a classic in the field of education, this timeless piece is sure to challenge your perspective on modern education. Written by Dorothy Sayers, a renowned 19th century writer, literary critic, and translator, The Lost Tools of Learning concisely discusses the art of learning, including how crucial skills, such as logical reasoning, argumentation, and effective communication were fostered in the Middle Ages, and what we can learn from their practices. This brief read covers many fascinating topics, including the importance of observation and memory work, the use of the imagination, and how the world around us can be used as a tool for teaching children how to think.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Johnathan Haidt
This fascinating research book examines the impact of phone use, social media, and changes in parenting on Gen Z mental health. The book is divided into four parts that explain mental health trends among adolescents since 2010; the nature of childhood and how childhood has changed for Gen Z; the harms that result from the new phone-based childhood; and what we should do now to reverse the damage in families, schools, and societies. Engagingly written and filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, this book will leave you enlightened about the mental health crisis affecting so many youth, as well as inspired by how you can make a difference as an educator.
AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action, and Health by Juan Ferres, William Weeks, and Brad Smith
Artificial Intelligence has the potential for immense damage as well as tremendous good. In this refreshing read, Microsoft AI researchers describe how Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab is seeking to make a positive impact through AI. The book provides non-technical explanations of how AI works and the many ways that AI is being leveraged for good, including how AI can analyze data without human bias, hasten disaster relief operations through providing real-time data to first responders, increase healthcare access and equity for patients, and more. This book will be a fascinating read for both educators and high school students that are interested in how AI functions and the ways emerging AI projects can benefit humanity.
Just for Fun Books
The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The House on the Cerulean Sea is a lighthearted, soft fiction and magical realism book that focuses on family and emphasizes that all children are worth loving and getting to know. Its setting centers on an orphanage filled with magical children and that master of the orphanage who will do anything to keep the children safe.
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Boys in the Boat is an inspiring story about the American Olympic rowing team that competed in Nazi Germany in 1936. The book follows Joe Rantz, a college student without family or prospects, but with incredible perseverance. You will be inspired as you follow him on his incredible journey and view how his teammates worked together to bring home the gold metal. The book is complete with photos and is based on the team’s authentic journals and memories.
The Searcher: A Novel by Tana French
If you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, this novel is for you. Considered one of the greatest crime novelists today, Tana French presents a suspenseful tale of a retired detective who purchases a fixer-upper in an Irish village. His bright and peaceful getaway becomes darkened when a local child’s brother disappears and he is forced to again put on his investigator hat.
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
This lesser known classic by Ray Bradbury is the perfect summer novel. Set in the summer of 1928, this novel follows the experience of a twelve-year-old boy in vintage Green Town, Illinois. Filled with imagery and beautiful figurative language, this novel is written in the form of interconnected short stories that explore nostalgia, the freshness of summertime, getting older, and dreaming.
We hope this blend of professional development resources and fun reads will enlighten and inspire you!
Have you read anything that impacted you this summer?
Please share your book recommendations with us in the Professional Learning Community!