Share 12 Engaging Reads for Students in Life’s Classroom

12 Engaging Reads for Students in Life’s Classroom

Kerry Fiallo is a New York native and copywriter at Simon & Schuster. A lifelong voracious reader, she has a particular fondness for ghost stories, history, and anything to do with Mary Shelley, Ada Lovelace, and the Brontë sisters. The only thing she may love more than books is black tea, but they do often go well together. You can find her as she navigates through literature and history on Twitter @ReadingInNYC and on Tumblr.

The beginning of a new school year always brings so much promise and possibility—cracking open the spines of new books to challenge you, engage you, take you to new worlds. In honor of back-to-school season, here are twelve eye-opening, thought-provoking books for a master class of your own.


Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott

Perfect for writers and non-writers alike, Anne Lamott explores the rewarding and often agonizing art of crafting your own stories. Laugh-out-loud funny, relatable, and whip-smart, BIRD BY BIRD offers so much more than just advice on writing; it also provides excellent guidance on the universal ups and downs of modern living.

Bird by Bird
Anne Lamott

Perfect for writers and non-writers alike, Anne Lamott explores the rewarding and often agonizing art of crafting your own stories. Laugh-out-loud funny, relatable, and whip-smart, BIRD BY BIRD offers so much more than just advice on writing; it also provides excellent guidance on the universal ups and downs of modern living.

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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The much-needed and long-awaited history of the United States from the perspective of its indigenous peoples challenges long-held myths and prejudices. Dunbar-Ortiz’s careful research spans more than 400 years and articulates the colonialist attempts to completely remove the once 15 million Native people who called this country home.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The much-needed and long-awaited history of the United States from the perspective of its indigenous peoples challenges long-held myths and prejudices. Dunbar-Ortiz’s careful research spans more than 400 years and articulates the colonialist attempts to completely remove the once 15 million Native people who called this country home.

MENTIONED IN:

12 Engaging Reads for Students in Life’s Classroom

By Kerry Fiallo | September 6, 2016

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Stiff
by Mary Roach
STIFF is a hilarious and compelling tale of the afterlife that explores the active lives of human bodies postmortem. Throughout human history, cadavers have been appropriated for scientific experiments, medicinal research, and more. While not exactly for the faint of heart, STIFF is an oddly human tale that will change the way you look at our bodies.

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Men Explain Things To Me
by Rebecca Solnit
Fierce, funny, and feminist, Rebecca Solnit crafts several brilliant—often scathing—essays on gender politics, violence against women, and her own personal encounters with men who felt the need to explain things to her. MEN EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME breathes new life into the feminist movement for the twenty-first century.
Men Explain Things To Me
Rebecca Solnit

Everyone felt some quiet justified rage when they finished reading Elena Ferrante’s quartet, right? Reading this essay collection was gratifying and restorative. The genius Rebecca Solnit recognizes and deconstructs scenarios that far too many women have experienced (in the titular essay, she recounts how a man once explained the plot of her own book to her). It’s funny and sad and smart and stokes a righteous anger in all the right ways.

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Destiny of the Republic
by Candice Millard

One of the most beautifully written, heartbreaking, and haunting books about a president, DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC follows the senseless assassination of President Garfield, the unstable man who committed the crime, and the efforts of Alexander Graham Bell to save the dying president.

Destiny of the Republic
Candice Millard

One of the most beautifully written, heartbreaking, and haunting books about a president, DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC follows the senseless assassination of President Garfield, the unstable man who committed the crime, and the efforts of Alexander Graham Bell to save the dying president.

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Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This powerful, gripping love story follows two young Nigerians as they struggle to escape their military-ruled country and find fulfillment in the United States and Great Britain. Delving into the fraught issues of race, identity, and being an outsider in a strange country, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivers a provocative social commentary.
Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This powerful story of race and gender is centered on Ifemelu, a brilliant and self-assured young woman who departs military-ruled Nigeria for an American university where, for the first time, she is forced to grapple with her identity as a black woman. Ifemelu faces difficult choices and challenges, suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, and eventually achieves success as the writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. Fearless and gripping, Americanah is a richly told story set in today’s globalized world.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
This landmark book of modern science is also an exploration of race, poverty, consent, and ethics. In 1951, when Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer, had her cells taken without her knowledge, she had no idea the cancer that was killing her would provide the groundwork for the very first immortal human cell line and a multibillion dollar industry.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot

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Talking about race isn’t easy. It’s personal, it’s political, it’s visceral. Here are 12 books that have changed the way we talk about race in America.

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Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
A coming-of-age tale unlike any other, PERSEPOLIS is the memoir of a young Iranian girl as she lives through the 1979 Islamic revolution. Personal, political, funny, and heartbreaking, Marjane Satrapi’s unique graphic depiction of adolescence demonstrates the human cost of war.
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution is intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original. The child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

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This Changes Everything
by Naomi Klein
This gripping, eye-opening text successfully argues that in order to combat climate change, a restructuring of the global economy is required. Naomi Klein demonstrates—in comprehensible language—that by reducing our greenhouse emissions, we can not only help the planet but also improve our political and economic systems.
This Changes Everything
Naomi Klein

This is an essential text on the future of our planet and the future of the global economy. Naomi Klein argues that climate change can be an opportunity to radically transform our broken economic and cultural priorities.

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Going Clear
by Lawrence Wright

With years of research, dozens of interviews, and writing as rousing as the best thrillers, GOING CLEAR is the astonishing tale of Scientology and its fraught relationship with Hollywood, the IRS, and its own members. Compelling and thought-provoking, Lawrence Wright asks us to evaluate just what constitutes a religion and how faith works in our modern times.

Going Clear
Lawrence Wright

With years of research, dozens of interviews, and writing as rousing as the best thrillers, GOING CLEAR is the astonishing tale of Scientology and its fraught relationship with Hollywood, the IRS, and its own members. Compelling and thought-provoking, Lawrence Wright asks us to evaluate just what constitutes a religion and how faith works in our modern times.

MENTIONED IN:

12 Engaging Reads for Students in Life’s Classroom

By Kerry Fiallo | September 6, 2016

Close

The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is the most expansive volume of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s evocative short stories, including his masterpieces—such as “Babylon Revisited” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”—and lesser-known works from his turbulent years in Hollywood. Heartbreaking and haunting, Fitzgerald’s short fiction solidifies his reputation as arguably the greatest American author of the twentieth century.

The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is the most expansive volume of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s evocative short stories, including his masterpieces—such as “Babylon Revisited” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”—and lesser-known works from his turbulent years in Hollywood. Heartbreaking and haunting, Fitzgerald’s short fiction solidifies his reputation as arguably the greatest American author of the twentieth century.

MENTIONED IN:

12 Engaging Reads for Students in Life’s Classroom

By Kerry Fiallo | September 6, 2016

Close

Salt
by Mark Kurlansky
Never has something so commonplace been so fascinating. Mark Kurlansky crafts a captivating history of salt, which has irrevocably shaped mankind, been used as currency, founded trade routes, and helped direct wars and empires. SALT will make you reconsider how vital this household item is to our history.
Salt
Mark Kurlansky

Nothing beats the combo of sugary goodness with a salty bite—and that, my friends, is the excuse I will use for eating way too many of these cookies. Mark Kurlansky’s masterpiece about the “only rock we eat” is a sweeping history of one of the most influential ingredients in the world. Fascinating on every level, SALT will open your eyes to the way this mineral has shaped civilization and flavor.

Cut dough into shapes with any cookie cutter, place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet, and bake for 6-8 minutes.

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