With school back in session, it’s more important than ever for educators to carve out some time to themselves. What better way to broaden your horizons and find inner calm than by cracking open a book! The Kiddom team is delighted to share the reads that caught their attention this summer. With topics ranging from neuroscience to sociology to octopuses, this syllabus of summer reading recommendations can sustain your curious mind in between meetings and lessons. Enjoy, and let us know what you’ve been reading – on social, or in the comments below!
Kym Hawkins
Content Marketing Manager, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #1:
I’m reading The Soul of an Octopus. After watching a lot of The Blue Planet on Netflix this past month, I was pretty mesmerized by these creatures. They are so much smarter than we give them credit for… and they are helping us understand animal consciousness at an entirely new level.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
For the Science Teacher
Kym Hawkins
Content Marketing Manager, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #1:
I’m reading The Soul of an Octopus. After watching a lot of The Blue Planet on Netflix this past month, I was pretty mesmerized by these creatures. They are so much smarter than we give them credit for… and they are helping us understand animal consciousness at an entirely new level.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Ti-Fen Pan
Software Engineer, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #2:
This summer I read The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance. It is an interesting book to see how the mind can control behaviors practically.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
For the Social Studies Teacher
Abbas Manjee
Chief Academic Officer, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #3:
I am reading The Pragmatist: Bill de Blasio’s Quest to Save the Soul of New York. It’s mostly about the history of NYC mayors and posits the question, “Does NYC have a soul?”
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Rik Walters
Head of Marketing, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #4:
My mother lost her parents in the Holocaust, so I was compelled to read the incredible story of Lale Sokolov, who was interned at Auschwitz for two and a half years. Almost immediately he is put to work as a tattooist, tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Risking his own life, he uses his position to feed fellow prisoners, help others escape death, and he even finds love. I couldn’t put this book down.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Nicole Plante
Associate Product Designer, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #5:
This summer I read a book about three of the 276 young women abducted from their school dorms by the militant Boko Haram group in Nigeria: Beneath the Tamarind Tree. It is beautifully written and brings the reader there with Ms. Sesay. An important book that touches on empathy, global issues for equality and human rights, current events, the terror one can inflict on humanity and the horror of being forgotten.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Jessica Hunsinger
Product Manager, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #6:
I’m currently reading Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration. I like that it provides an in-depth look at each step of a prosecution by diving deep into a case study of two individuals. I also like how it provides an extension into understanding our criminal justice system while I wait for the Serial Podcast to cook up its next season.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
For the English Teacher
Raheel Ahmad
iOS Engineering Lead, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #7:
Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World delves into the value of deep reading, with a lot of research to back it up. This book was a good reminder in the age of digital devices and bite-size information consumption.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Summer Reading Recommendation #8:
Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Arundhati Roy is back with fiction, and it has a lot of her linguistic brilliance, but also reflects her fight against jingoism and oppression.
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
For Every Educator and School Leader
Nicole Plante
Associate Product Designer, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #9:
This summer I read School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. The book raises several important questions for educators: what are the effects of school leadership on student achievement? What specific leadership practices make a real difference in school effectiveness? How can we apply these findings to benefit our learning communities?
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
Vivi Hyacinthe
Marketing Copywriter, Kiddom
Summer Reading Recommendation #9:
This summer I read School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. The book raises several important questions for educators: what are the effects of school leadership on student achievement? What specific leadership practices make a real difference in school effectiveness? How can we apply these findings to benefit our learning communities?
Read the full synopsis and reviews here.
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