Summer Reading List for Teachers
Don't miss out on some great reads this summer!
Guys Read!
I wanted to start this summer's reading list and tip the hat to our fellow/fella teachers to yell from the Viking Mountain top: Guys Read!! Here are just a few to share with you that are here in the Viking Media Center for check out!
Biographies are always a hit with our male students:
- This land was made for you and me : the life & songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Patridge (the life of the singer/songwriter who developed Huntington's Disease)
- Unbroken : an Olympian's journey from airman to castaway to captive by Laura Hillenbrand - a must if you haven't read it!
- The boys who challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
- My favorite match : WWE superstars tell the stories of their most memorable matches by Jon Robinson
- The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (excellent book!)
- Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain science by John Fleischman - The true story of Phineas Gage, whose brain had been pierced by an iron rod in 1848, and who survived and became a case study in how the brain functions.
Poetry:
- The Rose that grew from Concrete by Tupac Amaru Shakur - A collection of poems written by rap artist and actor Tupac Shakur at the age of nineteen.
Then a favorite with male students here:
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - Tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different--and far more satisfying--than he ever imagined.
- Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen - After his anger erupts into violence, fifteen year-old Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the Native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.
- The Martian a novel by Andy Weir - Astronaut Mark Watney is stranded and completely alone on Mars, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive, but Mark isn't ready to give up and drawing on his engineering skills and determination, he faces each obstacle with resourcefulness, but will it be enough for him to survive?
Ladies love Lit too!
Wherever you go this summer take time for yourself to read an amazing book. Here are just a few that I have read:
- Go Set a Watchmen by Harper Lee - After this landmark new novel set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece was unearthed you should treat yourself to this treasure.
- I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai - This inspirational book about Malala Yousafzai's describes her fight for education for girls under Taliban rule, the support she received from her parents to pursue an education, and how the Taliban retaliated against her by trying to kill her.
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - an original thriller no doubt! Jane, a plain and penniless orphan in nineteenth-century England, accepts employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall and soon finds herself in love with her melancholy employer, Mr. Edward Rochester, a man with a terrible secret.
Here are a few that our Viking Student's favorites for the year:
Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer - Calla Tor faces new challenges as the alpha member of her shape-shifting wolf pack, and while she tries to prove herself to her pack, Calla must protect Ansel and decide whether saving Ren is worth evoking Shay's wrath.
- The Selection by Kiera Cass - Sixteen-year-old America Singer is living in the caste-divided nation of Illea, which formed after the war that destroyed the United States. America is chosen to compete in the Selection--a contest to see which girl can win the heart of Illea's prince--but all she really wants is a chance for a future with her secret love, Aspen, who is a caste below her
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Sixteen-year-old Jacob, having traveled to a remote island after a family tragedy, discovers an abandoned orphanage, and, after some investigating, he learns the children who lived there may have been dangerous and quarantined and may also still be alive.
You must find and read these titles from your local book store (adult titles):
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - This fast paced book will speak to every female at any level of her adult life. A great mystery and you can never discount a great review from the King: "A hell of a good book. Funny and scary.”—Stephen King
- Furiously Happy- this book is a sequel to her first book "Let's Pretend it Never happened" and it will leave you laughing and crying. In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? Sounds dark but it really is great and makes one realize, maybe we're all a little bit crazy?!
- Orphan Train by Christina Baker Cline - As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are reminders of a turbulent past. Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they appear.
Have a great summer!
You deserve only the best this summer. I hope you have safe travels and reflect back on this year's accomplishments.