HarperAcademic

Required Summer Reading for High Schools: 2016

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 26 May 2016 15:49:00 +0000

There's always a lot of debate about required summer reading for high school students. Should summer reading be required? The high school teachers who I know believe it's important to keep students reading during the summer—but many also tell me that a good percentage of students don't complete the assignment—even students who have enrolled in an Advanced Placement course! Some schools have resorted to asking parents and students to sign a contract stating that summer reading and assignments will be completed.

What to read? These lists can cause an uproar. This year, Waltham High School’s choice of All American Boyshas been controversial. In the past, Pensacola High School’s One School/One book summer reading program was cancelled when their choice Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother became too contentious. There are many more examples. Google “summer reading high school controversy” to get page after page of hits.

In addition to classic literature such as Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, The Scarlet Letter, Rebecca, Brave New World, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and To Kill a Mockingbird, high schools assign an array of contemporary titles. Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, Ender’s Game, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho appear on many required reading lists. This year, Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman and The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr are making their first appearances on these lists.

In nonfiction, William Kamkwamba's The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricty and Hope, Outliers by Malcomb Gladwell, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Thank You for Arguing, and Zinsser’s classic On Writing Well are favorites.

Here's a sampling of required summer reading lists from public and private high school around the country:

If you’ve clicked and browsed through any of these lists, you've noticed that Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a summer reading favorite along with Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Here, they meet in our First Page video series: Thomas C. Foster, a professor at the University of Michigan, leads students through the first page of To Kill a Mockingbird. Professor Foster shows students how the first page of a novel holds the key to style, point of view, narrative identity—and other important clues to what is to come. We hope you'll share this video with your students before they start their summer reading assignment.

For teachers who have assigned Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, make sure to share this video of Zora’s niece reading from the first pages of her aunt’s novel. Lucy Anne Hurston—a professor and chair of the sociology department at Manchester Community College—gives a reading that helps your students appreciate the beauty of the passages written in dialect.

Happy Birthday, Sigmund Freud!

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Fri, 06 May 2016 15:43:00 +0000

Sigmund Freud was born today in 1856.

To learn more about the founder of psychoanalysis and its impact, check out George Makari’s masterful history, Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis—the first book ever to fully account for the making and spread of psychoanalysis.

Praise for Revolution in Mind:

“George Makari has written nothing less than a history of the modern mind.”—Paul Auster

“The best informed history of psychoanalysis. Freud’s context is more fully elaborated by Makari than ever before.”—Harold Bloom

To read a sample, please click here.

LOVE WINS: New Book on the Fight for Marriage Equality

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:12:00 +0000

In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, Love Wins—out this June—reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. This is a story of law and love—and a promise made to a dying man who wanted to know how he would be remembered.

“A tender story, inspiring, and ultimately a huge celebration. . . . You will never forget Jim Obergefell and his lawyer Al Gerhardstein, two men who fought with every ounce of will they could muster. This book will become a classic.”—Erin Brockovich

To learn more about Love Wins, please check out the video below of Pulitzer Prize winner and co-author Debbie Cenziper interviewing Jim Obergefell.

Lester C. Thurow Dead at 77

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 19:18:00 +0000

Lester C. Thurow, bestselling author and MIT economist, has died at age 77. Thurow was a leading global economist and longtime advocate for closing the wage gap between rich and poor Americans. He embraced his role as an educator on economy, using metaphor and other devices to make his topics easy to understand. He is survived by his wife, Anna.

The full New York Times obituary can be read here.

Ota Benga - SPECTACLE

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 19:33:00 +0000

Yesterday, March 20, 2016, marked the 100th anniversary of Ota Benga's suicide. Ota, a young Congolese "pygmy," was captured by slavers in Africa, but American explorer Samuel Phillips Verner bought Ota's freedom and convinced Ota to return with him to America.

In the United States, Ota was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later, the New York Zoological Gardens displayed him in its Monkey House, caging the slight 103-pound, 4-foot 11-inch man with an orangutan. Years later, the dehumanization and subsequent depression Ota suffered drove him to ultimately take his own life.

You can read Ota Benga's full story in Pamela Newkirk's Spectacle. Read a sample here.

More African American studies titles are available in our online catalog.

GIRLS & SEX In the 21st Century

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 20:36:00 +0000

A fascinating video from author of the beloved Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein, delves into the nature of sex and intimacy for girls today. Orenstein draws from the research she did for her new book, Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape, to go in depth on what sexual satisfaction means for girls, and how often their satisfaction derives from their male partners' satisfaction rather than their own. She also discusses how today's hookup culture has changed the nature of sex. "Sex," she says, "rather than being an expression of intimacy, is now the precursor of intimacy."

Girls & Sex goes on sale 3/29. For information on other Women's Studies titles, visit our Gender and Women's Studies online catalog.

You can watch Peggy's video below.

Lesson Plans Available for EPIC MEASURES

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 19:31:00 +0000

Journalist Jeremy N. Smith's Epic Measures is the true story of a 20-year, 500-scientist, $100-million moonshot attempt to track and quantify every illness, injury, and death for everyone on Earth: the biggest of Big Data ever. The book offers an intimate look at doctor and economist Christopher Murray, who began the Global Burden of Disease studies, and whose unwavering determination to improve global health standards has already changed the way the world addresses issues of health and wellness, sets policy, and distributes funding.

“An inspiring story of how a simple idea, conceived logically and pursued with grit, can greatly improve the human condition.”—Edward O. Wilson, University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

Professors at universities—including Harvard, Oxford, Dartmouth, University of Michigan—have already adopted Epic Measures and taken advantage of the free data provided by the IHME to teach their students the vital connection between health statistics and effective public health policy.

To view lesson plans for Epic Measures, please click here.

To access IHME’s data, please click here.

Tappan Wilder Continues His Uncle's Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 18:09:00 +0000

Tappan Wilder, nephew of famed American author Thornton Wilder, joined residents of Wallowa County for their 10th Fishtrap Big Read Kickoff. The Big Read features two of Wilder's works: the play Our Town and the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Tappan Wilder gave a comprehensive presentation of his uncle's life to better help the attendees understand the context in which his uncle wrote. He also answered questions from the audience and even had staff members perform a three minute Thornton Wilder play.

As executor of Thronton Wilder's literary estate, Tappan Wilder enjoys going out and interacting directly with people who are reading his uncle's works. "I always remember that my uncle was writing to reach people," he told Wallowa County Chieftan, the local newspaper. "How can I run the estate of a writer without going out to see who is reading or producing him?"

You can view the full article here.

In Memoriam: Chris Kyle

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:00:00 +0000

On this day in 2013, Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling memoir American Sniper, was killed. Kyle was shot by a former Marine whom Kyle had taken out to a shooting range to help the Marine work through his PTSD.

Credited with over 160 kills, Chris Kyle is considered the most lethal sniper in American military history. His training and time as a US Navy SEAL, consisting of four tours overseas, were the foundation of American Sniper, which was later made into a movie starring Bradley Cooper. He served in the Navy from 1999-2009, then spent the next four years living in Texas with his wife, Taya, and their two children.

A Modern Romeo and Juliet

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 20:11:00 +0000

In the world we know, the story of two neighbors with ethnic differences falling in love might be the subject of a romantic comedy. In Afghanistan, it's the equivalent of Romeo and Juliet falling in love—worse, even, for Juliet's family never felt compelled to kill her to protect their family's honor. This is the compelling, true story told in Rod Nordland's The Lovers.

Zakia and Mohammad Ali grew up as neighbors, but differing backgrounds forbade contact. Eschewing custom, they fell in love, married, and fled both the authorities and Zakia's vengeful family. Currently, they live in hiding in Afghanistan, and hope to one day leave the country with their baby daughter.

Rod Nordland, who initially wrote a New York Times article about the pair, chronicles the story of their forbidden love while offering insight into the role women's rights (or lack thereof) and sectarian differences play in Afghan culture.

You can meet Zakia and Mohammad, along with their daughter, in the video below.

For further reading, please take a look at our Islamic Studies Catalog.

Required Reading: Paul Daugherty's AN UNCOMPLICATED LIFE

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:53:00 +0000

University of Cincinnati's Special Education Department has made Paul Daugherty's An Uncomplicated Life: A Father's Memoir of His Exceptional Daughter required reading!

Paul’s book is an exhilarating and funny love letter to Jillian, his daughter with Down syndrome, recounting tales from her mischievous childhood, through high school and college, and up to the present day, as Jillian works to support herself, and is engaged to the love of her life. Through her unmitigated love for others, her sparkling charisma, and her boundless capacity for joy, Jillian has inspired those around her to live better and more fully.

Praise from University of Cincinnati:

“Paul Daugherty recently made several presentations at our request at the University of Cincinnati and shared his book An Uncomplicated Life with faculty and students. As a result, the special education program has decided that his powerful story is essential reading for all future teachers. The book will be read by ALL Early Childhood, Middle School, Secondary & Special Education teacher candidates who enroll in the required course—Individuals with Exceptionalities. Paul's book offers important parent perspective to future educators and fosters essential collaboration between educators and parents.”—Karen S. Troup M.Ed., Special Education Program Coordinator, School of Education, University of Cincinnati

To read more about the book, please click here.

Worlds Apart

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 16:56:00 +0000

In anticipation of her upcoming book Midnight in Broad Daylight, author Pamela Rotner Sakamoto has created a short video to introduce readers to the Fukuhara family. During the Depression, the members of the family wind up separated between Japan and America. World War II solidifies that separation as the boys find themselves on opposite sides of a worldwide conflict.

Everything changes when an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.

You can watch Pamela's video below.

Midnight in Broad Daylight goes on sale January 5, 2016.

Discovering Hidden History

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 17:44:00 +0000

Last week, Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don’t Know Much About History, was featured on Maine National Public Radio. Davis—who has devoted his career to discovering the truth behind the myths and fallacies of history—discussed how the most fascinating and sometimes troubling parts of history aren't taught in the classroom. You can listen to the full show here.

For more information on Kenneth C. Davis and his works, you can visit his website.

Read Like a Detective!

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 21:51:00 +0000

We're delighted to share this video from Justin Smith, a teacher at Democracy Prep in NYC. Justin talks about a school-wide event that got his students excited to read Agatha Christie, introduced them to the mystery genre, and showed them how to read like detectives.

If your school has done an innovative project for one of Agatha Christie’s books, please let us know!

For more Agatha Christie resources, check out our page on Agatha Christie.

You Could Win a Classroom Set of A PEOPLE'S HISTORY!

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 15:50:00 +0000

The Zinn Education Project is offering teachers the exciting opportunity to win a classroom set (35 copies) of the new 35th anniversary edition of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Teachers looking to enter the contest, which lasts until November 30, can find more information here.

The Zinn Education Project, inspired by Zinn's People's History, encourages teaching middle and high school students about United States history in engaging and dynamic ways. They offer free downloadable lesson plans and other resources for teachers of American history.

Mary Karr Interviews Father James Martin About His Debut Novel, THE ABBEY

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 14:16:00 +0000

Father James Martin, the revered Jesuit priest and New York Times bestselling author of Jesus and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, has written a captivating, poignant, and often funny debut novel in the tradition of the spiritual classics The Shack and The Screwtape Letters.

To learn more about the novel, its inspiration, and the writing process, please view Mary Karr's wonderful interview with Father Martin below.

BEASTS OF NO NATION Film To Be Released This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 15:22:00 +0000

The much-anticipated film adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala’s riveting novel Beasts of No Nation hits Netflix and selected theaters this week. You can see the trailer below.

Iweala’s short but enormously powerful novel is told in the voice of Agu, a young boy in an unnamed West African nation, who is recruited into a unit of guerrilla fighters as civil war engulfs his country. A strikingly original narrative that vividly captures Agu’s youth and confusion, this story will give students the opportunity to explore current issues with a deep complexity and humanity.

“The hypnotic present tense, first-person narration draws the reader deep into the child soldier’s shattered psyche.”—The Washington Post

Beasts of No Nation has been adopted as a freshman common read at Kalamazoo College and in literature and politics courses throughout the country.

Author Kristen Green Visits Her Alma Mater

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 19:41:00 +0000

Kristen Green, author of Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County, writes about returning to her alma mater and sharing her story with students:

"This fall, I visited my alma mater, University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Va. to give a lecture about my new book, Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County. It was so meaningful to return to the place where I found my voice, the place where I learned to question authority, the place where I realized that I wanted to be a journalist and writer. I particularly enjoyed talking with the students who work as reporters and editors for the student newspaper, as I did in college.

I was also proud to share the story of my hard-won success with Mary Washington students. I loved being able to tell them about the years I spent toiling as a reporter at small-town newspapers and working my way up to big city newspapers. I loved telling them about my seed of an idea for a book and about the decade I spent making it happen through sheer determination. It was important to me to encourage them to question the white-washed view of history we are often taught, to acknowledge our shameful pasts, and to use their time in college to make friends across racial and ethnic lines."

To learn more about Kristen Green, visit her website.

Announcing Regina Calcaterra's New Book

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 18:07:00 +0000

Regina Calcaterra’s New York Times-bestselling memoir Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island continues to get great pick up in common read programs across the country.

In conjunction with these programs, Calcaterra will be speaking at a number of schools this fall—everywhere from middle schools to colleges, including Whitestone Middle School in Queens and Hesston College in Kansas. She has also been invited back to Suffolk County Community College in New York.

Since the release of Etched in Sand in August 2013, Calcaterra has taken advantage of over 150 opportunities to speak to readers across the US. Her appearances have included libraries, not for profits and academic institutions like St. Petersburg College in Florida, the State University of New York at New Paltz and Stony Brook, Hunter College, Concordia College, and Clarkson College. She has also spoken at many high schools and middle schools, including twice at Lacey Township High School in New Jersey, where the administration has hundreds of students read the book annually. Some educators have even developed teaching guides to incorporate Etched in Sand into their curriculum, which can be found here.

In light of the wonderful academic response to her first memoir, we’re very excited to announce that Calcaterra will be publishing another book with HarperCollins. Calcaterra's next book chronicles the journey of her youngest sister Rosie after their abusive and alcoholic mother removed her from a foster home in New York and unwillingly dragged her all the way to Idaho—far away from her older sisters who had watched over her. Without her older sisters protecting her, Rosie's journey was one of isolation. She had to rely upon her own strength as she learned how to navigate the treacherous landscape of an abusive parent and other unforeseen dangers, while also being forced to labor as a farm hand beginning at the age of ten. Like Etched in Sand, Rosie's story is one of hope, resilience, perseverance and how acts of kindness towards children in need can forever impact them.

Giving THE GIFT OF FAILURE

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 19:00:00 +0000

We're very excited to announce that McLean School in Maryland has adopted Jessica Lahey's The Gift of Failure for their faculty's Academic Reading Group. In addition, for the first time this year, McLean is extending the invitation to parents as well. They will hold two discussions about the book, culminating with a talk given by the author in November. Given the overprotectiveness that parents often display currently, The Gift of Failure delivers a very important message for anyone who has a hand in nurturing children.

Parents want their children to succeed. However, through the very best of intentions, parents often wind up sabotaging their own children's chances at long-term success. Jessica Lahey delivers the ultimate manifesto about this paradox in The Gift of Failure. By rushing to their children's defense and fighting their battles for them, parents are doing their children a disservice by preventing them from failing. It is through failure that we gain wisdom, determination, and a renewed appreciation for the end goal.

The book deals primarily with parents, but if you're a teacher, you know that your students sometimes feel like your children, and you want to maximize their chances at success. Lahey's message applies to teachers as well as parents. Rather than scold overprotective parents, she offers strategies on how to be supportive while leaving room for failure and, ultimately, growth.

Follow Our Agatha Christie Master Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:51:00 +0000

Stephanie Owens, our Agatha Christie Master Teacher, has started blogging! Follow her new Tumblr here for Christie teaching tips, lesson plans, and reports from the International Agatha Christie Festival, which she's attending over the next week in England.

And for more Christie teaching resources, please click here!

The Treaty of Paris

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 21:21:00 +0000

On this day in history in 1783, The Treaty of Paris was signed. Among other concessions, the treaty included Britain's formal recognition of the United States of America as an independent nation. This marked the end of the Revolutionary War, although hostilities had ceased over a year earlier.

For further reading, Michael Stephenson's Patriot Battles offers an extensive look at the Revolutionary War. Stephenson delves into how wars were fought in the eighteenth century as well as the details of the major battles that ultimately led to the American victory at Yorktown in 1782.

How to Read Bestsellers Like a Professor

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 19:59:00 +0000

Congratulations to Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor, which has been climbing the New York Times Education Bestseller list! With over a million copies sold, it's currently sitting in the #2 spot. Foster's book tells you how to do exactly what the title suggests: read literature like a professor. Studying classic themes and drawing on renowned authors as examples, Foster creates a guide on getting the most out of a reading experience, leaving no detail overlooked. How to Read Literature Like a Professor has been an invaluable resource to both teachers and students, helping them to look at literature with a more critical and discerning eye. It gives readers the tools to unearth a richer reading, whether that reading is for academia or pleasure.

For the movie buffs out there, Foster is hard at work on his next book, this time on how to read the silver screen!

Michael Kimmel and the Growth of Masculinites Studies Programs

noreply@blogger.com (Louisa Hager) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 14:36:00 +0000

The New York Times recently published an article “A Master’s Degree in . . . Masculinity?”, which examined the growth of university masculinities studies programs, and profiled the professor at its vanguard, Michael Kimmel. Kimmel is the author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, and the founder and director of the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook University, which will soon start the first master’s degree program in “masculinities studies.”

Not to be confused with “male studies” (whose proponents largely think Kimmel is too “anti-men” for their taste), masculinities studies looks at the ways in which our culture has created a crisis of masculinity—with devastating effects including mental illness, suicide, terrorism, rape, mass shootings, and police brutality. Dr. Kimmel’s ultimate goal, as he puts it, is “engaging men and boys for gender equality.”

To read the rest of the New York Times article, please click here.

And to check out Guyland, which has been used in courses and common read programs across the country, please click here.

A Tragic Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (HarperAcademic) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 15:34:00 +0000

Today marks a tragic day in world history: 70 years ago, an atomic bomb (code named "Little Boy") was dropped from an American plane on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9th, a similar bomb (this one bearing the code name "Fat Man") was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The exact death toll is still unknown, but well over 200,000 people died as a result of these bombings. Many of those deaths were immediate, while others would die over time due to the effects of radiation.

For further reading about this ominous chapter in world history, Stephen Walker's Shockwave provides a gripping account of the events leading up to Hiroshima, while Stephen M. Younger's The Bomb gives a chilling history of the nuclear age.