There’s no shortage of articles, web sites, top 1,000 app lists instructing educators what to do during the pandemic and when school returns to “normal.” All of that “help” may be counter-productive. You deserve a break.
If you’re not feeling up to reading, cooking, playing an instrument, or coding right now, watch an episode of Encore! on Disney+ and you will be remember what school can and should mean to children. Keep a box of tissues nearby and your closest friend on speed dial first.
Here are some of the books that ground, focus, and inspire me. I hope you’ll find some beauty, peace, grace, or meaning from any of these recommendations.
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Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth
The great Herb Kohl’s gorgeous meditation of a lifetime of learning and teaching. |
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Wonder Art Workshop: Creative Child-Led Experiences for Nurturing Imagination, Curiosity, and a Love of Learning
Skip the stuff about “brain research” and dig into the large assortment of beautiful and magical art experiments. Super fun and creative! |
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The Book of Learning and Forgetting
This book by the great psycholinguist Frank Smith may be my favorite exploration of learning. It was always a favorite text of my graduate students too. |
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Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
While not Jonathan Kozol‘s most popular or best known books, this is my favorite of his many masterpieces. Ordinary Resurrections is poignant and poetic while giving voice to the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society. This book is timeless and life-changing. |
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Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music
Read quickly past the fanboy stuff about the remarkable conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, and learn about one the most profound pedagogical approaches on earth, El Sistema. You will be moved by the what’s possible when teachers believe in the capacity of each learner and refuse to acknowledge obstacles. In my humble opinion, this one of the best education books of the past decade. Author Tricia Tunstall also coauthored a notable follow-up, Playing for Their Lives: The Global El Sistema Movement for Social Change Through Music. |
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The Inner Principal: Reflections on Educational Leadership
I challenge you to name a more candid, open, or philosophical book ever written by a school administrator, especially one as accomplished as David Loader. |
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The Muses Go to School: Inspiring Stories About the Importance of Arts in Education
The likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Phillip-Seymour Hoffman, Rosie Perez, and Bill T. Jones share the testimony to the critical importance of public school arts education with response pieces by amazing educators including Deborah Meier, Lisa Delpit, Bill Ayers, Diane Ravitch, Maxine Greene, and yours truly (clearly a clerical error). |
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The Long Haul: An Autobiography
Myles Horton’s tales of founding and sustaining the Highlander Folk School, an Appalachian retreat where students included Martin Lutther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Pete Seeger. Oh yeah, We Shall Overcome was composed there too. This book not only tells the important story of an unknown piece of American history, but offers much wisdom and inspiration for all teachers. |
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Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People
Notable scientist, mathematician, and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram book of insightful essays about great mathematicians, scientists, and technologists, many of who he knew personally. |
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The Children
Pulitizer Prize winner David Halbestram’s monumental history of the American civil rights movement and the remarkable role played by courageous young people. This book reminds all of us of each person’s power to change the world. |
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Books I love to read aloud with kids |
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Field Trip to the Moon (PK-2) | |
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Harold and the Purple Crayon (PK-2) | |
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Homer Price (2-5)
I still love this book and its sequel! |
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Apprentice with the world’s greatest musicians! |
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Ever dream of taking piano, bass, vibes, voice, drum, guitar, saxophone, or trumpet lessons from one of the world’s finest musicians? Care to understand jazz or Brazilian music? Wish you could develop your own voice with the help of one of the world’s most acclaimed vocalists? | |
Perhaps you don’t play an instrument and just enjoy watching great artists explain their craft? That’s cool too.
Well, Open Studio is not only the gold standard by which all other online music education programs are measured, but it has cracked the code in teaching impossibly complex and intimate concepts online. Check out the multitude of offerings at every conceivable skill level. |
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Summer is a great time for kids to read entire series of books.Here are some great ones you won’t find in your school curriculum or approved by the Texas State Textbook Commission, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pearson! |
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Horrible Histories (grades 4-9)
Collect them all! They’re gorey, bloody, irreverent, gross, and filled with historical facts shared in an entertaining fashion. |
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The Time Warp Trio series (grades 2-5)
Jon Scieszka’s zany time travel adventure in which three buddies explore great moments in history. |
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Guys Read series (grades 5-8)
Seven volume anthologies of high-interest short stories with each book featuring a different literary genre. |
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Books to keep kids active |
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Jane Bull is the author of countless colorful, clever, fabulous, and fun craft books published by DK. Highly recommended! | |
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New York City Street Games
This out-of-print, but still available gem, teaches youts to play all da clasic sports your grandparents played on the streets of NYC. There is a great documentary, narrated by Ray Romano on the same subject. |
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Books for learning to program in ScratchHere is an article I wrote featuring my favorite books to help kids learn Scratch programming. |
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Favorite cookbooks for little kids |
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Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up
Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up Fabulous books full of wordless recipes for healthy food
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Honest Pretzels: And 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up | |
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Little Helpers Toddler Cookbook: Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipes to Cook Together | |
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The Tickle Fingers Toddler Cookbook: Hands-on Fun in the Kitchen for 1 to 4s | |
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Sesame Street Let’s Cook!
Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck: A Sesame Street ® Celebration of Food |
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The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs (#1 bestseller)
The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs
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Timeless videos I still love to watch with my grandkidsHere are some of my favorite videos to watch with the toddlers. They’re funny, kind, not scary, and stimulate imagination. |
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Pee-Wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series
Never disappoints or fails to entertain. The show is pitch perfect for kids and adults to enjoy together. (a real bargain too) |
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The Little Rascals: The “Complete” Collection
The best available collection of the classic shorts that inspired generations to play, dream, and learn by making – long before there was a maker movement. Trust me. Kids still love these 80 year-old films. |
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Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: It’s a Beautiful Day
30 classic episodes |
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If you love card games…I don’t, but I have given countless sets as gifts to delighted kids and families. |
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Fluxx
An endless assortment of looney card games where the rules or the objective of a game change with every card! |
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Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.