News flash. Treasured summer reading list tradition in danger

Yeah. I’m a little behind schedule. Let’s just say that my May and June did not go as planned and leave it at that.

And one consequence of the altered agenda is that my summer reading list, a treasured tradition dating back to the summer following my first year of teaching middle school, is now in serious danger. Along with the March Madness basketball tournament, the annual May collapse of the Kansas City Royals baseball team, the NCSS national conference, and watching A Christmas Story multiple times in December (“you’ll shoot your eye out, kid”), my self-assigned summer reading program is something that’s been part of my yearly schedule for almost as long as I can remember.

An early mentor from my Derby Middle School teaching days, Mike Ortmann, was fairly adamant about the whole thing. “This is not a part-time job,” he said. Don’t get lazy over the summer, he said. Read some books. Expand your mind. Hone your craft. Be sure to stay current, he said.

So . . . who was I to argue? The guy was a serious social studies rock star. And ever since, I’ve created a list of books that I plan to read during the summer months. It’s a great idea. Read some stuff. Take some notes. Get smarter. (Over the years, I’ve added some podcasts. Made sure to hang out with social media buddies. Watched a variety of video clips. But my heart still belongs to books.)

Of course, it’s common knowledge that I’ve never actually finished one of these things. Not going to happen this year either. The 2023 shortened list is a mix of work-related and just fun-to-read books. In no particular order:

To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945
John McManus
It was fairly obvious by the spring of 1945 that the Allies were going to win. The only question was how long it was going to take and terrible was it going be. The third in a series (You’ve read the first two, right?), McManus shares not just details of individual soldiers but the larger geopolitical story of victory and occupation.

Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War That Made America Independent . . . and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong
Bob Thompson
I’ve been on a bit of a Revolutionary War kick lately. And I am a huge fan of Bill Bryson, Sarah Vowell, and Tony Horowitz. So this book is nestled neatly into my wheelhouse. Road trip stories? Talking to history nerds across the country? Learning more Revolutionary War trivia? Check. Check. And check. Thompson shares the tipping points and missed opportunities that you don’t usually hear about. I’m walking away smarter.

Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance
Alvin Hall
For too many Americans, traveling the open road has long been a place where dangers lurk. In the era of Jim Crow, Black travelers encountered locked doors, hostile police, and potentially violent encounters almost everywhere. From 1936 to 1967, millions relied on The Negro Motorist Green Book, the definitive guide to where they could safely rest, eat, and sleep. Hall revisits the world of the Green Book, sharing the real history of the guide, driving from New York to Detroit to New Orleans, visiting motels, restaurants, shops, and stores where Black Americans once found a friendly welcome. He explores historical and cultural landmarks and, along the way, gathers memories from some of the remarkable people who not only endured the period but rose above the hate, creating a hopeful chronicle of Black resilience and resistance.

The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
Martha Ackmann
Huge space nerd. Huge. But there is always something new to learn about the early years of the US space program. For example, in 1961, a group of women underwent secret testing in the hopes of becoming America’s first female astronauts. They passed all the same tests as the Right Stuff guys and were clearly qualified. But it would be 20 years before the US put a woman into space. Here we get the stories surrounding these thirteen remarkable women.

The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession
Alexandra Robbins
I really do need these inspirational stories. Robbins documents a school year in the life of three teachers: Penny, a southern middle school math teacher grappling with a toxic staff at a big school in a small town; Miguel, a special ed teacher in the western United States who fights for his students both as an educator and as an activist; and Rebecca, an East Coast elementary school teacher who struggles to schedule and define a life outside of school. She also interviewed hundreds of other teachers nationwide who share their secrets, dramas, and joys while sharing ways all of us can help the teaching professionals who are central to the lives of our children.

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
Pekka Hämäläinen
Don’t know what your K-12 experience was like but I’m going to suggest that, at best, we were all taught the history of the United States with a major chunk missing from the narrative. Probably several chunks. Okay, many chunks. Indigenous Continent attempts to correct some of that. This counter-narrative shatters some of the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from just Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes that we dutifully stuck on our timelines as students, Hämäläinen depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. A great start to help fill in at least part of my missing chunks.

Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Curriculum and Instruction
Gholdy Muhammad
It’s been a rough few years so I’m looking forward to learning more about how Dr. Muhammad has added joy to her earlier groundbreaking model. Joy is “more than just celebration and happiness, it’s also wellness, beauty, healing, and justice for oneself and across humanity.” She shows how teaching from cultural and historical realities can enhance our ability to cultivate identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy for all our students, giving them a powerful purpose for making the world a better place. Her model lessons and assessment tools will come in handy with teachers next school year.

So.

What are you reading this summer?