The Bookworm
a reader’s guide by the faculty of falmouth academy 31st edition | 2020-2021
The Bookworm Student Book Recommendations
Falmouth Academy
At Falmouth Academy students learn to read closely in order to understand the shape, style, and substance of the text. Listed below are some of the books Falmouth Academy students in grades 7 through 12 recommend to other curious readers.
7 Highfield Drive, Falmouth, MA 02540 508-457-9696 falmouthacademy.org
FICTION
The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall New Kid by Jerry Craft To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Circe by Madeline Miller Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart Lizzie Flying Solo by Nanci Turner Steveson Blackships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad by Rosemary Sutcliff On the Come Up by Angie Thomas The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
HISTORICAL FICTION
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Refugee by Alan Gratz A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
NON-FICTION
I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka, Liz Welch, and Martin Ganda We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince Becoming by Michelle Obama Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly Educated by Tara Westover
FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION
The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin The Giver by Lois Lowry Legend by Marie Lu Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling Scythe by Neil Shusterman Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
“This is a great historical fiction novel. It takes place during the Holocaust, a dark time in history which everyone should have an understanding of. Zusak’s style is also fascinating to read as he takes on the perspective of Death, which is a very unique point-of-view.” —Sophia Venetis ’22
Fish in a Tree
Lynda Mullaly Hunt “Fish in a Tree is a very moving story and gives insight into dyslexia and how students with dyslexia learn. Albert Einstein once said, ‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.’” —Lyric Beecher ’25
Lizzie Flying Solo
Nanci Turner Steveson “Lizzie Flying Solo is a story about a young girl whose life is changed by the acts of other people. Throughout the book she learns to overcome fear and stigma, and she has her whole life transformed.” —Max Donovan ’26
I Will Always Write Back Caitlin Alifirenka
“I Will Always Write Back is not only an engaging story, but it teaches readers that you can make a difference.” —Sarah Plotkin ’22
Administration Matthew Green, Head of School Michael Earley, Assistant Head of School Petra Ehrenbrink, Academic Dean Pamela Clapp Hinkle, Director of Development Julie Bradley, Director of Admission and Enrollment Management Carmen DiSanto, Director of Finance & Operations
Editorial Staff Amy Galvam, Director of Communications Designer: Julianne Waite
Our Mission Harnessing the power of inspired learning in a world-renowned scientific and vibrant artistic community, Falmouth Academy emboldens each student to take creative and intellectual risks to confidently engage the challenges of our times.
Guiding Values We value... • the beauty of knowledge and the joy of conversation • collaboration and generosity of spirit • the power of a culture of kindness • relationships built on trust, respect, and direct communication • the wonder of imagination • each student’s pursuit of diverse challenges and opportunities • teachers as models of confident, rich adulthood • the richness of an educational experience that includes people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities
DEI Statement of Commitment Falmouth Academy is committed to continued growth in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We intentionally strive to be a community of dedicated learners who understand their roles and responsibilities as local and global citizens confronting the challenges of our times. We call all members of our community to actively engage in their own learning regarding biases and social injustices specific to ethnicity, gender identity and expression, racism, family composition, ablebodiedness, learning styles, religion, sexuality, age, and socio-economic status. In this pursuit, we continuously aim to create a safe and inclusive community where each member is seen, respected, and empowered to contribute.
From the Librarian
Dear Friends, If there was one silver lining that stood out for me during quarantine, it was the fact that our students were motivated to read more. Students returned to their bookshelves to rediscover those books that they had always meant to read or sought out books online through their local library or neighborhood bookstore. I can say this with confidence because the number of Accelerated Reader (AR) quizzes completed during spring of 2020 surpassed any of the prior years. AR is a reading component of the seventh-grade curriculum intended to increase reading speed and comprehension by encouraging students to pleasure read from lists of approved books. Students keep a log and take short online quizzes. The student who reads the most is recognized at the end of the year. To further tap into this increased enthusiasm for reading, we launched a virtual FA Book Club where students could chat about books and exchange reading recommendations. We quickly discovered that reading together was a great way to tackle difficult topics. Most memorable were our discussions after reading Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic: A Comedian’s Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers And the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater and Stamped: Racism and Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. The book club gave students the “virtual” room to talk about sensitive and timely issues, such as growing up not conforming to neuro- or gender-typical expectations and framing racial inequality. We met once every other week during the summer and now meet as part of FA’s new After School Activities program. Inspired by the success of the student Book Club, Alumni Director Barbara Campbell suggested we try it with alumni. Given the increase in alumni interest and activity about matters of race, we decided to read and discuss Debby Irving’s Waking Up White. I had just heard Irving speak at the Association for Independent Schools of New England (AISNE) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) conference in the fall of 2019. It resonated strongly with me as a white woman working in a predominately white school and aligned with the goals of the Falmouth Academy DEI faculty alliance. We had a wonderful discussion during the virtual Alumni Book Group meeting in late July and are planning another in November to discuss The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet. Over the summer, the DEI faculty alliance met regularly to identify a curriculum assessment tool, write a vision statement, and offer an additional Falmouth Academy Guiding Value. All three were unanimously approved by the faculty and the board of trustees at the start of the school year. As part of the strategic vision process which was completed this summer, Falmouth Academy has committed to operationalize diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice as an integral part of its overall plan. Please read more about the strategic vision and DEI efforts on the Falmouth Academy website, www.falmouthacademy.org. Assistant Head of School Mike Earley, in collaboration with School Counselor and DEI Coordinator Carol DiFalco, compiled a list of resources about race for all ages which is shared with you at the back of this issue of the Bookworm. Many of you may already enjoy the camaraderie and gratification of being part of a book group while others like to read for solitary pleasure. Either way, I hope the faculty reviews in this edition of Falmouth Academy’s Bookworm inspire you to keep reading. Sincerely yours,
Britta Santamauro Director of Library and Media Services
FALMOUTH ACADEMY Founded in 1977 as an independent day school for students in grades 7 to 12 and situated on 34 acres in downtown Falmouth, Falmouth Academy is a community carefully designed so that teachers and students know each other and work together. Inspired by the teaching excellence of its faculty, the impressive professional accomplishments of its alumni, and a long-standing reputation for academic achievement, Falmouth Academy strives to be the standard for educational excellence in southern New England. We prepare our students to become lifelong learners and engaged and responsible citizens, ready and eager to meet the challenges of the future. We connect our students to other ideas, places, and cultures by creating relevant learning opportunities in and out of the classroom to cultivate the curiosity, creativity, and capacity necessary to fully participate in a diverse society within an increasingly interconnected global world. Learn why students travel from more than 22 towns across Cape Cod, the South Shore, the South Coast, and Martha’s Vineyard each day to attend Falmouth Academy at falmouthacademy.org.
The Bookworm 2020-21
1
Alison Ament
Science
Small, Great Things Jodi Picoult
This novel centers on a black woman, Ruth, who has chosen to live her life in close association with white people. She is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital where she is the only black nurse. Throughout the book, Picoult examines multiple perspectives of identity as we learn about Ruth’s family and childhood associations, her white co-workers, and the other non-black characters. Her mother is a cleaner in a white person’s home. Her sister has chosen a more black-centered life and neighborhood. Ruth is a widow raising a teenage son alone. Based on a real-life situation in the American Midwest, the plot concerns the events that follow a white nationalist couple coming to the hospital to deliver their baby. Early in the storyline, we learn that this couple refuses to allow Ruth to touch the baby. The final third of the book takes us through the fascinating details of a resulting court case. I found the book both well written and enlightening, a view into the world of a sympathetic character. I was very interested to learn in reading reviews that many black women did not connect to this story and the character of Ruth at all, feeling that the book was written by a white woman for white women.
Jazz
Toni Morrison
This historical novel is based in Harlem in the 1920s, with references to ancestors’ stories from the mid-1800s. It is largely about the relationships among the black female characters as one middle-aged husband becomes obsessed with a seventeen-year-old girl. The characters are beautifully rendered, and I felt like I was right there in Harlem experiencing all the drama.
Four Fish
Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg, a life-long sport fisherman, examines the state of the fisheries of our four main groups of food fish: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. The book is engaging and filled with surprising information. For example, most of the fish we eat is farmed. In America, most fish is ordered in restaurants rather than cooked at home. How are the wild fish stocks doing? What are the protective regulations, and why has it been harder to “save” the tuna than to save whales? What is the history of farming for salmon, sea bass, and cod? Is it economical to create feed for the farmed fish which makes them very expensive? Should we think of fish as 2
The Bookworm 2020-21
“seafood,” or should we think of them as wild creatures? If we overharvest small fish for certain commercial uses, what will the wild fish eat? If we want to save fish populations, we need to consider their whole ecosystem, starting with the health of photosynthesizing algae at the bottom of the food chain.
Martha Borden
Director of Technology
Year of Wonders Geraldine Brooks
I remember finding this treasure at a book swap. As a lover of historical fiction, I was drawn to the time period, as well as the author, Geraldine Brooks P’14, P’21. Year of Wonders, based loosely on historical evidence, is set against the backdrop of the year 1666 in Eyam, a small remote village in central England. Shortly after the arrival of a tailor from London and a bolt of fabric carrying the contagions of the Bubonic Plague, the villagers are forced to make a decision to flee and carry the plague with them or quarantine within the boundaries of the town. Selflessly choosing to close themselves off from the surrounding towns, villagers turn to the work of caring for one another. But as the grip of the plague tightens and ignorance and superstitions lead to blaming, the villagers turn from seeking strength in prayer to seeking favors in the form of charms and witchcraft. In retrospect, probably not the book to pick up and read in the spring of 2020. Brooks sets before the reader intricate psychological portraits of her characters. By the end of the story the likely hero dissolves into the antihero and an unlikely heroine emerges in Anna Firth. Drawing on her strength, resolve, and fortitude to see her village through the pandemic, her year of darkness becomes her annus mirabilis, her year of wonders.
Barbara Campbell
Director of Alumni and Parent Relations, Development
Waking Up White Debby Irving
When Waking Up White was chosen to kick-off the new Alumni Book Club held remotely in July, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Irving writes about her journey of self-reflection with regards to racism and social justice and frequently challenges the reader, or at least this reader, when she questions things about her life as a middleclass white woman. For example, a belief that many of us share is that if you work hard for something you will be rewarded. As a teacher and justice educator, Irving noticed more and more that students from black families worked very
hard, even harder toward the same goals than some of their white peers, but with different or lesser outcomes and rewards. A really great conversation ensued in the book group about how necessary it is to educate ourselves about racial bias, notice injustice around us, and then take appropriate action.
who also seems to harbor a secret, he must confront these questions while constantly attempting to avoid the suspicion of The Albatross Society. This book opens a window to many centuries and corners of the globe, asks what is really important in a worthwhile life, and explores how time and change influence our decisions.
The Beekeeper’s Promise The Dressmaker’s Gift
Eleanor Clark
Fiona Valpy
We Cast a Shadow
Prepare yourself for a pair of tearjerkers. Both books are set in France during World War II and tell the stories of two brave sisters who participate in the Resistance in different ways. In The Beekeeper’s Promise, the family works at a chateau that is overtaken by German officers, and Eliane, the beekeeper, and her brother Yves, get messages—and people—to where they need to go. Meanwhile, in The Dressmaker’s Gift, their sister, Mirielle works as a seamstress for a fashion house in Paris that continues producing couture—mostly for the wives and mistresses of German officers. Mirielle and her two fellow seamstresses become messengers for the Underground. But her friends are captured, interrogated, tortured, and sent to Dachau, where one perishes just as the Americans arrive. Both books go back and forth from present-day to the ’40s and both are very poignant. Grab some tissues.
Christine Carter
English
French
How to Stop Time Matt Haig
Aging more slowly than normal. Meeting some of the world’s most renowned thinkers and artists. Having an endless amount of time for one’s pursuits. To many, that would seem like a dream. But to Tom Hazard, a high school teacher, it is more like a nightmare. Tom is a member of The Albatross Society, a group of people with a rare condition that prevents them from aging normally and from being susceptible to most deadly diseases. Tom has been alive since the time of Shakespeare but looks only forty-one. He has traveled the world and met many famous people, embodied many identities, but each time someone becomes suspicious of his condition, he is forced to give up his life and start anew. And the one rule of the Albatross Society, which aids Tom when he is forced to assume a new identity, is that one can never fall in love, never let anyone get close enough to learn their secret. But is life worth living, even a life relatively free from pain and time constraints, if there is no one to share it with? When Tom meets a French teacher at his new school,
Maurice Carlos Ruffin
“My name doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that I’m a phantom, a figment, a man who was mistaken for waitstaff twice that night—odd given my outfit,” begins the narrator as he lets us into a scene from his work—a raucous office costume party that quickly turns sinister as we realize that three black law associates have been invited to perform for the shareholders in a who-gets-to-stay-with-thefirm competition called “Elevation Night.” And the narrator’s story unfolds from there. Funny and horrifying. Sad and surreal. Shaped by familiar details taken one step further, slightly askew—we hope. The time of the narrator’s story feels simultaneously of a dystopian future and an aching present. It is a world of pervasive plastic surgery, of sought-after “demelanization” procedures, of surveillance vans that keep track of black residents for “our—that is, black folks’—own good.” It is a world of a father who wants to protect his son, to eliminate a future of pain in a system designed to hurt him, and to extend, instead, those moments when “there was nothing at all between me and them, the two souls I cared most about in all the unknowable universe.” We root for the narrator, even as we sigh at his decisions. “Look at this tangle of thorns,” reads the book’s epigraph, a quote from Vladimir Nabokov. Tangled, indeed, but we put the book down grateful for its wit and beauty and for the pain of the thorns.
Carol DiFalco
School Counselor
Me and White Supremacy Layla F. Saad
Layla Saad exemplifies traits I would use to describe my favorite author. She is intelligent, speaks with authority, and is unapologetic in doing so. In her bestselling book, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the Word, and Become a Good Ancestor (#meandwhitesupremacy), Saad invites us to pull back the curtain of white supremacy, which she describes as, “an evil system of oppression that provides benefits to [white people] at the expense of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).” To say this is an impactful read would be a tragic understatement. Saad
The Bookworm 2020-21
3
skillfully uses specific prompts to guide the reader through a twenty-eight-day journey of self reflection, exploring their own racist behaviors and thoughts. What began as an Instagram challenge has now arguably become a core component of the movement for the deconstruction of systemic racism. If you are thinking, “This doesn’t apply to me because … I am well informed about racism and privilege … I am not racist … I speak out against white supremacy … I am educated about systems of oppression ...” I would respectfully suggest that rejecting white supremacy and systems of oppression is a lifelong process, not a destination checklist. Saad’s dedicated work has led her to provide the critical expertise to guide each of us to rise to the opportunity to become a good ancestor.
The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir Michelle Harper, MD
Deeply earnest in her conviction to honor and care for the broken who find their way to the emergency room, Michelle Harper, MD welcomes the reader to share her journey into how she found her way to medicine and healing. Harper does not hold back on detail, which can make some descriptions nail biting to read. However, I often found myself rereading passages due to the beauty she embeds within her writing. One of the key takeaways I cherish is the opportunity to look more deeply into the humanness of being broken. In her descriptions of this breaking, Harper eloquently makes the connections between the “brokenness” within an individual and our larger society. She shares a personal reflection written pre-pandemic: “This devastation is a crossroads with a choice; to remain in the ashes or to forge ahead unburdened. Here is the chance to mold into a new nakedness, strengthened by the legacy of resilience to climb over the debris toward a different life.” She left me inspired to see situations of “brokenness” as opportunities for growth and healing. Reading Harper’s memoir in July made me yearn to hear more about her experiences managing patient care during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was happy to find out that she was indeed writing articles about her Emergency Room and ICU experiences in an April 2020 article in Medium, “When This War is Over, Many of Us Will Leave Medicine.” We are all fortunate for the many Dr. Harpers out there in the world who have dedicated their lives to healing.
Petra Ehrenbrink Tyll
cademic Dean and Department A Chair, Modern Language
Daniel Kehlmann
This was my favorite read of the summer, a great yarn spun in a masterly way. After his 2005 international success of Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring of the World), Kehlmann turns once again to historical fiction, this time weaving a myriad of stories around the historical figure of Tyll Eulenspiegel, a trickster whose pranks have become part of German folklore. But instead of placing Tyll’s life into the historically accurate 15th century, the author transports the character into 17th century Europe, which allows him to evoke the dark and cruel times of the Thirty Years’ War. Centered around the character of Tyll, the story is told elegantly from many perspectives in a bold mix of historical facts and fiction, a rich and captivating story of, in, and for unsettling times.
Stamped. Racism, Antiracism, and You Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
This is a reimagining of Kendi’s 2017 National Book Award-winning book Stamped from the Beginning written for a younger audience. A fascinating and very accessible read that reveals the history of racist ideas in America.
My Dark Vanessa
Kate Elizabeth Russell
This is a haunting and disturbing tale about a teenage girl at a New England boarding school who was groomed by one of her teachers for an abusive relationship that she may or may not reluctantly recognize as such only some 17 years later in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Switching between Vanessa’s perspectives in 2000 and 2017, the story emphasizes the lasting impact of her experience. I did not think that Vanessa was a likeable character, and I had to put down the book after particular chapters because I couldn’t take more of the sordid tale. Still, I was hooked on the story and the many questions it posed.
If you enjoy The Bookworm, please consider supporting our faculty and our school with a gift to the Fund for Falmouth Academy this year. Gifts may be made online by visiting our website at www.falmouthacademy.org/giving. For more information about the many ways you can support Falmouth Academy, please contact Director of Development Pam Hinkle at 508-457-9696 ext. 240. Thank you!
4
The Bookworm 2020-21
The Mist
Ragnar Jónasson
The novel’s dark and somber tale is set in the dead of an Icelandic winter where thick snow buries all sorts of secrets. Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir, distressed by a recent personal loss, is sent to a forlorn farm on the east of the island where two murder victims have been discovered in a lonely homestead several months after their deaths. As a fan of Scandinavian Noir, I have read my fair share of dark tales and by now can often predict a story’s outcome. It was a treat to encounter this tale’s unexpected plot twist that brought several story lines together.
Bettina Freelund
German
Becoming
Michelle Obama
In light of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations all over the country this summer, I chose to read Michelle Obama’s biography Becoming. Obama describes her experiences growing up as an African American girl on the South Side of Chicago, sharing a tiny apartment with her parents and her brother, Craig. During early childhood, an unsettling shift rippled through her multicultural and middleclass neighborhood. Within the span of a few years, it became predominantly black and poor. One particular incident struck a chord with me as a teacher. In second grade, Obama found herself relegated to a dark classroom in the basement of her local public school, struggling to learn in an environment with little guidance and no structure. Obama’s mother took action and strongly advocated for her. Young Michelle was pulled out of class, given a battery of tests, and placed in a bright third-grade class with a teacher who “knew her stuff.” The power of advocacy lifted her out of a rapidly deteriorating learning environment where she and her classmates experienced being devalued. It turned out to be a small but profoundly life-changing event in Obama’s life.
Amy Galvam
Director of Communications
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other is Bernardine Evaristo's eighth book but the first one I’d ever heard of when I picked it up. It first caught my attention when I read about the controversy surrounding its Booker Prize for Fiction award. Evaristo was the first female black woman to receive this award, which is noteworthy, but the controversy surrounding
the award was that it wasn’t the only Booker Prize awarded in 2019. For the first time ever, an additional Booker Prize was awarded to Margaret Atwood for The Testaments, the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. I was a little miffed when I read this because it felt like the significance of Evaristo’s groundbreaking award as a woman of color was overshadowed by the iconic Atwood’s award. However, I should have had more faith. This book stands on its own and is worth every accolade. Evaristo tells the story of a dozen modern British women of color of various ages, cultures, social standings, and sexual identities–all just slightly removed from one another. When I first started reading, I was afraid this was going to be agitprop through and through but very early in, the story expands to be a multifaceted telling of the lives of women of all ages that paints a loose and non-linear picture of women of color. Written in an innovative way with rambling sentences and few breaks, Evaristo tests convention and flow with her experimental form. It is clear she is trying to lift the voices from the margins and make connections from where a person comes from to who they are.
Say Nothing
Patrick Radden Keefe
Say Nothing is a compelling read–part history book and part true-crime novel–about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It tells the story of interviews conducted during the peace process in the ’90s as part of an oral history project funded by Boston College, an institution known for its vast collection of Irish history. Republican activists and unionists were both interviewed, documenting paramilitary activity on both sides of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The information gathered in these interviews could potentially implicate still-living people in war crimes including Sinn Fein’s leader Gerry Adams, now a member of the Irish Parliament. Participants signed a confidentiality agreement that falsely assured that their interviews would be sealed until after their deaths. The tapes were stored in the US at Boston College’s Burns Library rather than in Ireland or Britain as an additional safety measure. What the confidentiality agreement neglected to include was a caveat warning participants that it may not withstand government subpoena. In 2011, US federal prosecutors did just that and subpoenaed Boston College to turn over two interviews at the request of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Although the book reads like a novel, it isn’t. The brutalities and disappearances of the armed struggle recounted in the interviews left real families bereft and broken which, at times, got lost on me as a reader and lover of both historical fiction and crime novels. The book doesn’t conclude with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which abruptly ended the three-decades of violent conflict. In some ways, these final chapters are its strongest, chronicling the tragedy and moral ambiguity of war and portending what may lay ahead for a now tenuously united Ireland. The Bookworm 2020-21
5
Matt Green
Head of School
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future Mary Robinson
“The fight against climate change is fundamentally about human rights and securing justice for those suffering from its impact- vulnerable countries and communities that are the least culpable for the problem.” If pressed to identify a single sentence that sums up Mary Robinson’s Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, this would undoubtedly be the one. Robinson is the former President of Ireland and current United Nations’ Special Envoy on Climate Change. She was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the landmark Paris Agreement and has been a vocal advocate in ensuring that in considering a global solution to a global climate problem, we do not lose sight of the reality that it is the most underresourced populations that stand to lose the most as our planet continues to heat up. “To advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable to food, safe water, health, educations, and shelter” Robinson argues “would have no effect without our paying attention to our world's changing climate.” The book resembles in structure John F. Kennedy’s 1956 Profiles in Courage, a series of short biographies of Senators whose actions were noteworthy for their bravery and integrity. Robinson introduces us to eight citizens from around the world who are currently dedicating their lives to social and economic injustices caused by climate change. Among the more memorable profiles are Constance Okollet, a small scale farmer from easten Uganda, and Vu Thi Hien, a professor at the Hanoi University of Agriculture who leaves her post to commit to preserving Vietnam’s natural forests and biodiversity. Particularly compelling was the story of Anote Tong, president of the small South Pacific island of Kiribati, who has turned his attention away from preserving his people’s homeland and toward relocating them. In considering the accomplishments of one Sharon Hanshaw, a salon owner who founded Coastal Women for Change, Reilly Morse, a lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice says, “You don’t know what your life prepares you to do until it happens. Sharon’s experience shows us that no matter where you come from, as long as you have faith in yourself, you have an opportunity to make a major mark.” Climate Justice is best read over time and a little at a time but don’t wait too long to make your “major mark,” because there’s no time to waste.
6
The Bookworm 2020-21
A Burning
Megha Majumdar
For me, one of the many small blessings of our extended shut-in time has been the chance to rediscover the simple joy of reading for pleasure. I paid regular visits to Eight Cousins as part of an effort to support our local downtown businesses during challenging times and made a habit of buying the first book that caught my eye. The book jacket of Megha Majumdar’s A Burning, a canvas splashed with the bright reds, deep oranges, and rusty golds that I have always associated with India, was one of those that commanded my attention, and it’s a good thing, too. Majumdar’s debut novel is a riveting and universal tale of three unremarkable but vividly rendered characters, who, against the backdrop of a political drama bigger than any one of them, attempt to better their station in a society not particularly known for its upward mobility. Set in the slums of an unidentified Indian city, A Burning is, at its heart, the kind of “wrongfully accused” courtroom drama that has graced so many silver screens over the years. The book opens with news of a terrorist bombing in a local train station, and our wrongfully accused protagonist, Jivan finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor and Muslim, with a questionable digital footprint to boot, she is an easy mark for a government that is, with an election looming, in desperate need of a scapegoat. Meanwhile, PT Sir, an opportunistic gym teacher, hitches his proverbial wagon to an emerging right-wing political party that has vowed to clean up the streets and restore law and order. Sir ultimately rises to a position of prominence by testifying (falsely) at the court cases of the party’s political enemies. Finally, there’s Lovely, who occupies the lowest rung of this highly stratified ladder. She has the alibi that could set Jivan free but not the social gravitas to be heard. Couple her low status with her dreams of making it big in Bollywood and the reader becomes increasingly skeptical that justice will be served in a world where so many are fighting, both literally and metaphorically, over scraps. A Burning is a plot- and character-driven novel; it moves at a swift pace and can be read at a single sitting. Each chapter, rarely more than a few pages long, is written from the perspective of one of these three characters. As a reader, I found myself rooting for Jivan, Sir, and Lovely to realize their dreams, even sympathizing with the many small moral compromises each has to make to survive in a hypercompetitive politically polarized country. Majumdar paints contemporary India as a zero-sum game where getting ahead means turning a blind eye not only to the fate of others but to one's own sense of right and wrong. I confess that I initially approached A Burning as a bit of a cultural tourist, but given its similarities to our own society, perhaps, in the end, the novel is not so foreign after all.
Domenique Gummow
Science
Wildhood: The Astounding Connections between Human and Animal Adolescents Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers
Have you ever wondered why teenagers act the way they do? If so, you’re not alone and I highly suggest reading this book! The authors, both with strong scientific backgrounds, present numerous examples of “adolescent behavior” from across the animal kingdom. From sea lions and penguins to wolves and hyenas, it is clear that humans are not the only ones to grapple with the span of time between childhood and adulthood. This book offers scientific explanations for many of the, at times, frustrating and dangerous behaviors exhibited by adolescents. What is clear is that these behaviors are biologically driven and even necessary for these individuals to become successful adults. While the book was written before the current pandemic and the emergence of “social distancing guidelines,” it touches on this very subject as it relates to this age group–one notorious for breaking social distancing rules. The authors so aptly state, “blaming them for their illicit socializing is like blaming a bird for leaving the nest…. and it runs counter to the biological imperative.” This book couldn’t have come at a better time!
Monica Hough
English
The Illness Lesson Clare Beams
We are all so proud of the accolades our former colleague has received for her short story collection and now her first novel. The Illness Lesson has received rave reviews from numerous publications and has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Set in 1871 at a school for girls, the novel is also eerily contemporary as it explores the lack of agency and autonomy of women, the effects of illness and isolation, and pernicious abuse by a trusted doctor. Loosely inspired by Bronson Alcott’s Fruitlands experiment, the novel feels at once familiar and utterly original. Near the end of the book, the main character, Caroline, says, “Everyone should be allowed that dark... Everyone should keep the space of a haunting.” Clare taught a session on inviting strangeness into one’s own fiction at Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, and her trademark strangeness makes this a haunting and fascinating read.
The Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Deepa Anappara
In an afterword to her novel, Anappara writes about wanting to capture the joyousness and resilience she saw in the children of India’s poorest slums during her years as a journalist. She does this beautifully, illuminating a very dark subject—the abduction of children—with light and warmth and humor. Nine-year-old Jai serves as our mischievous and plucky narrator. A huge fan of television police shows, Jai decides to explore the disappearances of the missing children with his two friends, smart-girl Pari and djinn-fearing Faiz. Anappara shows us the grinding poverty of the basti in which Jai lives, but she also shows the deep love of Jai’s family, the wonderful smells of food from the food carts, and the childish glee of Jai and his friends. Throughout the story, we also hear the voices of the missing children, an extremely moving and clever choice on the part of the author, ensuring that we see each child as an individual rather than a sobering statistic.
Charles Jodoin
Stagecraft/Technical Director
The Silent Patient Alex Michaelides
“But why does she not speak?” And with these words from Euripides begins this author’s first novel, a powerpacked suspense thriller. The Silent Patient is a story of a hospitalized psychiatric patient who does not talk, and her psychologist who is determined to solve the mystery of her silence. If you want a book where you tell yourself, “I’ll finish this chapter and go to bed,” you better find yourself another book. This tale will have you page-turning throughout the night, a perfect gift for insomniacs and lovers of the fast-paced, “I never saw that coming” genre.
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History John M. Barry
As we are currently living through this age of COVID-19, I began reading the colossal and perhaps definitive history of the Spanish flu. The first half of the book serves as a history of early medicine both in the United States and Europe. Whereas today, the US is viewed as the leader in the field of medicine with its prestigious schools and research facilities, in the early 20th Century, it was Europe. The book focuses on the early pioneers of US medicine and the growth of Johns Hopkins as a medical mecca. From a time when America’s doctors didn’t need a college degree to attend The Bookworm 2020-21
7
medical school to the evolution of medical science, this book captures the time and culture of the World War I era. The Great Influenza also reminds us that history does repeat itself. There are many parallels to our reality today–political implications and denials, public policy missteps that result in the rapid spread of disease such as holding parades, noncompliance with health and safety recommendations, among many others. This book serves as a sober reminder of the cyclical nature of history and our tendencies to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy Larry Tye
Many public figures are known only in a two-dimensional fashion. In the case of Senator Joe McCarthy, it’s the remembrance of about one page in a high school history textbook, or the infamous news clips about McCarthyism and anti-communist hearings. However, Larry Tye’s substantial and welldocumented biography provides the reader with a more nuanced and complete picture of Joe McCarthy. You meet the ambitious and gregarious teenage Joe as well as the doting husband and father. You see the rise and fall of this Macbeth-like individual who tragically lost his life at age 48 from drinking. This book is an excellent reminder that even the most notorious individuals share with us a common humanity. It helps us reflect on what shapes our decisions and actions, and which roads we ultimately choose to walk.
Doug Jones
Department Chair, Math
US Sailing: The Appeals Book for 2017-2020 While I would not recommend US Sailing: The Appeals Book for 2017-2020 to anyone unless they are interested in the details of sailing rules, I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer experience with it. I spent some of my free time this summer participating in two virtual workshops in order to become certified as a US Sailing Club Race Officer and a US Sailing Certified Judge. Being a Zoom student was interesting, challenging, and extremely instructive and helpful as I prepared for the upcoming challenges of our fall hybrid model. In addition, the opportunities that completing these two workshops will offer me next summer and in the future should be exciting and rewarding.
8
The Bookworm 2020-21
Prime Obsession John Derbyshire
Every summer, I choose a new “bestseller” about some aspect of mathematics to read slowly and carefully. This year I selected Prime Obsession, by John Derbyshire. This well-written and well-researched book is an excellent biography of Bernhard Riemann (famous for the development of Riemann sums) and a history of the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics. So as not to spoil the ending, I won’t describe this unsolved problem here, but I would encourage those who might be interested (and you certainly know who you are) to take the time to tackle this challenging treatise on the foundation of calculus. (Honestly, I am still working my way through the final pages.)
The Secret of the Stones Ernest Dempsey
Having read almost all of Clive Cussler’s original novels, I have been looking for other authors in this genre of historical adventure stories. The Secret of the Stones by Ernest Dempsey tackles the complicated nature of the assumption of native lands by the United States government and combines this history with the possible significance of some recently found stones all revealed by a series of clues reminiscent of “National Treasure.” The Secret of the Stones is an enjoyable, light-hearted story not to be taken too seriously.
Four Seasons in Rome Anthony Doerr
In contrast, my absolute favorite book of the year was Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr, the author of All the Light We Cannot See. As the title suggests, this book tells the story of Doerr’s year-long experience as a visiting fellow at the American Academy in Rome. The American Academy is located on the Janiculum, about three blocks from where I studied at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies. Doerr is a wonderful writer, and he paints remarkably clear and familiar depictions of this area with colorful and poignant descriptions. I found myself easily and frequently transported back to my familiar haunts, and I thoroughly enjoyed reliving my experiences as a student in Rome.
The Summer House in Santorini Samantha Parks
Associate Director of Admission
The Guest List
After reconnecting with my Mediterranean experience, I couldn’t resist The Summer House in Santorini by Samantha Parks, even though I probably should have. This is a lightweight, frivolous romantic story of a young photographer who begrudgingly inherits her father’s house on the island of Santorini. She flies to Santorini to arrange the sale of the house when she meets a handsome, young Greek fisherman who totally ignores her. (You can probably write the rest of the story yourself.)
Liz Klein
Sarah Knowles
Department Chair, Science
Maisie Dobbs
Jacqueline Winspear
I have a penchant for mystery novels, particularly ones that are also historical fiction, but I am particular about what constitutes a “good” mystery. I came across the Maisie Dobbs series this spring, while exploring the Eight Cousins online store in search of a new book. We had been out of school and mostly staying at home for several weeks, I had gone through the pile of books that live on my bedside table and I needed something else. The book sounded right up my alley, with intrigue, a female protagonist, and a historical setting. Once I began, I was not disappointed and I could hardly put it down. Maisie Dobbs, the feature character of the series, is a young private investigator in London after WWI. The first book of the fifteen-book series teases with flashes of Maisie’s past, while in the present she investigates a home for soldiers called The Retreat. The family of a man who intends on moving there is concerned when he must sign over all of his money and assets to join, and they ask Maisie to learn more about the institution before their son departs. Maisie is no stranger to the perils of war, something we discover as we learn more about her experiences as a nurse on the frontlines in France. She undergoes her own loss at the hands of war and that is brought to the surface as she probes deeper into The Retreat and its undercurrent of menace. The family’s concerns are valid, and as Maisie learns more, she becomes increasingly worried about the well-being of the men involved. There is a satisfying conclusion, one which I will not reveal, but I can assure you that this book was an excellent escape. I enjoyed reading about a strong female character, one who is self assured on the surface but struggles with her own sorrows. During the challenges this spring, worried about the health and safety of my loved ones, trying to teach in a totally new way, and providing activities all day for an active toddler, some escape was just what I needed. Maisie Dobbs and the subsequent books in the series provide just that!
Lucy Foley
After watching the 2019 Oscar-nominated film Knives Out, I became enthralled with the whodunit mystery genre and so began my spring reading journey. I first read the classic 1940 Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None. Shortly after finishing the book and watching the BBC’s 2015 miniseries of the same name, I learned that a recent 2020 atmospheric thriller was being touted as reminiscent of Christie. The Guest List by Lucy Foley immediately starts with a murder at a high-profile wedding on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. I found myself wondering whodunit along with all the guests. Foley’s style evokes Christie’s thrilling web of mystery by alternating points of view among characters. With twists and turns, I was kept guessing (wrongly) up until the last few pages. While it’s a story about love, secrets, and revenge, it’s also a story about how weddings are the worst.
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Witty and fun to read, Nothing to See Here is a truly original storyline about parental love. The plot, both bizarre and improbable, involves a young woman named Lillian who is asked to be the caretaker for her friend’s stepchildren while her husband runs for political office. While being a caretaker is already hard work, Lillian learns that the children spontaneously combust when their emotions are heightened. Thrown into a parenting role, Lillian quickly figures out how to keep the children alive while providing them a loving and safe environment. It’s a story about finding one’s passion, rekindling friendship, and hiding dirty secrets. It’s a fiery read with a protagonist whose humorous remarks will leave you crying with laughter.
Sharon Kreamer
Science
The Giver of Stars JoJo Moyes
The Giver of Stars is based on the remarkable real-life stories of the WPA Packhorse Librarians, who rode horses and mules through Depression-era Kentucky delivering books to families in rural, mountainous areas. The novel centers around the theme of transformation–the transformation of lives through the power of the written word and the transformation of lives through the power of friendship. The story follows five very different
The Bookworm 2020-21
9
women who become Packhorse Librarians and how the developing sisterhood among them enables each to grow as individuals and transform their own futures as they support each other in the backwoods community they are part of. This novel drew me in from the first page and I could not put it down. Each chapter spoke of the power of connection between people–a truly relevant theme for this period in time as we forge new ways of connecting via social distancing.
Elisabeth Munro Ledwell
Department Chair, English
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
The Pull of the Stars Emma Donoghue
I love Donoghue’s books, and this novel is no exception. Written before the pandemic, the novel is quite timely, telling the story of a nurse in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic. Intimate, brief, and focused on relationships that develop in such a trying situation, The Pull of the Stars is one of my favorite new books.
The Great Influenza John M. Barry
A thorough history of the 1918 pandemic and the science behind it, this book, like Donoghue’s, is timely, even though it was written a while ago. Strangely comforting in these trying times, The Great Influenza taught me not only about the tragic pandemic, but also the history of medicine in the US.
Melanie Rehak
Like most girls, I devoured the Nancy Drew series as a child. I had some of the old hardcover copies of The Secret of the Old Clock and others, and I remember being equally fascinated by the Sunday evening television show. My friends and I were so enamored of the girl sleuth, we even wrote a parody in college (called, of course, Nancy goes to Hollywood). Imagine my delight when I found this book on the library shelves. A fascinating portrait of the people behind the novel and the changing heroine. Like the novels themselves, I devoured this book, too.
The Mercies
Kieran Millwood Hargrove
My students can tell you that I know a lot about the Salem witch trials. (I grew up near the town and visited its sights regularly. I also teach The Crucible, one of my all-time favorite plays to discuss.) Because of my childhood surrounded by the lore of Salem, I find myself often drawn to books about witchcraft, like Hargrave’s The Mercies. Set in the early seventeenth century in a remote Norwegian village, the tale is inspired by real-life events. A looming sense of dread permeates the story of Maren and Ursa, women caught up in the repercussions of a storm that claimed the lives of many fishermen in the village, making room for the women to run things as they see fit. This being the seventeenth century, not a whole lot of outsiders appreciate their new outspokenness, and soon, accusations of witchcraft are flying.
The Falmouth Academy Community Series with Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson, is available for viewing at falmouthacademy.org/community.
10
The Bookworm 2020-21
The Illness Lesson Clare Beams
Having grown up near Concord, visiting Louisa May Alcott’s home on a regular basis, I was intrigued by this novel, which tells the story of a Bronson Alcott-like philosopher and teacher and his daughter. Clare Beams’ writing, as always, is beautiful and inventive, and I am looking forward to the day when she can visit FA again to share her talents and talk about her writing, a visit we had to postpone last spring because of the pandemic.
God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine Victoria Sweet
Victoria Sweet's God's Hotel is a fascinating tale of one doctor’s attempt to meld modern medicine with ancient practices she learns by studying Medieval almshouses and medicine and the work of Hildegard von Bingen. Laguna Honda, the last almshouse in the US, is a perfect fit for Dr. Sweet, and she shares her journey as a healer with us, as well as the transformation of Laguna Honda into a modern “healthcare” facility, a term Dr. Sweet is not that fond of. Sweet makes you think deeply about what is gained and lost in such a transformation.
Edward Lott
Math
The Illness Lesson Clare Beams
I fully enjoyed reading my former colleague’s debut novel. The Illness Lesson is historical fiction about a girls’ school in New England founded by a father and daughter in the 1800s. I found Beams’ character development and the relationship between them to be fascinating. I especially enjoyed following the progress of the daughter Caroline, as she struggles and eventually confronts the doubts she has in herself and in her father. I appreciated Beams’ use of symbolism in discussing the development of young women as they mature into womanhood. I passed the book on to my daughter as I figured she’d enjoy the story and the lesson.
Allyson Manchester
College Guidance Advisor, English/Summer Programs
The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett
This summer, I experienced the joy of reading and discussing Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half with my college friends in our virtual book club. In the opening scene of the novel, Desiree Vignes returns to her hometown of Mallard, Louisiana, after 14 years away. As Desiree enters the local diner, the Mallard residents erupt into chatter and speculation: why does Desiree have bruises on her neck? Who is the “blueblack” baby she is holding? We learn that Desiree and her twin sister, Stella, skipped out of their small town for New Orleans at age 16. From there, the twins’ lives “split as evenly as their shared egg.” While Desiree marries a black man, gives birth to her daughter, Jude, and eventually drifts back to Mallard, Stella begins a life in Los Angeles where she “passes” for a white woman. Despite Stella’s attempts to erase her own past, Jude (my favorite character) manages to track her down through a series of uncanny encounters, haunting Stella like a ghost. Bennett explores the act of passing with the utmost skill and sensitivity, using it to summon the deeprooted fantasies and nightmares of the American South.
Scottie Mobley
Science
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Elizabeth Kolbert
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History takes the reader on a journey investigating the Earth’s five major extinctions. Kolbert travels around the world following modernday scientists to learn about the declining populations of various animal species. She finds that these most recent disappearances
all have one major thing in common: human-induced causes. Kolbert highlights the destruction and domination humans exert over the planet and the drastic repercussions on its flora and fauna. This thought-provoking book certainly leaves the reader with the belief that human activity is leading Earth towards its sixth major extinction.
Susan Moffat
Arts and Summer Programs
Educated
Tara Westover
At the risk of writing about a book that everyone on the planet has already read, I chose this as a summer read and review. Educated is a memoir about a girl who was raised the youngest of seven children in an isolated survivalist family in the mountains of Idaho. Tara, the protagonist, is dominated by her father, a Mormon fundamentalist with an extremist mindset and beliefs of self-sufficiency who values self-taught education but only when the children weren’t working in their hazardous junkyard. The family does not believe in doctors or modern medicine and relies only on their mother’s herbal remedies to heal even the most serious medical issues. Scarred both physically and mentally, Tara eventually leaves her mountain life to pursue higher education against her family’s wishes. What became clear to me is that people with more money have better access to education, which highlights a widening societal divide. It’s a book that has burned a place in my brain and I continue to ponder...
Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals: Adventures in Love and Danger Wendy Dale
Not being able to travel for over five months, this title caught my eye and I decided to dive into the book. At first, I felt like every page was a mini-adventure. The author has a humorous and sarcastic style that drew me in. Dale’s style of writing made me feel as though I was traveling with her; and I was relieved not to be when she found herself in a number of precarious situations.
Lucy Nelson
Arts
The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone
Crafted on the known facts about Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo, Irving Stone writes a compelling biography that reads more like a dramatic novel than a historical account. Using famous artworks such as the Pieta, David, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the Medici Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica as anchors for
The Bookworm 2020-21
11
the plot, Stone imagines the dialogues and emotions Michelangelo may have experienced in the daily grind of seeking patronage and supporting his family while making the world’s greatest artwork. The title of the book is telling; you feel the duality of Michelangelo’s situation–his agony from the various impossible demands placed before him including the papacy, his fickle patron, the Medici’s, a lack of funds, and a cruel father, but also his ecstasy in sculpting marble. I have seen most of the artwork described in the book while traveling in Florence and Rome, and my simultaneous envy of his genius and despair at his unmatchable talent has been reaffirmed after reading this novel.
A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first in a series of four fantasy novels with a fifth due in 2021. I am working my way through the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury, and it is impossible to put these books down. Maas reimagines traditional fairy tales and uses Beauty and the Beast as the inspiration for A Court of Thorns and Roses. Rather than France, the tale is set in the Fae realm with humans living in fear of the fairy courts. Maas unfolds the story slowly and it is easy to disappear into her world of magic and fairies. (Update: There are some very mature scenes in the second book; so be forewarned that it is very much an adult novel!)
Jennifer Park
English and Spanish
Attached
Amir Lavine and Rachel Heller
Attached by Amir Lavine and Rachel Heller helps us better understand the patterns by which we relate to the people to whom we are closest, to “our inner circle.” The writers posit—with well established research—that the attachment patterns children develop with their primary caregivers are patterns that those same children carry with them into their closest relationships in adulthood. One way to understand these patterns is to see them as behaviors related to trying to get intimacy needs met. Intimacy needs might contrast or conflict, resulting in a heightened stress response that both parties cope with in a different way. Without the skills to regulate heightened emotions when triggered, it is difficult for a relationship to be deeply satisfying to both parties. The insight Lavine and Heller provide is a starting place to understanding emotional reactivity and to developing empathy for self and others. With that empathy, we learn to ask for what we need, to reframe our interpretations of the motivations of others, or maybe even seek a better suited and more aligned partner.
Ben Parsons
Middle School Coordinator and English
The Yellow House
Dan Nightingale
Science
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism Robin DiAngelo
This book and the questions it raises may make white people uncomfortable and rightfully so. Robin DiAngelo highlights the subtle actions white people take, often unwittingly, that tacitly reinforce systemic racism, especially in the United States. DiAngelo delineates the ideas of prejudice, discrimination, and racism. She argues that while all people may experience the first two, only people of color experience the last one. The author places the burden on white people to acknowledge their white privilege, to understand how their actions affect people of color, and to engender change in the system of racism from which whites have benefited, even if only passively. DiAngelo asserts that it is simply not enough for white people to not be racist. She urges them to be anti-racist and actively engage with the barriers white people construct to protect their privilege and position. My hope is that White Fragility encourages white people, its target audience, to reflect on the discomfort they feel when directly addressing race and systemic racism and then employ the anecdotes and strategies suggested to move past it. This is where the real work begins. 12
The Bookworm 2020-21
Sarah M. Broom
In the Dream House Carmen Maria Machado Housebound during the pandemic last spring, I found myself downloading books with “house” in their title. So, for me, “Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Coronatimes, was where we lay our scene.” The two must-reads, both of which happen to be memoirs, are Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House, and Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House. Both are high up on many non-fiction reading lists, and rightfully so. Of the two, The Yellow House was my favorite. It chronicles Broom’s family’s relationship with a dilapidated house in East New Orleans, a part of the city that was largely wiped off the map after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The house, like the people who inhabit this largely forgotten corner of the mythologized city of jazz and the French Quarter, stubbornly resists natural disasters, racist lending practices, and the trials and tribulations of a family struggling to survive and to love. Broom tells her own extraordinary story of growing up in the house, leaving to find success elsewhere, and then returning to her native city as a public servant. However, the humility and grace of Broom’s narrative voice does little to vaunt her own
impressive credentials, instead paying homage to her mother’s resilience and beauty. In this voice, she celebrates the centrality of her mother’s struggle against a house's entropy, some incredibly reprehensible and unequal housing and lending policies, and a passel of her own children who challenge her daily with their own struggles. Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House is a jarring and innovative memoir that recounts a devastating experience with domestic violence in a same-sex relationship. Like Lincoln in the Bardo that I reviewed last year, In the Dream House strikes immediately as experimental and fresh. Each “chapter” (some only a few sentences long) is presented in a different narrative style (“Dream House as Prologue,” “Dream House as Picaresque,” “Dream House as an Exercise in Point of View,” etc.) and, together, these somewhat incongruous and disjointed pieces fit together to create a picture of domestic horror and deep psychological trauma. At times, the book is hard to read, both for its experimental style and for its devastating subject matter. At others, however, I found myself marveling at Machado’s creativity, bravery and dexterity as a writer.
Helen Reuter
Learning Specialist
14 Miles: Building the Border Wall DW Gibson
When DW Gibson’s 14 Miles: Building the Border Wall came across my radar this summer, I couldn’t help but have a look. While visiting family in Tucson about a year ago, I was jarred by the realization that I had never really given much thought to the southern border. On the last day of my visit, as I traversed the switchbacks down Mount Lemmon (highly recommended for anyone with an ecology bent), I became increasingly determined to learn more about the border each time the vast desert expanse toward Mexico came into view. The pandemic postponed my plans to venture farther south this year, but Gibson’s book served as kindling to keep my resolution alive. What worked for me about 14 Miles is that it is more a cross between a travelogue and a collection of biographical sketches than a political treatise. (I don’t think I could have swallowed the latter this summer.) Gibson serves a quite satisfying smorgasbord of first-hand accounts of the myriad of border issues and how those whose daily lives are bound to the border deal with the issues in their own very personal ways. Although the stories are loosely bound by the construction of the first 14 miles of Trump’s “beautiful new wall,” the list of problems that arise in the stories range from the usual poverty, crime, and trade, to the less well-publicized ones, like pollution. But instead of providing the reader with a cause-effect or problem-solution analysis, Gibson encourages his readers to sit with the stories and ponder the cautionary tale of how, for better or for worse, policies take on a life of
their own, entangling people’s lives and helping cement their political opinions. Therefore, if you are looking for rational arguments, polished language, or tight writing, I recommend looking elsewhere. But if you are in the mood for a dose of reality and a rich tapestry of opinions rooted in life experiences from people of all persuasions, DW Gibson’s 14 Miles: Building the Border Wall is a refreshing antidote to the political rancor this topic typically elicits.
Jill Reves
Science
Mountains Beyond Mountains Tracy Kidder
While in lockdown, I decided to reread some of my old favorites and this one is amazing. Kidder takes the reader through the often-failed politics of world medicine, the fallacy that western models will work in all countries, and the simple way a single man, Dr. Paul Farmer, attempted to save the world, one fellow-human at a time. It inspired me to do better.
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race Beverly Daniel Tatum
This book does an amazing job talking about white privilege and what we can and should be doing to make amends in order to make the world a better place. It helps the reader come to terms with racism, even if they were brought up to be “non-racist.” It challenges them to do more, to be “anti-racist.”
Britta Santamauro
Director of Library Services
Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard Douglas W. Tallamy
Why do we still hold on to our pristine and manicured lawns? All of us are painfully aware that nature is in terrible trouble. Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Backyard is an urgent appeal to change the way we take care of our front- and backyards. Douglas’ narrative is not only full of facts–who knew that birds feed their young up to 400 times per day and that Goldenrod is a keystone plant that single handedly supports over 4,000 species–it also lays out concrete advice on how each one of us could make an enormous difference in conserving the planet’s biodiversity, right from our own backyard.
The Bookworm 2020-21
13
Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng
Since I enjoyed Celeste Ng’s more current book Little Fires Everywhere, I decided to try her debut novel Everything I Never Told You, and I was not disappointed. It tells the story of an interracial couple who raise their mixed-race children in an affluent town in Ohio in the 1970s. I admire Ng’s ability to convey complicated human conditions with such nuance.
Richard Sperduto
Buildings and Grounds
The Overstory
History
Jon Meacham
This is a powerful and captivating novel that draws from many walks of American life over the past 200 years. Over time, the characters and their ancestors ultimately find a shared concern over the plight of trees at the hands of humans. The book is incredibly informative about trees, both historically and scientifically, and I found it philosophically ripe with questions. While not an uplifting book, it was incredibly moving and well worth reading for anyone who has a love for trees and forests.
History
When Christ and His Saints Slept Time and Chance Devil's Brood Lionheart A King's Ransom Here Be Dragons Sharon Kay Penman
Inspired by my 9th Grade Western Civ students as they were working on their medieval research projects last spring, I picked up a series of books on the Plantagenet dynasty of medieval England. The five books recount the history, adventures, and political scheming of the family members of the monarchy. Readers will be familiar with the more famous of the names—Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart and King John. But details and stories of the lesser known leaders such as Henry II's sons the Young Henry and Geoffrey are brought to life. Most revealing to me were the details of the civil war between Henry I's daughter Maude and her distant cousin Stephen who vie for the throne in the first book, When Christ and His Saints Slept. Throughout 14
Julie Swanbeck The Soul of America
Richard Powers
Don Swanbeck
the stories the author, Penman, enlivens the history with compelling fictional narrative, and though the books might not be considered "page turners," for any true history buff they will keep you wanting more. So enamored was I by the Plantagenet series that I sought out Here Be Dragons, in which Penman relates the story of Llywelyn Fawr or Llywelyn the Great of Wales, his marriage to the daughter of King John of England, and Llywelyn's impressive 45 year reign. If you love history, you will immerse yourself in these novels as Penman brings to life the history of the Angevin Empire, the intrigues and heroics that fueled its rise, and the tragic hubris and insecurities that doomed it to fall.
The Bookworm 2020-21
As the title suggests, Jon Meacham focuses on The Soul of America, as he put it, “the war between the ideal and the real, between what’s right and what’s convenient, between the larger good and personal interest…” With the skill of a historian and the appeal of a storyteller, Meacham offers perspectives on courageous American leaders who exerted moral influence, asserted hope, and quelled unrest during times of fear and division. In an optimistic but cautionary tone, he delves into the choices, rhetoric, and actions of leaders from the mid-1860s to the mid-1960s (from Abraham Lincoln’s appeal to “the better angels of our natures” to Lyndon Johnson’s forceful query, “What the hell is the Presidency for?”) as they strove to expand rights and defend liberties at home and abroad. While Meacham draws heavily on the stories of former presidents, his examples include the voices of women and minorities and, notably in this hyperpartisan moment, people of different political affinities. Mentioned, but less fully detailed, are the anti-egalitarian movements that have promoted racism, denigrated immigrants, demonized radicals, and advanced plutocracy— strains that have morphed and become more visible in recent times. While recognizing the cyclical nature of reactionary impulses and the incremental nature of democratic progress, Meacham invites his readers to consider that the United States has come through dark moments before and realize that the nation’s survival was not automatic. Tellingly, Meacham concludes with both a reminder, in Truman’s words, that “the country has to awaken every now and then to the fact that the people are responsible for the government they get” and with cogent advice on how Americans who are concerned about the nation’s future might “enlist on the side of the angels.”
A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka Lev Golinkin
In A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, Lev Golinkin, an ethnic Jew, details his journeys, literal and figurative, as he escaped from Russia in late 1989, took refuge in Austria, and immigrated to the US. In parts endearing, gripping, and enlightening, this story of Lev and his family personalizes the struggles faced in leaving one’s home and the challenges of adopting a new country as one’s own, and provides insights into the psyches of persecuted peoples of our time.
The Worst Hard Times Timothy Egan
The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan is a great reminder that, no matter how bad one might think the times are, history affords examples of worse! In this well-researched and poignant history, Egan describes the situations of farming families and business owners living in the high plains of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the 1920s and 1930s. Even before the double blow of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, these rural settlers endured isolation and fickle weather, as well as the grueling work necessary to plough grasslands for farming, build homes, and establish the first towns in the region. But the 1930s brought an entirely new level of affliction and heartbreak as the once fertile land dried up and shifted into the unimaginably vast, blinding, choking dust that became commonplace throughout large swaths of the west. This hard time took a toll on both the land and humans, yet, as with any history of hardship and suffering, it also holds lessons of resilience and hope.
Emily Turner
French
Such a Fun Age Kiley Reid
When house-sitting in Sandwich this winter, I wandered into Titcomb’s Bookshop and was drawn to this title on a display of best-sellers. The contrasting navy blue and “millennial pink” of the jacket caught my eye, so, judging the book by its aesthetically pleasing jacket and curious title, I cozied up on the sofa with it that evening. In keeping with the ironic tone of the title, Such a Fun Age poses as an easy read about the “fun” of being in one’s twenties, then subtly draws the reader into a “fun” examination of the racial injustices that persist in contemporary society. In Such a Fun Age, author Kiley Reid follows Emira Tucker, who, at twenty-five, is searching for a purpose
and a career beyond babysitting. Her desire to cut ties with childcare is exacerbated one night when she brings her charge, two-year-old Briar Chamberlain, to a high-end grocery store at the request of Briar’s mother, Alix, a blogger whose family has just relocated to Philadelphia from New York City. The grocery store’s security guard, seeing a black woman with a white toddler, accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar. Kelley, a young white man who witnesses the event and who goes on to become a significant figure in Emira’s life, captures the altercation on video. Despite Emira’s desire to move past the grocery-store trauma and escape the burden of Alix Chamberlain’s apologies, the video surfaces on the internet, stirring up a media frenzy. Emira, Alix, and Kelley find themselves linked not only by the grocery store incident but also, as Emira later discovers, by events in Alix and Kelley’s pasts. Such a Fun Age isn’t a “fun” read per se, but it is a necessary and valuable one. Reid’s imperfect characters are realistic in their struggles, anxieties, and biases. Her searing treatment of systemic racism, microaggressions, and white saviorism inspire self-reflection and a call for both self and societal improvement. Reid teaches readers, through the veil of fiction, how American society might move forward out of the “fun age” we’re in, one which is fun only for the racially privileged. By reflecting carefully on Reid’s tale and taking anti-racist action, might American society grow and mature into an age which can be deemed, unironically, fun?
Rob Wells
Department Chair, History
The Narrow Road to the Deep North Rchard Flanagan
This is a majestic and ambitious novel of large scope and deeply affecting power. At its heart is ostensibly the story of Australian POWs and their Japanese tormentors both during their time building a railway in Thailand, and in their subsequent postwar lives, those that survived anyway. That Flanagan borrows his title from the great Japanese poet Basho and weaves poignant Japanese haiku and Western poetry into the novel is but one small tribute to his exceptional talent as a writer. The scenes of inhumanity and obscene suffering in the jungle are difficult and deeply impactful, but ultimately speak somehow to love, life, and the blessings of both remembrance and forgetting. Incredibly, Flanagan’s insights into marriage, infidelity, guilt, regret, love, loneliness, lust...life, are even more indelible and gut-wrenching, yet also somehow poignant and beautiful. Dorrigo Evans is now one of my favorite literary characters; he is tormented, flawed, heroic, widely complicated, pathetic and frighteningly relatable. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. It will haunt me in a way that I cannot resist, yet fear to embrace too closely.
The Bookworm 2020-21
15
These Truths Jill Lepore
Lepore has written “the hot book” in American history circles over the past year. I moved it to the top of my reading list for the summer after two American friends and one German friend independently repeatedly raved about it. A Harvard historian and professor, Lepore ostensibly attempts to take the reader through American history from Columbus to Trump in about 700 pages, which is an ambitious task and ensures that few eras or subjects will be explored overly deeply. She has a central lens and theme, however, that she weaves very effectively through the entire work. The title is borrowed from Jefferson’s words in The Declaration of Independence, and Lepore’s clear thesis is that the struggle and failure of the nation to live up to its founding assertion of equality in terms of race is absolutely central to the story of who we are as a nation. Though hardly a new idea, Lepore argues it extremely effectively with lively prose that makes for an engaging read. The takeaway that particularly struck me was the story of the origins of polling and political consultants and the significant extent to which manipulation by such hired experts has impacted our lives. You don’t have to be a history enthusiast to enjoy Lepore’s impressive scholarship and vibrant narrative.
Jacqueline Yanch
Science
The Man Who Stalked Einstein
Bruce Hillman, Birgit Ertl-Wagner and Bernd Wagner
The authors, Hillman, Ertl-Wagner, and Wagner, describe the lives of Albert Einstein and Philipp Lenard in the decades preceding the Second World War, and in particular, how Lenard’s animosity was fueled by Einstein’s scientific work, his personality, and most importantly, Einstein’s Jewish heritage. We see inside the character of Lenard, an accomplished scientist and Nobel laureate, but a man who continually felt short-changed and slighted when credit and accolades were given to other scientists. Lenard engaged in a series of life-long feuds with other investigators over unrealistic claims of primacy and envied any scientist their fame. Lenard was an ultra-nationalist and vehemently antiSemitic. He believed that Jews were different from Aryan Germans in how they thought about science. For almost fifteen years, Lenard led the opposition that forced Einstein and other Jewish scientists out of Germany. He became Chief of Aryan Physics under the Nazis and was able to influence Adolf Hitler who said, “If the dismissal of Jewish scientists means the annihilation of German science, then we shall do without science for a few years.” However, German and Austrian scientists had been among the leaders in the development of 16
The Bookworm 2020-21
our understanding of the atomic nucleus, and they were the first to understand and describe the nuclear fission reaction. Lenard’s successful vendetta against Jewish academics shifted the weight of scientific intellect from Germany to its enemies, most prominently the United States. This would have significant consequences for both the initiation and the successful completion of the atomic bomb during WWII, as well as for German science in the decades following the war. The subtitle of the book is “How Nazi Scientist Philipp Lenard Changed the Course of History,” and it is written for a general audience, not specifically for scientists or historians. It focuses on the flaws in one man’s character and shows how these had an enormous impact on the larger world. It is sobering to consider what the world would be like today if Philip Lenard had been a different kind of scientist, a different kind of man.
Darkness Visible William Styron
This summer I re-read William Styron’s Darkness Visible. I had picked up the book originally back in the 1990s, a few years after it was published, eager to read something else by the writer of Sophie’s Choice. But Darkness Visible is no Sophie’s Choice. Where the later is a lengthy, fictional story of the life of a Holocaust survivor after the war, the former is a very brief, non-fictional, personal account of Styron’s own experience with severe depression, hence the subtitle, “A Memoir of Madness.” Styron tries to let the reader appreciate what deep depression feels like. Realizing how difficult it is to convey a feeling with words, he weaves in the perspectives of other writers, also sufferers of severe depression, in a further attempt to give the reader a sense of the torment a depressed person feels. On my first reading, I remember being struck by the intensity and relatability of the descriptions. I felt as if I had gained some sense of what it must be like to be deeply depressed, at least from an intellectual, if not from a sensory, perspective. Styron’s therapist had actively resisted hospitalizing him out of concern that the stigma of hospitalization would negatively impact Styron’s reputation as a writer. But Styron writes, “…the hospital was my salvation, and it is something of a paradox that in this austere place with its locked and wired doors and desolate green hallways–ambulances screeching night and day ten floors below–I found the repose, the assuagement of the tempest in my brain, that I was unable to find in my quiet farmhouse.” Styron reflects on this idea of stigma and even back in the ’80s, it felt like this idea was long outdated. However, in re-reading the book, I realize that little seems to have changed and that the stigma of hospitalization to treat mental illness still largely exists. If you are close to someone suffering from severe depression, this is a book to help you gain some understanding of what they might be going through.
Books to Further Conversations on Race Earlier this year, like people all around the world, we at Falmouth Academy struggled to understand the murder of George Floyd, and other recent terrible injustices committed against Black Americans. These incidents led to a national conversation about oppression and privilege in our country. The obvious question for anyone who condemns racism is “What can I do to help create change?” One thing we can and must do as individuals and as an educational institution is to learn as much as we can about our own biases so that we can begin to take anti-racist action ourselves. It is critical that the adults in our community learn so that they can discuss issues of race with the young people in their care. It is particularly important to engage in this learning because so many of us are white. We must learn to be the best white allies we can be in taking a firm stand against systemic racism. At the end of last school year, we shared a list of book titles with the community for those who wanted to learn more about systemic racism. We include those books and some fresh titles here for Bookworm readers. —Mike Earley, Assistant Head of School for Student Life
High School Students & Adults
Nonfiction for Middle School Students
Just Mercy
This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work
So You Want to Talk About Race
Stamped
Bryan Stevenson Ijeoma Oluo
Tiffany Jewell
Jason Reynolds
Waking up White Debby Irving
White Fragility Robin DiAngelo
Historical Fiction for Middle School Students
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-minded Empathetic Children
The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
How to be Anti Racist
Patricia Hruby Powell
Sara Bullard
Brenda Woods
Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case
Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy Layla F. Saad
Racecraft
Realistic Fiction for Middle School Students
Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields
The Hate You Give
Real American
The New Kid
The Privileged Poor
Piecing Me Together
Julie Lythcott-Haims Anthony Abraham Jack
Angie Thomas
Jerry Craft (Graphic Novel) Renée Watson
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Brockton, MA Permit # 601
Falmouth Academy 7 Highfield Drive Falmouth, MA 02540 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Printed on recycled paper, containing 10% post-consumer waste, that was harvested from responsibly managed forests. Printed with Soy based inks.
Falmouth Academy COMMUNITY SERIES 2020-2021
sponsored in part by the Woods Hole Foundation
Falmouth Academy Community Series events will be held virtually this year and available for viewing via FCTV, FA’s Facebook page, and FA’s YouTube channel. Further information and links are available at falmouthacademy.org/community.
THURSDAY
THURSDAY
THURSDAY
A Conversation with Clare Beams, author of the critically acclaimed The Illness Lesson
"The Butterfly Effect" with Amherst College Professor Dr. Edward Melillo, author of The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World
Holidays in Vermont with Gershwin Scholar Robert Wyatt and FA’s Music Director George Scharr
October 8, 2020
LOOKING FORWARD
November 12, 2020
December 10, 2020
An evening with Van Cliburn Piano Competition winner and founder of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Jon Nakamatsu. Watch for details.