Summer Reading
Russell Lee, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Just in case anyone’s still looking for some summer reading, listening and watching suggestions, here are my ideas. I’ve tried to wander off the beaten path rather than follow current media trends.
Fiction for children
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again - Frank Cottrell Boyce. Where are the children’s books in which families have adventures? Well, surprisingly, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is one, as Frank Cottrell Boyce points out, and so is this sequel from one of the best children’s authors currently writing.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin. This book is a beautiful object in itself. Containing stories within stories, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is an imaginative recasting of traditional Chinese tales. An epic tale for children.
The Winged Watchman - Hilda van Stockum. A great book set in the Netherlands during World War II. Hilda van Stockum was a hugely underrated author who wrote many fine books.
The Adventures of Loupio - Jean-François Kieffer. Wonderful graphic novels about a young friend of St Francis of Assisi and his wolf. We all love these books in our family.
Fiction for adults
Laurus - Eugene Vodolazkin. This book is immensely difficult to categorise. It is a novel set in 15th century Russia (but also somehow in the 20th century) but also a book which challenges the conventions of the modern novel. As the blurb tells us, this is a book about “love, loss, self-sacrifice and faith.”
Waiting for the Evening News - Tim Gautreaux. Short stories from the American deep south. Gautreaux deserves to be much better known. You can read an interview with him here and see my review of Waiting for the Evening News here.
Well worth listening to
Teaching from Rest - Sarah Mackenzie. So much of modern life is frenetic. So much teaching and learning is frenetic. There is another way.
Let Love Podcast - Sisters of Life. The two presenters are so engaging. This is a really uplifting podcast.
Well worth watching
Aquinas 101: Science & Faith. Short, well-made videos which address some really important questions with great clarity and insight.
Fabrice Hadjadj at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris (in French). Hadjadj is a great writer, thinker and speaker, but sadly not well known in the English-speaking world. These talks were great.
Books about education
The End of Education - Neil Postman. Anything by Postman is worth reading. Even if you’re not that interested in books about education, you should read The End of Education.
Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect - David W. Orr. Like Neil Postman, David Orr has a habit of nailing key ideas that most other educationalists don’t even consider.
A book about home education
A Little Way of Homeschooling - Suzie Andres. If you want to know more about the reality of home education and why it’s worth considering, check out Suzie Andres’s wonderful books.
And if you’re still looking for something to read…
… you might want to try one of my books.
Out of the Classroom and Into the World: how to transform Catholic education
50 Books for Life: a concise guide to Catholic literature
Did Jesus Go to School? and other questions about parents, children and education
Between Darkness and Light - a novel about the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I
The Race - a children’s novel about Eric “Chariots of Fire” Liddell
Popes, Emperors and Elephants: the first thousand years of Christian culture
A Little Book of British Saints
Have a great summer everyone!