Salt in My Soul is Mallory Smith’s posthumously published memoir, the collected diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug—from age 15 to her death at the age of 25. Mallory’s story of resilience has resonated in classrooms across

Contributed by the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, a public theologian, senior minister at Middle Church, and the author of Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World I’m so excited for the journey your students are on! They’ve embarked on a path not only to an education

Astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan—author of Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut’s Story of Invention from the MIT Press—has recently added three new accolades to the long list of accomplishments she has earned over the course of her career as scientist and explorer. With her visit this past June to the Challenger Deep at the base of the Mariana Trench, Dr.

Jamil Zaki, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, joined Penguin Random House Education and the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) at their annual conference, held virtually this October, to speak about the psychology behind empathy. Based on 15 years of research, he

By the time he was twenty-seven, Kwame Onwuachi had competed on Top Chef, cooked at the White House, and opened and closed one of the most talked about restaurants in America. Despite his young age, his success wasn’t won overnight: working in Manhattan, he was forced to grapple with just how unwelcoming the world of

Introduced to American movies and pop music while growing up in Somalia, Abdi Nor Iftin fell in love with the idea of America long before he could find the country on a map. As the Somali Civil War broke out, Abdi grew desensitized to the violence around him: avoiding gunfire during his daily trip to

“I have a strong urge to write something that will change people. I want to create a piece so moving that people are in disbelief. And I want it to be like handing people a pair of glasses, giving them a way of seeing something they didn’t even realize they weren’t seeing.” —Mallory Smith   Salt

In Callings, StoryCorps founder Dave Isay presents unforgettable stories from people doing what they love. Some found their paths at a very young age, others later in life; some overcame great odds or upturned their lives in order to pursue what matters to them.

The Invisible Boy Promotes Kindness in Kentucky’s One Book One Frankfort for Children Project by Trudy Ludwig, author of The Invisible Boy (Knopf Books for Young Readers, October 2013) It’s one thing for an author to write a story that she has a strong need to share. It’s quite another for her to experience in person

By Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters (Crown, January 2017) When I was a senior in high school, I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life: I was going to be a doctor. I loved science, and easing the suffering of others, I