The Author of The Blue Sweater on Our Interconnected World and Combatting Poverty Worldwide

Contributed by Jacqueline Novogratz, author of The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. Chronicling her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it through the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, this book is a

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On Coming of Age as a Queer Muslim Immigrant & Discovering Oneself Through Literature

Contributed by Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir. Using some of the most famous stories in the Quran to make sense of her struggles and triumphs as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant, Lamya H tells her story, from childhood in the Middle East to her arrival in the United States for college

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How an Afghan Girl Risked Everything for Education

Contributed by Malaina Kapoor, co-author of Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education. A searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life, the book has received advance praise from Bill Gates, Sal Khan, and

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The Open Window: Representation Is for You, Too — A Message from Author Sara Nović

Contributed by Sara Nović, author of True Biz: A Novel. Following students at the River Valley School for the Deaf, True Biz is a story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable,

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Tara Westover’s Special Message to Students (Educated, Now Available in Paperback)

Educated, now available in paperback, is an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University. One of the most acclaimed books of our time, it has been taught in classrooms across the country and been selected for common

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Adam Benforado on Youth Rights and the Path to a Better Future

Contributed by Adam Benforado, author of A Minor Revolution: How Prioritizing Kids Benefits Us All. Drawing on the latest research on the value of early intervention, investment, and empowerment, A Minor Revolution makes the urgent case for putting children first—in our budgets and policies, in how we develop products and enact laws, and in our

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Elizabeth Kolbert on Our Changing Climate and the Future Today’s Students Will Inherit

Contributed by Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future “I’m a realist,” Ruth Gates was saying. “I cannot continue to hope that our planet is not going to change radically. It already is changed.” Gates, then the head of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology, had taken me out to

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Women Climate Leaders Provide Truth, Courage, and Solutions in All We Can Save

Contributed by Katharine K. Wilkinson, co-editor of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis “I was shaking as I read the opening essay because I felt so empowered,” one of my students shared at the start of the fall 2020 semester. I’d spent the previous nine months co-editing the bestselling

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The Last Town on Earth Gives Students a New Perspective on Our Pandemic Times

Contributed by Thomas Mullen, author of The Last Town on Earth: A Novel Authors are usually thrilled when our work is considered particularly resonant for today, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind. When I began writing The Last Town on Earth nearly two decades ago, I was intrigued by the setting of

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Homework Assignment: Love Yourself So You Can Love the World

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

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