What teachers think is a book everyone should read

Darcy Mullane '24

Editor-in-Chief of Design

Books open our minds to new possibilities, and hearing about a person’s favorite book can show you parts of their personality and interests. Here is a favorite book from a teacher from every department (I didn’t include English because, but you hopefully know you can always talk about books with them.) 

Mr. Dan, Performing Arts

What is a book you think everyone should read once in their life?

“‘The Crucible’ is essential. I think it’s timeless and it’s about truth, politics and religion.

It’s the best American play. It has great acting scenes that are well-written for actors. The catalyst for the play is a girl and there’s a group of powerless girls who follow her, but they band together to try and get some power.”

Ms. DeFrank, Art

Since Mrs. DeFrank is an art teacher, she does love children’s books with art in them, but she also loves books surrounding the empowerment of women. Some other books she listed were:

“Many Shapes of Clay: A Story of Healing” by Kenesha Sneed

“White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better” by Regina Jackson & Saira Rao

But if she had to pick just one:

“‘H is for Hawk’ by Helen Macdonald

It is the true story of Helen Macdonald adopting and raising one of nature's most vicious predators - a Goshawk named Mabel - after her father's death. The wildness of the Goshawk mirrors Macdonald’s emotions as she experiences grief during the first year after her father dies.

Everyone will experience loss at some point in their life, so I think it’s important to discuss (or read about) all the different ways it can manifest in your life. The writing is beautifully descriptive and very lyrical/poetic, which is an added bonus to the already amazing topics of hawks and death/grief.”

Mr. Boyd, Science

“My favorite book is Sun Tsu’s ‘The Art of War.’ It is about a Chinese military treatise that provides tactics and strategies for winning wars. Although the actual book is about military tactics, I have always found the insights transcend military contexts, making it applicable to various aspects of one's life. The book emphasizes on understanding oneself, the adversary and the environment to give you the best chance of success.” 

Ms. Serrano, Language

“‘Nosotros, No’ or ‘Not Us’ by Jose Bernardo Adolph. This book is about the discovery of the immortality injection, and how people got excited at first, but when all the other steps came up, people started panicking. “Nosotros, No” represents the group of individuals that could not get the shot, and will see how chaos comes into their society. This “science fiction” story is not far from reality. I recommend it because you can sense the advantages and disadvantages of being immortal, which goes hand in hand with this “passion” society has persuaded human beings to look young or younger all the time. It is also a book that invites debate and deep discussion about to what extent being immortal could be fun or what you can do if you could live forever.” 

Hopefully you can take some inspiration from these recommendations from the teachers!