The best educational books that are not required in college - but should be!

Sometimes the timing of a book’s addition to our personal reading list can make the difference in how willing we are to permit a particular message to infiltrate our lives.

For me, The Glass Castle was such a book. I was in the midst of reading the emotionally charged text that was fraught with familial dysfunction when I interacted with one of my fourth-grade students. Sitting beside him, I immediately noticed the stench of cat piss on his clothing. Rather than hold my breath at the gag-worthy smell, I inhaled, as I wanted to see past the invisible fog of his environment.

The title of this wildly popular book cleverly uses a single word – educated – and constructs a read that is less about formalized education and more about perseverance.

Shocking circumstances detail a family that is entwined with abuse, denial, mental health challenges, and overly religious zeal. Curiously, some family members are able to wade through layers of dysfunction to ultimately escape the broken environment, whereas others remain ensnared.

As an educator, this read is important for all – not only for teachers but also for the general public – and thus, acknowledge that some children originate from a place of horror. Yet, my one reservation with Educated: A Memoir is that in my humble opinion, I believe it was written too soon, as the author – in her early thirties – seems far too young to have fully reflected on her life before moving forward. 

Members of the hand-wringing public who lament about a lack of discipline in today’s schools need to read Frank McCourt’s reflections of serving as a teacher – nearly twenty years ago – to adolescents in the New York City public school system.

Before he began his illustrious writing career, the author accumulated thirty years of experience as an English and creative writing educator. Teacher Man: A Memoir details early foibles that eventually led to McCourt’s unconventional and imaginative approach to the art of teaching.

After more than thirty years of teaching college students, Dr. “Tony” Fredericks put pen to paper to create a practical and solution-based guide for adjunct professors.

First, the reader is guided to establish best teaching practices for this specialized group of students. The author also provides countless tools as he details how to select a textbook and design a syllabus, define first-day teaching expectations, pose effective questions to propel stimulating discussions, and teach diverse populations of students.

Meticulously constructed, the author composes the text in a well-organized and easy-to-read format. As an aside, Dr. Tony Fredericks currently is the author of over one-hundred-seventy books, comprised as adult non-fiction books, children’s books, pre-service teacher books, and teacher resource books. Not too shabby. 

After nearly four decades of serving as a United States Navy Seal, Four-Star Admiral McRaven chronicles the lives of everyday heroes, such as the courage of Dr. Kenneth Cooper, astronaut; or the tenacity of Dr. Jim Allison, cancer researcher.

Chapters are organized as short stories, devoted to promoting the lives of heroes who espouse honorable qualities that range from sacrifice to forgiveness. Simply stated, Admiral McRaven details character-building stories that promote the best in humanity.