Much like many of the kids we serve, the IEA staff is a group of voracious readers. We wanted to share what we’re reading now in case you are looking for some good summer reads.
New and Selected Poems, Volume 1 by Mary Oliver
“I give my highest, unqualified recommendation to this collection, whose wisdom continues teaching me what it means to be attentive. Good reading for summer nights.”
– Brianna Safe
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
“Marie Kondo has a writing style that invites you to read slowly and deliberately and enjoy every word. She has a relationship to objects that makes them seem to have feelings, which many of us gifties can relate to. (Which is why I can never throw away a pen.) And it just feels freeing to try her method.”
– Zadra Rose Ibañez
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
“I couldn’t resist reading another novel by the fabulous J.K. Rowling, and her writing pulled me in immediately, as usual.”
– Jennifer Kennedy
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
“I love this story both for its beauty and for how it teaches me. Throughout the novel, Brontë asks compelling and profound questions about love and the nature of goodness in a person’s life. Jane Eyre is a captivating and challenging read that I always enjoy.”
– Morgan Carrion
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
“It is deeply contemplative, insightful, and introspective. I like how Robinson deals honestly and lovingly with some of the most profound questions regarding religion and faith.”
– Jennifer de la Haye
My Struggle: Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
“‘I saw life; I thought about death.’ Slowly slogging my way through this six-book autobiographical series, whose literary voice echoes the cinematic eye of fellow Scandinavian Ingmar Bergman. Not for the easy reader or faint of heart.”
– Brianna Safe
The Mysterious Benedict Society, Book 1 by Trenton Lee Stewart
“Such an engaging story about bright young kids. It actually reminds me a lot of A Wrinkle in Time. I will definitely be getting a copy for my nephew!”
– Jennifer Kennedy
Walking Away by Simon Armitage
“It’s British poet and novelist Armitage’s account as a sort of ‘troubadour’, walking the south-western coastline of the UK, and the people he meets who feed him and accommodate him in return for a poetry reading. It’s a testament to the beauty of the British landscape, the therapy found in walking (and being blasted by the elements) and, most reassuringly, the enduring power of poetry. He’s also just been nominated as Oxford’s Professor of Poetry – and is visiting The Huntington in October!”
– Louise Hindle
Brainstorm by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel
“I love the scientific analysis behind adolescent behavior – this type of understanding is empowering.”
– Jennifer de la Haye
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
“This book helped me uncover hidden blocks to reaching for what I wanted and gave me a new perspective for dealing with obstacles in my life. I absolutely experienced a paradigm shift in how I relate to what matters to me.”
– Zadra Rose Ibañez
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
“Another excellent novel from my favorite author. I get caught up in the language and storytelling ability of Picoult every time. The extended metaphors in this novel relating to wolf behavior and wolf pack dynamics add an interesting dimension as well.”
– Jennifer Kennedy
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
“The book is a fictional account of two sisters struggling to survive the atrocities of World War II in German-occupied France—one a resistance fighter in Paris, the other a mother and teacher in the countryside. I’ve read a lot of material about the horrors of the Holocaust, but never from the perspective of the French people.”
– Bonnie Raskin
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults
“What’s most exciting about this multi-authored text is the underlying principle that IQ is not an isolated piece of the individual. The work asks two questions: How can this principle help avoid inaccurate diagnoses and the conflation of giftedness and behavioral/emotional/mental disorders? And how can we understand the intersection of giftedness and these disorders (dual diagnoses) in a way that preserves the child’s needs first and foremost?”
– Brianna Safe
What books are you reading this summer? We’d love to know. Please share in the comment section below.
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