Summer Reading 2022: One School One Book: More inspiring books to read

A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn’t built for all of us and of one woman’s activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington—Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann’s lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society. Rolling Warrior is the young adult adaptation of this book.

The award-winning humanitarian and former United Nations Senior Advisor on Gender Equality describes how an aid volunteer saved her life and inspired her work as an advocate for positive change in communities throughout the world.

Inspired by outspoken student survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, McCann (Girls Who Rocked the World) infuses her call to action against gun violence with profiles of young people who are already working across the nation to reduce it. She explores the complexities of gun violence in America by explaining the myths, facts, causes, and obstacles surrounding the issue, and provides resources for students to get involved in gun safety activism.

People with disabilities (PWDs) have the same aspirations for their lives as you do for yours. The difference is that PWDs don’t have the same access to education, employment, housing, transportation and healthcare in order to achieve their goals. In The Disability Experience you’ll meet people with different kinds of disabilities, and you'll begin to understand the ways PWDs have been ignored, reviled and marginalized throughout history. The book also celebrates the triumphs and achievements of PWDs and shares the powerful stories of those who have fought for change.

Empower yourself in today’s highly connected, socially conscious world as you learn how to wield your passions, digital tools, and the principles of social entrepreneurship to affect real change in your schools, communities, and beyond.

This inspiring guide will teach you how to research ideas, build a team, recruit supportive adults, fundraise, host events, work the media, and, most importantly, create lasting positive change. Apply lessons from the business world to problems that need solving and become a savvy activist with valuable skills that will benefit you for a lifetime!

The name Rosa Parks conjures images of her most famous act of defiance: refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL. But there was a pattern of rebellion that started when Parks was a young girl and never really ended until her death in 2005. She fought for the rights of Black people, especially Black women, for over 60 years. Parks was one of the few women who held an office in the NAACP. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she attended the rallies of Malcolm X. The act of protest on the bus, which led to a 381-day bus boycott and the eventual desegregation of public transportation, is only one example of her activism. The full story is more traumatic and heartrending than the textbook portrayal of a tired seamstress who refused to give up her seat.

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.