Montessori from the Start
The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three
Written by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Schocken
On Sale: July 22, 2003
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8052-1112-2 (0-8052-1112-8)

Montessori preschools enjoy widespread popularity and are growing in numbers each year. So it’s only natural that parents who are interested in the Montessori method want to know how to start even sooner. What can they do at home to prepare their children to enter Montessori preschools at the age of... Read more >

Montessori: A Modern Approach

Written by Paula Polk Lillard

Format: Trade Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: Schocken
On Sale: October 30, 1988
Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-8052-0920-4 (0-8052-0920-4)

Montessori: A Modern Approach is the best source for educators and childcare professionals seeking answers to the questions: What is the Montessori Method? Are its ideas about early childhood education relevant to today's world? Paula Polk Lillard writes both as a trained educator and as a concerned parent. Her book offers... Read more >

Absolutely American
Four Years at West Point
Written by David Lipsky

Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: May 11, 2004
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7693-2 (1-4000-7693-5)

In 1998, West Point made David Lipsky an unprecedented offer: stay at the Academy as long as you like, go wherever you wish, talk to whomever you want, to discover why some of America's most promising young people sacrifice so much to become cadets. Lipsky followed one cadet class into mess... Read more >

Setting Limits in the Classroom, 3rd Edition
A Complete Guide to Effective Classroom Management with a School-wide Discipline Plan
Written by Robert J. Mackenzie and Lisa Stanzione

Format: Trade Paperback, 400 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
On Sale: July 20, 2010
Price: $16.99
ISBN: 978-0-307-59172-2 (0-307-59172-7)

Disruptive behavior, power struggles, lack of motivation, attention deficit disorder—at times the list of obstacles to teaching seems endless. That’s why thousands of teachers and child-care providers have turned to the solutions in Setting Limits in the Classroom. This fully updated and expanded third edition offers the most up-to-date alternatives to... Read more >

Let Me Hear Your Voice
A Family's Triumph over Autism
Written by Catherine Maurice

Format: Trade Paperback, 400 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: July 19, 1994
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-449-90664-4 (0-449-90664-7)

Let Me Hear Your Voice is a mother's illuminating account of how one family triumphed over autism. It is an absolutely unforgettable book, as beautifully written as it is informative.

"A vivid and uplifting story . . . Offers new strength to parents who refuse to give up on their autistic children."... Read more >

In Schools We Trust
Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
Written by Deborah Meier

Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: August 1, 2003
Price: $17.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-3151-3 (0-8070-3151-8)

A visionary look at trust and schools that takes on some of today’s hottest education issues-from testing to small schools-all grounded in stories of the innovative and hugely successful public schools Deborah Meier has famously founded.

“A rich, nuanced reflection on trust and schooling that examines trust’s many layers. . . ... Read more >

Many Children Left Behind
How the No Child Left Behind Act Is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools
Written by Deborah Meier

Format: Trade Paperback, 152 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: September 29, 2004
Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0459-3 (0-8070-0459-6)

Signed into law in 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) promised to revolutionize American public education. Originally supported by a bipartisan coalition, it purports to improve public schools by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing. Many people supported it originally, despite doubts, because of... Read more >

The Power of Their Ideas
Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem
Written by Deborah Meier

Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: August 16, 2002
Price: $17.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-3113-1 (0-8070-3113-5)

Teaching the lessons of New York’s most famous public school, Deborah Meier provides a widely acclaimed vision for the future of public education. With a new preface reflecting on the school’s continuing success.

“The founder and principal of excellent small schools in East Harlem . . . Meier wants to make... Read more >

Cracking Creativity
The Secrets of Creative Genius
Written by Michael Michalko

Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
On Sale: June 26, 2001
Price: $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-58008-311-9 (1-58008-311-0)

In this trailblazing book, internationally renowned business creativity expert Michael Michalko shows how creative people think—and how to put their secrets to work for you. To create this book, Michalko researched and analyzed hundreds of history's greatest thinkers—from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso—and then brought their techniques into the modern... Read more >

School
The Story of American Public Education
Edited by Sarah Mondale

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: August 16, 2002
Price: $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-4221-2 (0-8070-4221-8)

Esteemed historians of education David Tyack, Carl Kaestle, Diane Ravitch, James Anderson, and Larry Cuban journey through history and across the nation to recapture the idealism of our education pioneers, Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann. We learn how, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, massive immigration, child labor laws... Read more >

Discovery of the Child

Written by Maria Montessori

Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: May 12, 1986
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 978-0-345-33656-9 (0-345-33656-9)

Maria Montessori went beyond the conventions of the day to seek a new way of knowing and loving a child. In The Discovery of the Child, she describes the nature of the child and her method of working more fully with the child's urge to learn. With 16 pages of photographs... Read more >

Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook

Written by Maria Montessori

Format: Trade Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: Schocken
On Sale: October 30, 1988
Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-8052-0921-1 (0-8052-0921-2)

A short, illustrated, practical guide to the use of the Montessori classroom materials, this work shows how to set up a  "children's house"--an environment for learning where children can be their own masters, free to learn at their own pace. Frames for lacing and buttoning, geometrical wooden insets, sound cylinders, sandpaper letters... Read more >

Montessori Method

Written by Maria Montessori

Format: Trade Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Schocken
On Sale: October 30, 1988
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-8052-0922-8 (0-8052-0922-0)

This is the book that introduced the Montessori method to America.  A radical departure from conventional educational wisdom when it first came on the scene, the Montessori method has become one of the most powerful and influential sets of ideas and practices on the education of children. This is an exposition of... Read more >

Secret of Childhood

Written by Maria Montessori

Format: Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: January 12, 1982
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 978-0-345-30583-1 (0-345-30583-3)

Maria Montessori describes the inner-workings of children with warmth and the exactness of a scientist. She also discusses the array of materials and techniques needed to release a child's learning potential. Read more >

The Other Wes Moore
One Name, Two Fates
Written by Wes Moore

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
On Sale: January 11, 2011
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-385-52820-7 (0-385-52820-5)

Winner, 2011 BCALA (Black Caucus of ALA) Literary Award, Nonfiction
A 2011 Booklist Top 10 Black History Nonfiction Book

Selected for Common Reading at:
Colleges & Universities
Bay Path College (Springfield, MA)
Berry College (Mount Berry, GA)
Brookhaven College (Farmers Branch, TX)
Bunker Hill Community College (Boston, MA)
Cabrini College (Radnor, PA)
California State University at Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA)... Read more >

Radical Equations
Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project
Written by Robert Moses and Charles E. Cobb

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: February 1, 2002
Price: $18.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-3127-8 (0-8070-3127-5)

At a time when popular solutions to the educational plight of poor children of color are imposed from the outside-national standards, high-stakes tests, charismatic individual saviors-the acclaimed Algebra Project and its founder, Robert Moses, offer a vision of school reform based in the power of communities. Begun in 1982, the Algebra... Read more >

The Angry Child
Regaining Control When Your Child Is Out of Control
Written by Dr. Timothy Murphy

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
On Sale: September 10, 2002
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-609-80751-4 (0-609-80751-X)

Every child has an off day when nothing seems to go right, but for some, angry outbursts, frustration, and resentment are the norm. When a child's anger threatens to jeopardize his school and social life and introduces an element of strain into the family dynamics that affects every member, it's time... Read more >

The Geography of Childhood
Why Children Need Wild Places
Written by Gary Nabhan and Stephen Trimble

Format: Trade Paperback, 216 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: April 30, 1995
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-8525-7 (0-8070-8525-1)

In this unique collaboration, two naturalists ask what may happen now that so many more children are denied exposure to wildness than at any other time in human history.

“This thoughtful presentation, testifying to children’s need for direct contact with nature, has value for parents and those who work with children.”... Read more >

The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test
Lessons from an Innovative Urban School
Written by Linda Nathan

Format: Trade Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: September 7, 2010
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0615-3 (0-8070-0615-7)

The Boston Arts Academy comprises an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student body, yet 94 percent of its graduates are accepted to college. This remarkable success rate, writes Principal Linda Nathan, is in large part due to asking the right questions and being open to seeking solutions collaboratively with faculty, parents, and... Read more >

Positive Discipline

Written by Jane Nelsen, Ed.D.

Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: May 30, 2006
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-345-48767-4 (0-345-48767-2)

For twenty-five years, Positive Discipline has been the gold standard reference for grown-ups working with children. Now Jane Nelsen, distinguished psychologist, educator, and mother of seven, has written a revised and expanded edition. The key to positive discipline is not punishment, she tells us, but mutual respect. Nelsen coaches parents and... Read more >

How to Be a High School Superstar
A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out)
Written by Cal Newport

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
On Sale: July 27, 2010
Price: $12.99
ISBN: 978-0-7679-3258-5 (0-7679-3258-7)

In How to Be a High School Superstar, Cal Newport explores the world of relaxed superstars--students who scored spots at the nation's top colleges by leading uncluttered and authentic lives. Drawing from extensive interviews and cutting-edge science, Newport’s latest book offers step-by-step instructions and guidance to help students and parents navigate... Read more >

What the Numbers Say
A Field Guide to Mastering Our Numerical World
Written by Derrick Niederman and David Boyum

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Broadway
On Sale: June 8, 2004
Price: $19.00
ISBN: 978-0-7679-0999-0 (0-7679-0999-2)

“This is a superb book—important and fun to read. We live in an age in which all people need to be fluent in two languages—words and numbers. Yet our schools do not teach and our students do not learn to be quantitatively literate. This book demonstrates what traditionally is not taught... Read more >

Teaching with Voices of a People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove
Written by Gayle Olson-Raymer

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
On Sale: April 5, 2011
Price: $21.00
ISBN: 978-1-58322-934-7 (1-58322-934-5)

Voices of a People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove is a symphony of our nation’s original voices, an embodiment of the power of civil disobedience and dissent wherein our nation’s true spirit of defiance and resilience lies.

In this teaching guide, Gayle Olson-Raymer provides insight into... Read more >

The Flickering Mind
Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology
Written by Todd Oppenheimer

Format: Trade Paperback, 528 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: December 7, 2004
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-8129-6843-9 (0-8129-6843-3)

The Flickering Mind, by National Magazine Award winner Todd Oppenheimer, is a landmark account of the failure of technology to improve our schools and a call for renewed emphasis on what really works.

American education faces an unusual moment of crisis. For decades, its schools have been beaten down by a series... Read more >

The Book That Changed My Life
Interviews with National Book Award Winners and Finalists
Edited by Diane Osen
Introduction by Neil Baldwin

Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
On Sale: September 17, 2002
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-679-78351-0 (0-679-78351-2)

Every reader can name at least one book that changed his or her life—and many more beloved titles will surely come to mind as well. In The Book That Changed My Life, fifteen of America’s most influential authors discuss their own special literary choices. These unique interviews with National Book Award... Read more >