Summer Reading 2025: Upper School

Since its first publication more than 30 years ago, The Artist's Way has inspired millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's unique approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck. The program begins with Cameron's most vital tools for creative recovery: The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, this book will help you get started.

Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Dress is an appealing and accessible guide to women's fashion across five centuries. Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, or undergarments. Learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how dresses have varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer. This is the ultimate guide for anyone interested in historical fashion.

Revel in the skies above with this handy stargazing guide, complete with constellation charts and expert tips for observing-and understanding-the wonders of the universe. Detailed visuals help you find the top 58 constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. Start with the easiest constellations and then "star-hop" across the night sky to find others. Fazekas offers hands-on techniques for observing with the naked eye, with binoculars, or through a small telescope, revealing the wonders of planets and astronomical events such as eclipses and meteor showers. For all who look up with wonder at the starry sky, this indispensable guide illuminates the greatest nighttime show on Earth!

Written by the iconic Stan Lee, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is a must-have book for anyone looking to learn how to draw. This comics compendium is an encyclopedia of information for creating your own comic. Using artwork from Marvel comics as primary examples, Buscema graphically illustrates the mysterious methods of comic art, including character design, perspective, expression, and movement. Stan Lee's pithy prose gives able assistance and advice to the apprentice artist. If you want to draw characters for comics, films, animation or just for fun, this book will help you learn the rules and tools of how to start!

Joyful Mending shows you how to repair and improve old items of clothing by turning tears and flaws into beautiful features. Simply by applying a few easy sewing, darning, felting, or crocheting techniques, as well as some sashiko and other favorite embroidery stitches, you can repair your favorite pieces in a transformative way. Author Noriko Misumi will teach you how to: Repair any kind of fabric that is torn, ripped or stained – whether knitted or woven; work with damaged flat or curved surfaces to make them aesthetically pleasing again; create repairs that blend in, as well as bold or whimsical visible repairs; darn your handmade or expensive gloves, sweaters and socks to make them look great again.

Step inside an enchanted world of arcane imagery and rich symbolism in this deeply imaginative embroidery art book. Author Gayla Partridge draws upon her knowledge of vintage anatomical artwork, floral design, Ouija, and oddities from the natural world to create magical, witchy twists on an age-old craft. Through extraordinary, stylized photography and detailed close-ups of designs, the embroidery art in Stitchcraft is entirely achievable with basic stitches and easy-to-follow instructions, enchanting beginners and expert crafters alike. From the anatomy of a snake to floral skulls, from palmistry hands to botanical hearts, readers will be inspired to recreate Partridge's spellbinding designs and to make them their own.

This essential go-to guide gives you all the advice and tools you'll need to help you flourish and achieve what you want in life. From the answers to everyday questions such as 'Am I using appropriate body language?' and 'Did I say the wrong thing?', through to discussing the importance of understanding your emotions, award-winning neurodiversity campaigner Siena Castellon uses her own experiences to provide you with the skills to overcome any challenge. She shares authentic advice for looking after your physical and mental health, as well as how to cope with anxiety and sensory overloads. With practical tips on friendships, dating, body image, consent and appearance, as well as how to survive school and bullying, The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide gives you the power to embrace who you are, reminding you that even during the toughest of teen moments, you are never alone.

Navigating predominantly white institutions (PWI) as a young Black girl provides amazing opportunities as well as challenging experiences. The poems, anecdotes, and entries found between the pages of this book seek to provide support and guidance for Black girls in PWIs by Black girls and women who either attend a PWI now or have in the past. Hair, friendship, dating, motivation, information, racism, self-esteem – nothing is off limits! Selections from the following writers, poets and leaders: Gabrielle Clarke, Marissa Glonek, Yolanda Durden, Soraya Patterson, Lydia Patterson, Aminah Aliu, Tiara McKinney, Tiia McKinney, Makayla Terrell, Ndeye Thioubou, Sarah Holston, Katie Quander, Courtney Pascol, McKenzie Stringer, Gabby Anthony and Ka'Isis Lee.

In a world of sound bites, deliberate misinformation, and a political scene colored by the blue versus red partisan divide, how does the average educated American find a reliable source that’s free of political spin? The 5th edition of What You Should Know About Politics... But Don’t breaks it all down, issue by issue, explaining who stands for what, and why—whether it’s the economy, income inequality, health care, foreign policy, education, immigration, or climate change. If you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or somewhere in between, it’s the perfect book to brush up on a single topic or read through to get a deeper understanding of the often murky world of American politics.

In The Resilient Teen, psychologist and trauma specialist Dr. Sheela Raja offers ten skills grounded in key principles from psychology and neuroscience to help teenagers cope with all of life's challenges – from small stressors like homework, social media, and dating to serious trauma resulting from bullying, school shootings, violence, and pandemics. The key to dealing with all of these difficult events is resilience – the ability to recover from setbacks or trauma, and forge ahead with emotional strength. The best thing about resilience is that it can be learned. You'll learn essential strategies for self-care, how to establish a healthy lifestyle, and how to set limits on technology. You'll also discover how mindfulness can help you deal with stress and challenging emotions in the moment, tips for building better relationships with family and friends, and tools for dealing with disappointment. Most importantly, this book will show you how to increase your own sense of joy, purpose, and meaning.

In the current period of social and political unrest, conversations about identity are becoming more frequent and more difficult. Many of us are understandably fearful of saying the wrong thing. Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow, founders of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law, are here to show you that these conversations don't have to be so overwhelming. They offer seven user-friendly principles that teach skills such as how to avoid common conversational pitfalls, engage in respectful disagreement, offer authentic apologies, and better support people in our lives who experience bias. Research-backed, accessible, and uplifting, Say the Right Thing charts a pathway out of cancel culture toward more meaningful and empathetic dialogue on issues of identity.