The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools

By Lindsey Pointer ’13, Kathleen McGoey, and Haley Farrar

As restorative practices gain momentum, scholars and practitioners have begun to ask: How should restorative practices be taught? What educational structures and methods are in alignment with restorative values and principles? This book introduces games as a tool to teach restorative justice practices. Grounded in an understanding of restorative pedagogy and experiential learning strategies, the games allow learners to experience and understand restorative practices while building relationships and improving skills. Pointer has a Ph.D. in Restorative Justice from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and currently serves as the assistant director of the National Center on Restorative Justice at Vermont Law School. Published by Good Books, 2020.

When North Becomes South

By Becky Bronson ’79

Bronson wrote this book after visiting her son, a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote African village. What would you do without electricity or the Internet? You may find out in this dystopian novel. A massive solar flare triggers a change in Earth’s magnetic field. Suddenly, power grids fail all over the globe, the Internet shuts down, long-distance communication becomes impossible, and modern methods of transportation no longer exist. A separated family struggles to reunite in this changed landscape where each must answer the question: How do you steer your life when north and south are radically shifting? Published by Rebecca Bronson, 2020.

love is not dying

By Jeremy Zucker ’18

Zucker didn’t set out to be a career musician; in fact, he majored in molecular biology. This is his debut album release, although he had released music throughout college and had been offered multiple deals by the time he entered his senior year. Like his breakout song, “comethru,” the album digs into the singer’s personal relationships and inner fantasies.  He has sold out stages across Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia, and “comethru” is platinum certified, with more than 1 billion global streams. Republic Records, 2020.

Created for Greatness

By Robert Gregory Stephens ’68

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Have you struggled to find happiness that lasts? With all the trials, problems, pressures, and temptations you face, how can you live a happy, successful, and significant life? Told through the narrative of a father-son relationship, Stephens has written a guide to a happy life. During his 40 years of Bible study and mentoring, he found the answer in 10 life-changing skills based on God’s word. This book will help you discover how to embrace happiness that lasts; achieve peak performance; make wise decisions; conquer worry, fear, anxiety, and stress; and create a powerful prayer life. Published by Beaver’s Pond Press, 2020.

A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research

By Ann Walsh Long ’89

Legal research can be costly for students and practitioners in two ways: time and money. Long, a law professor at the Lincoln Memorial University School of Law in Knoxville, Tennessee, has written a book that streamlines the process of legal research involving any subject matter and during any stage of civil litigation. Included is an overview of the litigation analytics and artificial intelligence features available from Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and Westlaw Edge. Long notes that the Block Plan taught her to be efficient with her time, a lesson she’s carried over to her professional life. Published by West Academic Publishing, 2020.

Evolved

By Jeremy Vannatta ’93

Elements of rock, folk, alt-country, and bluegrass color Vannatta’s first full-length album, “Evolved.” A student of music, a fan of words, a longtime mixtape maker, and a part-time rock music critic, Vannatta has culled a group of 13 original songs built mainly from love won, love lost, and love spurned. His songs sound at once original and paradoxically as if they had existed in the ether for years, ready to be plucked and pressed to vinyl. “Evolved” is available for streaming on all major platforms.

Prioritizing Sustainability Education: A Comprehensive Approach

Co-edited by Chara Armon ’95

The book presents theory-to-practice essays and case studies by educators from six countries who present dynamic approaches to sustainability education. Too often, students graduate with exploitative, consumer-driven orientations toward ecosystems and are unprepared to confront the urgent challenges presented by environmental degradation. The approaches in this book expand beyond conventional emphases on developing students’ attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors by thinking and talking about ecosystems to additionally engaging students with ecosystems in sensory, affective, psychological, and cognitive dimensions, as well as imaginative, spiritual, or existential dimensions that guide environmental care and regeneration. Published by London: Routledge, 2020.

Heaven in Your Bones

By Caryn Daus Flanagan ’89

A young child’s world changes forever when, late one night, her parents receive a devastating phone call. Young readers follow little Sarah as she navigates sudden loss for the first time. Utilizing her natural curiosity, happy memories, and innate wisdom, Sarah’s journey leads her to a beautiful place of understanding and peace. Aimed at children 3 and older, this book, based on actual events, is a love letter to children experiencing traumatic loss. A portion of proceeds from book sales is donated to ACCESS, a nonprofit  providing emotional support resources for people who have lost loved ones in aircraft accidents. Published by BookBaby, 2020.

Lyme Disease and Relapsing Fever Spirochetes: Genomics, Molecular Biology, Host Interactions and Disease Pathogenesis

Co-edited by D. Scott Samuels ’83

Lyme disease, the most prevalent vector-borne illness in the U.S. and Europe and a growing threat to global health, is considered a model system of emerging infectious diseases. The 2010 book “Borrelia: Molecular Biology, Host Interaction and Pathogenesis” was the first state-of-the-art reference work covering the myriad facets of the enzootic disorders caused by pathogenic Borrelia. This current volume, by the same editors, builds on the previous work and contains a vast amount of new information. The volume highlights and describes in detail the tremendous advances in understanding the Borrelia genus at the molecular and cellular levels as well as the pathogenesis of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. Published by Caister Academic Press, 2021.

Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving A Life

By Katherine E. Standefer ’07

Standefer tells the story of her troubled relationship to her implanted cardiac defibrillator within the context of the device’s global supply chain and the dysfunctional American health care system. From the sterile labs of a medical device manufacturer in Southern California to the tantalum and tin mines seized by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to a nickel and cobalt mine carved out of endemic Madagascar jungle, the book, both a memoir and mystery, takes the reader on a global reckoning with the social, environmental, and personal costs of a technology that promises to be lifesaving but is, in fact, much more complicated. Standefer’s book was named a must-read by O Magazine and received a starred Kirkus review. Published by Little, Brown, Spark, 2020.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire”: Billy Joel and Popular Music Studies

Co-edited by Ryan Bañagale ’00, director of performing arts and associate professor of music

Billy Joel has sold more than 150 million records, produced 33 Top 40 hits, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fans celebrate him, critics deride him, and scholars have all but ignored him. Emerging from a 2016 public musicology conference on Joel hosted by Colorado College, this first-of-its-kind collection of essays offers close analysis and careful insight into the ways his work has impacted popular music during the last 50 years. Ultimately, these chapters interrogate how music frames our experiences, constitutes our history and culture, and gains importance in our daily lives. Published by Lexington Books, 2020.

You Talkin’ to Me? How to Write Great Dialogue

By Linda Seger ’67 and John Rainey

Unlike the chitchat of everyday life, dialogue in stories should express character, advance the story, suggest a theme, and include a few memorable lines that audiences will be quoting for decades. Inexperienced writers write wooden dialogue, have characters all speaking the same way, or awkwardly insert exposition into conversations. In this book written for screenwriters, novelists, and playwrights, the authors explore dialogue from a different angle and discuss examples of great dialogue from films and novels. Each chapter ends with examples of poor dialogue, which are annotated by Seger and then rewritten by Rainey. Published by Michael Wiese Productions, 2020.