After spending the 2019-2020 school year contemplating how to strive for real and lasting happiness, one concept arose repeatedly: resilience. Though students acknowledged that happiness is a process of growth, exploration, and wellbeing, not a static concept or a goal to achieve, they also recognized that it is a process that requires self awareness and the ability to address adversity in healthy ways. Whether facing academic pressures, social issues, political concerns, or personal challenges, we all need to build resilience as we explore different paths and continue our process of growth.
In support of this year’s essential question, we encourage all students, faculty, and staff to read one of the summer reading selections and consider how the book presents resilience. What skills and experiences do the characters in the book have that help them find strength in challenging times? How do the individuals in the book develop those skills and use them to better themselves and their communities?
This year, over 350 BHS community members suggested books, genres, and topics for the summer reading options. From those recommendations, the summer reading committee curated a list of 60 titles that meet a variety of reading needs. It includes stories about people whose stories inspire our students, social issues that concern them, places and time periods they want to learn about, characters who reflect them, and writing styles and genres that hold their interest. Our hope is that every BHS student, faculty, and staff member will spend time this summer relaxing with a good book and considering the possibilities that resilience offers, as well as the different ways we can all build it within ourselves and our communities.
Please contact Shannon Janovitz, BHS English Department Chair, or Callie Graham, BHS Teacher Librarian, with any questions regarding summer reading.
janovitz@bpsk12.org cgraham@bpsk12.org