Books with category Educational Journeys
Displaying 3 books

Caleb's Crossing

Caleb's Crossing is a richly imagined novel by the acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks. Set in 1665, it tells the story of a young man from Martha's Vineyard who becomes the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. This novel vividly brings to life a remarkable shard of history.

The narrator, Bethia Mayfield, grows up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amidst a small band of pioneers and Puritans. She is restless and curious, yearning for an education that is denied to her because of her gender. As often as she can, Bethia explores the island's glistening beaches and observes its native Wampanoag inhabitants.

At the age of twelve, Bethia encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain. They forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each of them into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman. One of his endeavors is the education of Caleb, who later studies Latin and Greek among the colonial elite in Cambridge.

Caleb's Crossing is an evocative and absorbing tale of love, faith, magic, and adventure. It further establishes Geraldine Brooks as one of our most acclaimed novelists.

The Promise

2005

by Chaim Potok

The Promise brilliantly dramatizes what it is to master and use knowledge to make one’s own way in the world. Reuven Malter lives in Brooklyn, he’s in love, and he’s studying to be a rabbi. He also keeps challenging the strict interpretations of his teachers, and if he keeps it up, his dream of becoming a rabbi may die.

One day, worried about a disturbed, unhappy boy named Michael, Reuven takes him sailing and cloud-watching. Reuven also introduces him to an old friend, Danny Saunders—now a psychologist with a growing reputation. Reconnected by their shared concern for Michael, Reuven and Danny each learns what it is to take on life—whether sacred truths or a troubled child—according to his own lights, not just established authority.

Nightjohn

1995

by Gary Paulsen

To know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it's bad for them. They think we want what they got. That's why they don't want us reading. - Nightjohn

I didn't know what letters was, not what they meant, but I thought it might be something I wanted to know. To learn. - Sarny

Sarny, a female slave at the Waller plantation, first sees Nightjohn when he is brought there with a rope around his neck, his body covered in scars. He had escaped north to freedom, but he came back—came back to teach reading. Knowing that the penalty for reading is dismemberment, Nightjohn still returned to slavery to teach others how to read. And twelve-year-old Sarny is willing to take the risk to learn.

Set in the 1850s, Gary Paulsen's groundbreaking novel is unlike anything else the award-winning author has written. It is a meticulously researched, historically accurate, and artistically crafted portrayal of a grim time in our nation's past, brought to light through the personal history of two unforgettable characters.

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