7 Back-to-School Books to Help You Enjoy the Silence
Like many families at this time of year, you might be sending your kids back to school. Now that they’ll be occupied with education during the day, activities, sports, and homework in the evening, you may find you have more time to kick back and relax. Why not do so with some good books?
Here is a list of books that you can add to your TBR pile for when the kids are busy:
1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Ove is a grumpy older man who definitely likes things his own way. As the neighborhood around him grows and changes, Ove has a difficult time adapting to the change, especially while he is going through the biggest change of his own life.
As the story unfolds, the reader discovers why Ove has grown into the disgruntled older man that he is—the one who has been left behind too many times. While Ove is a grumpy older man, he also has a large heart. Over time, he welcomes the new neighbors in his own way, accepting them for who they are, in his own curmudgeonly way.
Backman, a Swedish author, has a trend of developing very deep characters that evolve as the storyline develops. His writing style is one that will likely pull you in. This book is bound to pull on your heartstrings.
2. The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher
This is a fictionalized account of Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the sister of future President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy. Kick’s father served as the American Ambassador to the United Kingdom, spending time in London where his own daughters had a formal presentation to society as debutantes in 1938.
Kick falls in love with Billy Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire. There’s only one problem—the match between Catholic Kick and Protestant Billy. When World War II breaks out, the Kennedys flee England for the safety of the US, but Kick isn’t willing to stay. Desperate to get back to Billy, wherever he is after joining the war, Kick becomes a journalist and joins the Red Cross.
Many of the events of the story are based on the actual life of Kathleen Kennedy. You may want to read this with a box of tissues beside you.
3. Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
If you are raising a daughter in today’s world, what advice do you want to raise her with? One day, Adichie received a letter from her friend that was wondering how to raise her daughter as a feminist.
Written by the author of Why We Should All Be Feminists, Adichie shares fifteen suggestions in her response. None of these are truly radical, but a way of helping both boys and girls understand how to raise each other up in today’s world.
This is a very short book that can be read in the span of an afternoon, but will have you walking away with lessons to last a lifetime—for you or your child. If you finish this, take a look at Adichie’s TEDx Talk about why we should all be feminists.
4. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
One of the best books I’ve read in a while, Shatter Me was one I could not put down. I devoured the entire series, which includes multiple full-length novels and even some novellas (short stories). Mafi is a gifted writer, where her prose reads more like poetry.
The story takes place in a future world, where Juliette finds herself imprisoned by The Reestablishment. She is alone. She possesses powers that can kill another human with the slightest touch. She doesn’t understand her powers. She doesn’t know how she came to possess them. But one day, when she comes face-to-face with someone she thinks she recognizes, her whole world changes.
This book, a combination of Young Adult literature and dystopian fiction, will keep you on the edge of your seat, fitfully turning the pages to find out what happens next. The final book in the series, Imagine Me, is scheduled for release on March 31.
5. Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope by Wendy Holden
Content warning: Graphic descriptions of violence.
A powerful story of three women, from three different countries with varying stories, but one thing in common—they’re all Jewish. Against all odds with food shortages and danger, they find themselves pregnant when sent to a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
The women didn’t know each other in the beginning, nor when they were in the camps together. They simply existed, day in and day out, to survive for their unborn children and to be reunited with their husbands. They each begin their horrific stories in Auschwitz, where they were ripped from their families and sent on their own, eventually finding work at other camps or other cities.
The story is graphic, but details the in-depth story of Rachel, Priska, and Anka, from before they were married until they were liberated by American forces at Mauthausen in Austria.
6. The Lines We Leave Behind by Eliza Graham
Content warning: This book includes scenes of extreme violence.
This is the sort of book that is so unbelievably fantastic that it sticks with you for days after you finish it.
The story begins in England in 1947 when a young woman finds herself in a mental institution, unsure how she arrived or who she even is. She committed a crime, but she doesn’t remember it. But she might not be as mixed up as she seems. She vividly remembers her experience working a secret mission in Yugoslavia during World War II. The story will make you feel hope and despair, anger and peace.
It reads like a thriller, with numerous twists and turns. If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, this book is free.
7. Girl At War by Sara Novic
Content warning: This book includes descriptions of extreme violence.
Crossing over between the events of Croatia in 1991 and New York in 2001, Ana Juric tries to balance her experiences in Yugoslavia with that of New Yorkers in the post-9/11 world.
While Americans are mourning the attacks against their country, Ana is taken back to the genocide of her own country and the air raids, food shortages, and violence that went long with it. After September 11, she journeys back to Zagreb to face her ghosts, telling the story of how history shapes the individual.
Maybe you can enjoy a little bit of the silence of back-to-school with a good book in your hands. I hope that at least one of these books can stick with you like they did for me. Happy reading!
