Novels About Education for Back to School Season

Book Summary

Born with ocular albinism, Sam Hill is a young boy whose rare red eyes cause problems from the moment his mother enrolls him at the Our Lady of Mercy school. 

Labeled “Hell Boy,” he is bullied not only by his classmates but also given a hard time by the nun who is the principal at his elementary school. Eventually, Sam finds the new best friend he desperately needs in Ernie Cantwell, the only African American boy in his class, and years later in a fiercely individual girl named Mickie.

As an adult, Sam is a respected ophthalmologist moving through life with Ernie and Mickie still by his side. His world is about to be upturned when he’s unexpectedly reunited with the biggest schoolyard bully from his past.

Book Summary

Set at the River Valley School for the Deaf, this novel transports you into the Deaf community. It gives insight into a culture that hearing families rarely get a chance to understand, with compelling characters along the way.

New student Charlie is stuck between the worlds of hearing and Deaf. She’s never been around other deaf people before and is trying to figure out what choices are right and wrong for her.

Meanwhile, the school’s headmistress is a CODA (child of deaf adult) who has her own problems, including a mother with dementia and an unhappy wife.

Book Summary

Adunni is a 14-year-old girl living in poverty in a Nigerian village. She loves school and knows that learning all she can is the key to achieving a better life. But, despite promising to allow Adunni’s schooling to continue after her mother’s death, Adunni’s father makes a decision that ends her education in the village and changes the trajectory of her life.

You’ll be moved to both tears and cheers as Adunni endures and overcomes heartbreaking challenges while remaining focused on her dream of an education.

Book Summary

Solia was raised in Nairobi, Kenya, by her wealthy and conservative mother. Despite her mother’s stern parenting style, Solia is headstrong and outspoken. Eager to escape her mother’s strict rules, she wants to attend college in New York City. 

When she arrives, New York in the 1990s is very different from what she imagined. She’s equally shocked by the entitlement of her wealthy classmates and the poverty she sees elsewhere in the city. Her sheltered upbringing in Kenya shielded her from many of the harsh realities of racism, so it comes as a shock when she experiences it for the first time in America, the place she envisioned to be the golden land of opportunity.

Book Summary

Nikki is the daughter of Indian immigrants raised in a traditional Sikh community in England. After dropping out of law school, she spends her time in cosmopolitan West London tending bar at a local pub.

When her family is in need of financial assistance, she impulsively agrees to take on a part-time job teaching creative writing at a Punjabi community center. It turns out, however, that the women enrolled in the class are primarily Sikh widows hoping to gain basic English fluency.

Though they need to learn beginner skills, these women don’t want to be taught using resources designed for young children. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with her classmates, Nikki realizes that, beneath their modest white dupattas, these women are filled with both memories and fantasies. In hopes of liberating them, Nikki helps the widows to unleash their creativity and express their untold stories.

Soon, more women join the class, and they all must be careful not to attract the attention of the Brotherhood – a group of conservative young men who act as the community’s self-appointed “moral police.”

When the gossip among the women reveals shocking insights into the death of a modern young wife in the community, it sparks a scandal that puts them all in danger.

Book Summary

In 1950s Tehran, Ellie lives a privileged life. However, her whole world changes when her father unexpectedly passes away, and she and her mother must move to a tiny home downtown.

On her first day at her new school, Ellie meets Homa, a kind, brave, and passionate girl who becomes her best friend. They spend all their time together learning to cook, playing games, and wandering the Grand Bazaar.

But then Ellie’s life flips again when she’s given a chance to return to her privileged life and attend the best girls’ high school in Iran. Over time, her thoughts of Homa fade, and she comes to embrace her bourgeois life. When Homa suddenly reappears, the course of both of their lives is changed forever. The rising political turmoil in the country complicates things even further.

Book Summary

Every Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian’s restaurant for a cooking class. Each of them are searching for more than just food technique, they also need a new recipe for life. From a young mother to a widower, the students have unique backgrounds and different challenges in life.

The aromas, flavors, and texture of Lillian’s food slowly transform the lives of her students. As the characters begin to intertwine, the depth of what can be created in the kitchen is revealed.

Book Summary

This juicy contemporary drama focuses on four families that have been friends since their children were born. However, secrets and resentments were buried along the way.

Early in the book, we are introduced to each of these families as they discuss a new, exclusive school that will be opening in the town of Crystal, Colorado (which many readers will recognize as a slightly fictionalized version of Boulder, CO). What starts as good intentions is quickly derailed by very questionable actions as they each fight to get their kids into the new school. These ambitious parents will go to any length to secure a spot for their children. Along the way, secrets and lies will resurface in explosive ways.

This novel explores issues of talent versus privilege, achievement versus potential, and the pursuit of prestige at any cost.

Book Summary

Class Mom is a light and entertaining novel about the life of a 40-something mom in a large suburb southwest of Kansas City. She also has two daughters in college, as well as a son in kindergarten.

If you’ve ever done a little eye-rolling when dealing with other parents at your child’s school, this is the book for you. Former rockstar groupie Jen is bamboozled into being the class mom for her daughter’s kindergarten class. Her emails recruiting other parent volunteers are full of the things you wish you could say, but hopefully wouldn’t.

Book Summary

This novel tells the intertwined tale of three moms whose children attend the same primary school in suburban Sydney.

Forty-year-old Madeline is funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is beautiful, but the illusion of perfection comes at a price. Single mom Jane is new to town and has a mysterious past. She’s so young that other moms mistake her for a nanny.

The three women at the heart of this story are very different, but a schoolyard scandal threatens to expose each of their lies.

Book Summary

Jack Parker became a stay-at-home dad after his career went up in smoke (he accidentally burned down his office building). His daughter has just started school, and Jack finally feels like he’s gotten the hang of parenting. Things are going smoothly until his high school nemesis, Chad, moves to town.

When Jack learns that Chad is running for a seat on the school board, it brings up memories of their old high school rivalry. Jack decides to run against Chad, but parent politics prove more cutthroat than he ever imagined.

Book Summary

Sunset Academy is the most coveted public elementary school in Miami Beach. While the students come from a wide range of economic backgrounds, the PTA is comprised of socialites who raise massive amounts of money to set the school apart from the rest.

Melody Howard is new to town, having just moved from Wichita, Kansas, where the PTA events were bake sales rather than galas, and birthday parties were cookies and streamers rather than $100,000 affairs.

PTA alpha mom Charlotte Giodani is quick to take Melody under her wing, and their daughters become fast friends. But as Melody gets sucked into the glossy and frenetic world of Sunset Academy moms, she begins to understand why people describe Miami Beach as “a sunny place for shady people.”

Before the end of the school year, a white crime investigation threatens to take down the whole institution.

Told from alternating points of view that include Melody and Charlotte, as well as billionaires Don and Patricia Walker (the school’s biggest benefactors), and Sunset parent and Judge Carol Lawson.

Book Summary

Second-grade teacher Emily Walker has been feuding with fellow teacher, Jack Bennett, so she’s thrilled when his engagement prompts him to leave town mid-year. But her excitement is short-lived when he moves back to town at the start of the summer after breaking up with his fiancée. And this time it’s even worse because now he’s not just her colleague, but also her neighbor.

Though they butt heads, it turns out both teachers have something in common. Each has a side-hustle writing novels under a pen name. Emily leads a double life as a romance writer, and Jack is a best-selling mystery novelist.

When Emily accidentally sends an email to the school principal with her manuscript attached, threatening to reveal her secret literary identity to her boss, there’s only one person she can turn to for help. Surprisingly, Jack agrees to help her steal back her manuscript. Will this new alliance finally put an end to their rivalry, or is it a steamy plot twist?

Book Summary

Samantha is a school librarian who loves her job at her current school and who has a bold zest for life…but she hasn’t always been that way. Duncan, the new school principal is very regimented and unwilling to stray from the rules…but he hasn’t always been that way.

Sam and Duncan have met before. They worked together at another school years ago, back when they were both very different people. When Duncan takes over as the new principal at Sam’s school, she’s shocked to discover that the fun-loving guy she remembers has turned into a completely different person – one she’s afraid will ruin everything she loves about her loving and welcoming school community.

As things spiral out of control, Sam and Duncan are forced to get real with one another and reveal the traumas from their pasts to save the school – and themselves.

Book Summary

Twenty-four-year-old Ella Durran earned a Rhodes Scholarship, allowing her to fulfill her lifelong dream of studying literature at Oxford University. At the same time, she’s also been offered a position working for the political campaign of a rising political star. She works out an arrangement to work remotely from England, with the plan to return to Washington D.C. at the end of her Oxford year.

Things get off to a rough start on her first day when she has a run-in with a smart-mouthed local. And things get even worse when she discovers that the same man – Jamie Davenport – is also the professor of her English literature course.

During a night out with her classmates filled with drinks and poetry, she discovers an unexpected connection with Jamie. Her classmates warn her about his reputation, but she can’t help how she feels.

The two begin their relationship, understanding the timeline – Ella is set to leave as soon as the semester ends. But things quickly become more complicated and Ella is forced to decide what her heart really wants.

Book Summary

Sophie had it all – a dream job as the head athletic trainer for the Red Sox, a handsome boyfriend, and a great life in Boston. But when she loses all three (along with the World Series), she is desperate for another job.

She takes a position as a trainer at an arts-focused boarding school in New Hampshire. She’s completely out of her element. To these high school students, a “play” is A Chorus Line, but when she hears “play,” she only thinks of a walk-off homer. Sophie is used to working with pro athletes, but she soon discovers that these students also have big-time talent and equally big-time problems.

After moving to the campus, she’s forced to live with three male roommates in a closet-sized bedroom. To make matters more complicated, one of the men is a very handsome grump.

Book Summary

Kindergarten teacher Marjette Lewis is juggling single motherhood, a thorny ex, and the chaos of her kindergarten classroom. She really doesn’t have time for anything else, so she’s been avoiding the new neighbors for over a year. But when she waves at the neighbor and feels ignored, she decides it’s time to teach the woman next door about Southern manners.

Instead, however, she discovers that her neighbor, Noa Abrams, has suffered a recent tragedy. Their lives intertwine further when Noa’s daughter ends up in Marjette’s class. Soon, Marjette is also navigating grief, cultural differences, and maybe even a spark of romance that she never expected.

Book Summary

Set over the course of one year at a New England boarding school, the mother-daughter writing duo of Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham introduces readers to an intertwined cast of characters inspired by Shelby’s lived experience attending a fancy boarding school in Rhode Island. Elin wrote the adult perspectives for the book (parents and teachers), while Shelby wrote key scenes from the student perspectives.

As students move in for the fall semester, America Today releases the newest rankings, and Tiffin Academy just jumped seventeen spots to number. But how can that be when the dorms need to be renovated, the sports teams never win, and the students excel far more in their social lives than in their academics? On the other hand, Tiffin does boast a beautiful campus, small class sizes, and an acclaimed New York chef running the dining hall.

But something strange is definitely going on. One by one, scandalous items begin appearing on phones across the campus thanks to the new ZipZap app. It appears that everyone has something to hide – students and staff alike, from international influencer Davi and resident queen bee Simone, to the young new history teacher and even the admissions director.

Book Summary

Cassandra Sato just landed her dream position as the VP of Student Affairs at Morton College in rural Nebraska. Leaving her home in sunny Hawaii, she was prepared for the culture shock of Midwestern casseroles, land-locked cornfields, and freezing winters. But nothing could prepare her to step into a death investigation.

When a Deaf student dies, the trail of evidence suggests a connection between campus food service, beef raised by a local farmer, and the cancer research conducted in the university’s science lab.

In subsequent books in the series, quirky faculty politics, student scandals, and unexpected deaths keep Cassandra constantly sleuthing.

Book Summary

J. Everett High is not a typical high school, but rather a specialized academy where students train in forensic and investigative skills. At the end of each year, the criminology students test their knowledge with a high-stakes murder mystery game.

The event kicks off with student Xavier Torres being found poisoned in the greenhouse. But he’s not just playing the victim. He’s actually dead, and the police investigation that ensues is no game. The evidence points to Sierra and Dulce, Xavier’s ex-girlfriend and ex-best friend, respectively.

Sierra recognizes that Dulce knows the school better than any investigator, so she asks Dulce for help clearing her name despite their past bad blood. There is no shortage of suspects and possible motives roaming the historic halls of J Everett High.

Book Summary

Langhorne Academy, an idyllic and elite New Jersey boarding school, has a charming new English teacher named Francis Fox. While he beguiles many of his colleagues, his students, and their parents, others in the community have questions about his enigmatic resume.

When Fox’s car is discovered partially submerged in the pond of a nearby nature preserve and parts of an unidentified body are discovered scattered in the surrounding woods, everyone begins asking questions about the new teacher’s true identity.

Book Summary

The Newcomers follows twenty-two immigrant teenagers throughout the 2015-2016 school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado. Ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen, most of these students came directly from refugee camps in countries plagued by war, famine, or drought.

The non-fiction read follows the students’ English language education with their dedicated and creative teacher, Mr. Williams. As they grasp the language, their individual histories unfold and add faces, names, and stories to those seeking asylum. At the same time that these teenagers are trying to adapt to an unfamiliar way of life in a new country, they are also balancing the more typical teenage challenge of fitting in and making friends.

Book Summary

In this memoir, Tara Westover shares the story of her upbringing in rural Idaho. Born to survivalist parents, she grew up stewing herbs for her midwife healer mother and worked in her father’s junkyard. Her father forbade doctors and hospitals, even when she and her brothers suffered serious injuries.

She was also kept from any formal education. Although she didn’t step foot in a classroom for the first time until the age of 17, Tara worked hard to educate herself in mathematics and grammar. She was ultimately able to gain admission to BYU, where she studied history and learned about major world events, like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement, for the first time. From there, she went on to opportunities at Harvard and Cambridge.

This coming-of-age memoir details how she struggled to lift herself up and dealt with the struggle between family loyalty and the grief that comes with severing those ties in search of something more.

Book Summary

This non-fiction book is part memoir and part literary true crime. It takes us deep inside the landmark sexual assault investigation into the University of Colorado football program through the eyes of the private investigator who helped crack the case open.

When Erika Krouse was assigned to investigate the sexual assault of a college student who was attacked by football players and recruits at a party the year before, she knew she should turn the case down because her own personal experience with sexual violence made it feel too personal… but that’s exactly why she took the job. Over the next five years, as the investigation grew into a national scandal and historic civil rights case, she had to struggle to win the case without losing herself too deeply into it.

Book Summary

In this memoir, Liz Murray shares the story of her challenging upbringing as a child of drug-addicted parents.

Liz was frequently taunted for her dirty clothes and lice-infested hair. She began skipping classes and eventually landed in a girls’ home before living on the streets at the age of 15. She finally decided to take control of her destiny and went back to high school. She finished in just two years while studying in subway stations and riding trains all night for warmth and shelter. Against all odds, she won a scholarship and found her way to the Ivy League.