Considering it's my 40th birthday, I thought I would post some of my OWN book recommendations!  Here are five books that are always at the top of my FAV List:

1.  The Pact by Doctors Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt.  The book is about three, inner-city African-American youth who make a pact to become doctors and then do it!  The book is a great example of the effectiveness of POSITIVE peer pressure and is a reminder that our circumstances do not necessarily dictate our destiny!

2.  The Bond by Doctors Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt.  The book is about three, successful doctors who forgive and reconnect with their fathers.  The book shows how important it is for children to have fathers who are active in their lives and reinforces the awesome power of forgiveness.

3.  I Won't Learn From You by Herbert Kohl.  In my opinion this is one of the best books in the field on how to develop effective student relationships.  I learned an EXTREMELY valuable lesson from this book:  I WON'T learn from you is quite a bit different than I CAN'T learn from you!

4.  360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell. My takeaways?  Influence with people can be far more effective than power over them!  You don't have to be the person at the "top" to be a leader in any organization.  ANYTHING by John Maxwell is sure to be a winner!

and finally for fun ...

5.  Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man by Comedian Steve Harvey.  I like this book because Steve shares far more than the average man is willing to share about how "they" really think!   :)

Please feel free to post your own book recommendations in the comment section or email them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Enjoy!

Summer is the perfect time to get caught up on our "books-to-read" list or maybe to DEVELOP one!  To help you out, this weeks' blogs will be dedicated to book recommendations.  Let's start the week with a recommendation from our President:  President Barack Obama.

President Obama recently wrote a hand-written note to bestselling author Yann Martel saying how much he and his daughters loved reading "Life of Pi."

Stuart Buck is the author of Acting White: The Ironic Effect of Desegregation, published by Yale University Press in May 2010.  He is currently a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow in the Education Reform department at the University of Arkansas.

Some minority students still equate academic achievement with "acting white".  Read Stuart Buck's thoughts on the topic here:  Stuart Buck on "Acting White".

Other excerpts/topics from his book include:

Make School More Like Sports

Both are in our Articles Worth Reading section and well worth the read!