International school library treasure!
Consilium Education library specialist, Sal Flint continues her column – School Readers – in which she talks to educators about their favourite books. This month’s Reader is Katie Day.
Why ‘School Readers’?
We all urge kids to read, but how has reading shaped our own personal and professional lives? I want to know which four books have most influenced the people I talk to – an unforgettable children’s book, a novel, a work of non-fiction and a ‘go-to’ book about education.
This month’s reader is Katie Day. Originally from Maine in the USA, Katie has lived overseas since 1986 – in the UK, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. She got her undergraduate degree in Russian Civilization at Smith College in Massachusetts, and a Masters in Children’s Literature from Roehampton Institute (now the University of Surrey), UK, as well as a Masters in Library & Information Science and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Secondary English & Teacher-Librarianship, both earned long-distance from Charles Sturt University in Australia.
Katie has worked in both Thailand and Singapore over the past twenty years, starting at the Dulwich International College (now the British International School) in Phuket, Thailand. She then spent 12 years at United World College in Singapore, first at the Dover campus and then as the Head of Libraries for the new East campus.
It was when I was a fledgling librarian that I first met Katie during a trip to Singapore. She was incredibly generous with her time, giving me a tour of the Dover Library and later showing me the site for the library on the still-to-be-built East Campus. I clearly remember her being stopped—almost at every step—by a teacher asking for help with something library-related. A sure sign of an outstanding librarian! After three years at NIST International School in Bangkok in the secondary library, she returned to Singapore in 2020 to join Tanglin Trust School, where she is now the Head of Senior Library.
Katie Day’s four books (Click the book covers to follow the link to Amazon)
1.George Saunders: A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: in which four Russians give a master class on writing, reading, and life (2021)
Saunders is the one who provides the master class, via seven classic Russian short stories – reproduced in full in the book and interspersed with Saunders’ teaching notes based on his twenty years’ experience teaching short story writing. While this might sound dull, it’s anything but. Even if you know nothing about Russian literature and have no interest in writing yourself, you will appreciate the power of stories to reach us across years and cultures – and what great teaching looks like.
What it’s about:
As Katie says in A Swim in the Pond in the Rain George Saunders offers a brilliant master class in writing. Saunders uncovers how these stories transcend time and culture. With sharp insight and warmth, he shows how stories—rich with complexity—offer a glimpse into the heart of humanity.
2. Anne Clifton Fadiman: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997)
One of the very best examples of gripping narrative nonfiction. I first read it while floating down the Mekong River in a narrow boat – and both the book and the environment were in strong competition for my attention. As an American expatriate living in Vietnam at the time, I appreciated the depiction of the Hmong family and their epileptic daughter struggling with the American medical system after the Vietnam War. A fascinating and heart-breaking story, and so well told.
What it’s about:
In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997), Anne Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a young Hmong girl with epilepsy, and the clash between her family’s traditional beliefs and Western medicine. Set in the U.S., Fadiman explores the misunderstandings between Lia’s parents and the doctors trying to treat her. The book delves into themes of cultural conflict, communication, and the challenges of navigating healthcare in a multicultural world.
3. Terry Pratchett: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001)
I wanted to include a funny book, because I think humour is one of the hardest things to pull off in textual format – and Pratchett does it so well, layering his books with literary echoes and popular culture in that distinctive voice of his. It doesn’t matter if a student has never heard of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, they will be thrilled whenever they do – recognizing how Pratchett set them up for it. If only I could get every student to try some Pratchett. Luckily he wrote so many books – so it increases the chances!
What it’s about:
In The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett delivers a witty and engaging story set in the Discworld universe. The book follows Maurice, a streetwise cat, and his band of clever rats who, after learning to speak, team up to con the humans with a fake ‘pied piper’ scheme. But when their latest scam turns deadly, Maurice and his companions must confront deeper moral questions about their lives and choices.
4. Naomi S. Baron: Who Wrote This? How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing (2023)
As a teacher-librarian who works with students doing the Extended Essay (EE) and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), considering how AI potentially impacts reading, researching, writing, and learning is a constant professional interest and concern. Professor Naomi Baron is someone whose perspective I value. In this book she gives a great overview on the state – and stakes – of human writing, just as she did for human reading in her previous book, How We Read Now: strategic choices for print, screen, and audio (2021).
What it’s about:
Who Wrote This? : How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and human writing, examining how AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping literacy, creativity, and personal expression. Baron provides a lively historical and cultural journey, from 19th-century composition lessons to modern AI advancements, urging readers to weigh the benefits and risks of integrating AI into writing.
What Katie is reading at the moment:
Fiction: James (2024) by Percival Everett, a re-telling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of Jim the slave, together with The Historian’s Huck Finn (2016) by Ranjit S. Dighe.
Nonfiction: Frostbite: How refrigeration changed our food, our planet, and ourselves (2024) by Nicola Twilley
Sally Flint, is a Senior Consultant specialising in school library development at Consilium Education.
If you would like to share your four School Readers, write to ITM on –
FEATURE IMAGE: from Pixabay
