The latest crop of books by alumni authors tackles self-acceptance, public advocacy, education, writing, and a murder mystery. 

JONATHAN MARTIN ’84
Reinventing Crediting for Competency-Based Education: The Mastery Transcript Consortium Model and Beyond
Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis, 2019

The conventional high school transcript has become irrelevant to today’s best practices in teaching, learning, and assessment. With more and more school leaders turning to competency-based approaches for learning, transcripts can follow suit by drawing on badging, micro-crediting, digital portfolios of student work, and other emerging tools. This book explores the need for transformation while detailing promising models. This book will help schools make a forward- thinking crediting and transcript system work for their students’ futures.

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KK OTTESEN ’89
ACTIVIST: Portraits of Courage
Chronicle Books, 2019

A speech on the radio. A high school literature class. A promise made to a mother. Activism begins in small ways and in unexpected places. In this book, over 40 activists—including Billie Jean King, Senator Bernie Sanders, Grover Norquist, and Al Sharpton—recount the experiences that sparked their journeys and share the beliefs that keep them going. These are citizens who met challenge with action. Their visions for peace, equality, and justice have reshaped US society—from voting to reproductive rights, and from the environment to the economy.

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SUSAN RICHARDS SHREVE ’57 (P’88, 90, 92)
More News Tomorrow: A Novel
W.W. Norton & Company, 2019

On the morning of her 70th birthday, Georgianna Grove receives an unexpected letter that calls her back to Missing Lake, Wisconsin, where her mother was murdered 66 years earlier. Georgie’s father had confessed to the murder the next morning and was carted off to a state penitentiary. Haunted by the night that took both her parents away and determined to unearth the truth, Georgie takes her reluctant family on what will become a dangerous canoe trip up the swollen Bone River to return to Missing Lake.

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STEVEN D. STARK ’69
The American Way of Writing: How to Communicate Like a Native at School, at Work, and on the Road
Praeger, 2019

Language is a window into the soul of a culture. The hardest part for newcomers who want to master American English is not learning the alphabet, grammar, or vocabulary; it’s understanding the distinctive way Americans approach the world. This book shows readers how to do just that—guiding them through the nuances of American English and providing a tool kit for non-native speakers and international business and legal professionals who have to work and communicate with Americans.

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GIULIA SURO ’03
Learning to Thrive: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workbook
Rockridge Press, 2019

Acceptance and commitment therapy can be easy. This book simplifies this ordinarily complex self-acceptance therapy and helps readers apply its action-oriented principles directly to different aspects of their life. Filled with straightforward exercises, this workbook helps readers stop thinking of their thoughts, feelings, and emotions as negative and start learning to understand and relate to them in a new way, so they can make meaningful changes and improve their personal life, work, or health.