This year’s summer reading addresses global connections that are at the core of our rapidly changing world. The recommended readings address the vital need to understand the delicate connections that affect us in universal ways and identify some of the problems that remain as roadblocks to a more peaceful world.

The entire school will read one of two selections, The Kite Runner by Khaleed Hosseini, or The Places in Between by Rory Stewart. In the fall, we will share our reactions to these two books in school-wide seminars.*

The Kite Runner is “…an incisive, perceptive examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium.”

The Places in Between is an important travel book about country-regionplaceAfghanistan, a “…journey that makes for an engrossing, surprising, and often deeply moving portrait of the land and the peoples who inhabit it.”

As a school we subscribe to the idea that reading—and reading widely—defines the core of an educated person. The best preparation for active and engaged learning is reading. There is little question that the habitual reader is more inquisitive, more sensitive to language, and more responsive to subtle distinctions than is the person who reads little or not at all.

We hope that you will read beyond one of these .

*The books listed will be readily available at MBS Direct and at most major bookstore chains.