Our Favorite Books for Educators in 2025

As this fraught year comes to a close, the Greater Good education team invites educators to take a break from the news and, through these books, remember the good that you are rendering in the world—every single day with each of your students and colleagues in little moments of love and care. It’s those moments that sustain us, and that will ultimately transform us all. — Vicki Zakrzewski Happy Schools: Placing Happiness at the Heart of Schools, by Romesh Kumar In Happy Schools, Romesh Kumar explains that cultivating happiness in classrooms is not an extravagance, but an imperative.

He points to the devastating statistics around depression and suicide rates among India’s youth connected to the pressure they feel in schools to succeed at all costs. And the significant costs—lack of social connections, feelings of self-doubt and recrimination, and general despair—are too often the norm for India’s students on any sort of “track” that involves post-secondary education and career pathways.

Kumar argues that there is a solution, one that will not result in lowering academic standards. He shares studies, anecdotes, and successful models of “happy schools” in India and globally to help us rethink how students can be invited into learning spaces.

Instead of a near-singular focus on academic achievement, especially through grades and ranking systems, Kumar advocates for a humanizing approach to education whereby students—and the adults who support them—are seen, valued, and held in a culture of curiosity and care. Throughout the book, Kumar weaves in compelling research that connects student and educator well-being to academic success and happiness, or flourishing, within the larger community.

Specific chapters of the book dive more deeply into aspects of education systems that may not always appear in discussions about student well-being and happiness, such as inclusion for students with special needs, the ways that Indigenous knowledge and traditional cultural practices can guide well-being initiatives, and how teacher agency and happiness are necessary for happy schools to exist. While the book is focused specifically on Indian education systems, any educator will recognize the daily tension that comes with prioritizing academic content, grades, and test scores over self-awareness, well-being, and social connections.

In Happy Schools, Kumar offers us a path forward that isn’t an either-or, but rather a both-and solution. If we can center students’ happiness—and our own—schools can become places where our minds and hearts can flourish. — Sarah Bracken Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency, by Shane Safir, Marlo Bagsik, Sawsan Jaber, and Crystal M. Watson Pedagogies of Voice is a call to action.

Through a seamless weaving of stories, reflective questions, and practical strategies, the authors challenge educators to center students in the margins as they develop curricula and policies. Each chapter is filled with the voices of real teachers and students working to shift the way we do school. The authors advocate for teachers to rethink their role as the gatekeeper of knowledge, to challenge traditional systems of top-down curriculum and discipline practices, and to listen deeply to students’ stories.

Rather than deciding what students need, the goal for teachers is to uncover students’ rich and diverse cultural capital in order to build classrooms with and for them, with particular attention to traditionally marginalized students whose stories and funds of knowledge are often ignored or silenced. The book ends with a chapter on “Awakening Teacher Voice and Agency,” calling on teachers to use their power for the greater good, and on education leaders to invest in and trust teachers to build equitable and meaningful education spaces where all students can learn and thrive.

This book may challenge you, but the gentleness and grace with which the authors push us to examine existing power structures and inequitable paradigms help to ease the discomfort as we gaze inward with a critical eye and advocate outward with conviction. — Sarah Bracken The Words That Shape Us: The Science-Based Power of Teacher Language, by Lily Howard Scott The words educators speak in classrooms can have an impact that reverberates for years to come.

They shape the way that children interact with learning and relationships—often in ways that we never imagined, argues Lily Howard Scott in her new book. Through thoughtful personal anecdotes and practices you can implement in your classroom today, The Words That Shape Us is a powerful resource and insightful read.

From reframing how we speak to and about children with a more nuanced approach, to introducing language that helps students feel more comfortable discussing their strengths and weaknesses, Howard Scott approaches the topic of language with a comprehensible depth that is actionable and backed by research. “Words are powerful tools for regulating minds and bodies, and the small moments between teachers and students matter,” writes Howard Scott. “Change is rooted in the hundreds of tiny decisions we make each day and in the language we use throughout fleeting-yet-connected moments.” While it is directly aimed at grade-school teachers, Howard Scott emphasizes how the tools in this book can be integrated at any level of education, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Her work is a compelling reminder that when we speak with intention, we help shape not just better learners, but kinder, more connected humans. — Emily Brower Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education, by Isabelle C. Hau In Love to Learn, Isabelle C. Hau explains why our youngest learners deserve far more attention than they’re getting.

“We are all born billionaires: an infant is born with a treasure chest of a hundred billion neurons,” she says. Wired for relational connection, we thrive on attention, attunement, and language-rich “serve and return” exchanges. With public funding for early education fading, she argues for a focus on “a future where learning is relational and love is literacy.” As the executive director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning Initiative, Hau partners with researchers, schools, and community leaders to study and leverage the latest applications of technology, brain research, and learning sciences.

She’s familiar with a range of cutting-edge educational programs and policies, which makes her a well-informed, research-driven storyteller. Hau shares examples of schools and community centers that serve as “relational hubs,” connecting students, teachers, and (intergenerational) families. Further, she offers rich, research-based examples of meaningful social play and neighborhood “learning landscapes,” including interactive “MathTrails,” “Storybook Paths,” and “Musical Playgrounds.” Although the author’s emphasis on AI and education technology may make some readers nervous, in my view she does strike a balance.

She features tools that support children struggling with social skills and language development, for example, while cautioning against overreliance on AI robots as nannies or friends who lack the capacity for genuine emotion and care. Further, she reviews a range of relational tech tools like Eldera, Caribu, and Khan Academy Kids that can enhance learning and social connections rather than further alienating us from each other.

Ultimately, Hau argues that love is the “heartbeat of life and learning,” and her vision of early education expands to encompass us all with relational intelligence as the lifeblood of schools, workplaces, and our communities. — Amy L. Eva Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported, by Emily Kircher-Morris and Amanda Moran “True belonging isn’t about being included in spaces you’d otherwise be excluded from.

It’s about feeling welcome from the start. And neurodiversity-affirming schools start from the place of assuming all students belong,” write Emily Kircher-Morris and Amanda Morin. But what exactly is a neurodiversity-affirming school, and how can educators create these types of spaces? In their book, Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported, Kircher-Morris and Morin provide a holistic approach to creating schools where all students can be their authentic selves and feel safe and secure to learn.

After establishing a shared understanding of the concept of neurodiversity—that there is variety and variability in all brains; that we all think and process differently—and what that means for learning, the authors offer a number of entry points to the work of creating schools that affirm all types of thinking, learning, and being. They propose new pedagogical approaches, encourage mindset shifts, and share practical strategies across a number of topics relevant to teaching neurodivergent learners.

The beauty of this book is that educators can follow the path that feels most relevant to them. This may sound overwhelming if you are new to this work—and that’s OK. The authors emphasize that the goal of creating neurodiversity-affirming schools and classrooms is lofty, and that it cannot be achieved alone. They remind us that change happens gradually.

Each conversation, each strategy, each shift in thinking creates more spaces where students feel like they belong. — Mariah Flynn Nature and Spirituality During the Early Years, by Ruth Wilson Overwhelmed and exhausted raising a fussy newborn, I stumbled upon a magical balm for my soul—time spent in nature.

By stepping out into the sounds, smells, and subtle texture of the natural world, my baby would quickly settle into a sort of wide-eyed wonder. I’ve often wondered why this simple action had such a profound impact on my daughter. Ruth Wilson’s newest book, Nature and Spirituality During the Early Years, provides a theoretical framework for understanding this innate connection between very young children and the natural world.

Wilson draws on a considerable body of research in the fields of biology, ecopsychology, and social ecology to describe this connection as “biophilia: an innate tendency to affiliate with life and lifelike processes.” The many long-term benefits of maintaining this connection between children and the natural world are well-documented. While these benefits apply to all areas of child development, it is the transcendent experiences of awe and wonder that Wilson is most keenly interested in studying.

Her work recognizes and values children’s perspectives and ways of interacting with nature, providing both implications for educators’ practice and an understanding of how children’s appreciative interactions with nature support their spiritual development: seeking meaning, constructing a sense of identity, and recognizing their interdependence with the world around them. — Margaret Golden Just Shine! How to Be a Better You by Sonia Sotomayor, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara Written by The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor as a tribute to her mother, Celina, Just Shine is ultimately a story about the transformational power of love.

Beginning in Puerto Rico, we are introduced to Celina as a young child courageously caring for her sick mother. Throughout the book, we discover how Celina loved without discrimination. Each chapter of Celina’s life offers an example of how loving others makes the world shine—being courageous, keeping others company, helping those in need, offering forgiveness, and accepting kindness and spreading it to others.

The last chapter shows an elder Celina, having given of herself so generously without expecting anything in return, now being cared for in the same ways that she showed love throughout her life. It is a wonderful book for teachers to share in the elementary grades when developing a caring classroom community. It gives clear, concrete examples of how prosocial behaviors help us make the world a kinder and happier place. This heartfelt and beautifully illustrated book ends with a question: What will you do to make your world shine?

It is a perfect book to share during this season of light and love. — Margaret Golden Reinvigorating Classroom Climate: Everyday Strategies to Inspire Teachers and Students, by Maurice J. Elias The field of K–12 education is quickly becoming about more than just academics. Indeed, educators all over the world are transforming how we “do” education by attending to students’ (and their own) social, emotional, and ethical development, while also addressing test scores.

But sometimes knowing how to foster these forms of development can be overwhelming—programs are a dime a dozen, and research is increasing our understanding of human development at the speed of light, compelling educators to constantly adjust their approach. Help! Enter Reinvigorating Classroom Climate. Pulling from his decades of research and practical experience, Maurice Elias provides educators with eight approaches, such as creating positive classroom and school climates, promoting inspiration and human dignity, fostering students’ intrinsic motivation, and restoring the soul of educators.

Each “approach” is clearly described, supported with practical examples and, best of all, super easy methods for implementing immediately. What I appreciate most, however, about Elias’s book is his ability to empathize with educators.

Not only has he done the hard work of organizing an enormous body of research into succinct methods for classroom implementation, he also speaks to educators’ hearts. He understands that most of us who chose education as a career did so to make a difference in the lives of students and the world—and this book helps us do just that.

As he writes: “It’s seeing our students flourish—despite challenges and hassles—that fosters restoration of the soul of educators and your pride and joy in your work.” — Vicki Zakrzewski