【推荐1】Vacation in the U. S. usually means slower days, and no school teachers know, however, that vacation means students will likely fall behind, and forget things they learned during the year. Simon Vanderpool, a special education teacher in Lexington, Kentucky, decided to do something about it.

He started a program called Books and Barbers. Children go to the barber, choose a book and read out loud while the barber cuts their hair. The child gets a sticker and can take the book home. And there is an added bonus： money. The kids get paid to read.

Vanderpool says barber shops are places where kids can feel comfortable. “Once a student feels comfortable, that's whenever the brain opens up, and that they are able to start focusing on nothing but learning. ” Amir Shalash owns a barber shop. But he is doing more than cutting children's hair. He is listening to them read, and helping them with their reading.

Most of the children getting haircuts at barber shops are boys. Vanderpool's idea was to do more than just help them with reading and money. The teacher wants to help kids who are growing up in a home without a father liike he did. Also, I created the program in order to provide a positive mentor(指导者）for the kids that go into the barber shop, and are able to have someone that they can rely on and they can trust in, and just build a bond between the two of them. ” Shalash says he and his fellow barbers like being mentors.

“The biggest thing is that we try to influence as many kids as we can, and that was my whole intention of it. ”

【推荐3】That old saying “Never say never” came to mind when I read that Harper Lee, the author of the beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has a new book coming out in July, 2015—55 years after Mockingbird was published! The very private Ms. Lee had never followed up her highly praised first book, with a second novel. Instead, she’s following it up with a first novel. Confused? So was I! Allow me to explain.

Go Set a Watchman, was actually written before that classic volume. In the mid-1950s, Lee had completed Watchman, which features Scout Finch as a young woman from Alabama living in New York. The story follows Scout as she returns to visit her father, Atticus, the lawyer who fought racial injustice in Mockingbird.

But as Lee herself put it in a recent announcement through her publisher, “my editor, who was taken by the flashback (倒叙) to Scout’s childhood, persuaded me to write a novel from the point of view of the young Scout. I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told.” That book was, of course, To Kill a Mockingbird, and after it was released to great praise, Lee never returned to Go Set a Watchman. In fact, that earlier work was considered lost until Lee’s lawyer found a manuscript (手稿) of it.

“After much thought and hesitation I considered it worthy of publication.” said Lee. “I am amazed that this will now be published after all these years.” So the book that gave birth to To Kill a Mockingbird will now serve as its sequel (续集).

It’s safe to say that, decades after the publication of Mockingbird, millions of readers who were so touched by Ms. Lee’s second novel will be counting the days until the release of her first one.

【推荐1】I wanted, in 1999, to be a “farmer’s wife”. Thankfully, after quick correction by my progressive parents, that gradually turned into “farmer”. But that only lasted until my dad told me I had to put my arms up cows’ backsides. Immediately I rethought my career path. Archaeologist followed, and driving instructor after that, then somewhere along the way, footballer.

I remember the exact moment when I said to my dad, “It makes me sad I can’t be a footballer.” He asked why not, and I answered, “Because I’m not a boy.” Looking back, I can see exactly why I felt like that. At school, there was an unwritten rule that sports like hockey and netball were “girl” sports and rugby and football were for the boys. Besides, I’d never seen a women’s football match on TV.

Representation is critical, and although we talk about it a lot, I’m yet to be convinced that those who were represented often fully understand what it means to those who aren’t, and how, without really realizing, it affects the general trajectory (轨迹) of their life. In the words of Marian Wright-Edelman, “______” Lack of representation leads, at best, to a misunderstanding around a certain group of people, or at worst, fear and discrimination.

Today, the Lionesses will take on Scotland in the FIFA World Cup, and people across the world will tune in. But, although women’s football has turned out to be one of FIFA’s best investments — with a pound for pound return, only £24 million prize money was awarded to the women’s World Cup victors in comparison to £315 million in the men’s. The most popular defence of those figures argues that it is because viewing statistics are lower than those played by their male counterparts, but the truth is, investment is needed for female football to become more visible and become an equally respected game.

I often wonder what path I would have taken if the option had not seemed so impossible. Today, I’ll be cheering on the Lionesses because talented, skillful female footballers will be broadcast into millions of homes and maybe, among the millions of viewers is a little girl believing that she too can be a Lionesses one day.

【推荐2】Grandparents Answer a Call

As a third－generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away.Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused.Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms.Garza finally say yes.That was four years ago.Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.

No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend is growing.Even President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs.Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family.Two－thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama’s family.

“In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,”says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you’re raising children.”

Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead.Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.

【推荐3】A few days after dropping off her daughter at college, Andrea got a phone call. Her daughter was ill. Andrea drove there immediately, located a doctor in town, booked a room at the university hotel and put her daughter to bed to recover. The next morning, Andrea went to her daughter's classes, taking notes on her behalf. It was important that her daughter headed into the first semester of college without missing a beat: A future dental career required an extremely good undergraduate academic record of four years.

At the same time, another parent faced a different type of problem. Alexis had handpicked her daughter's new university specifically and aimed to give her daughter an ideal social experience at college. But when she got there, she didn't seem to hit her stride. Alexis blamed it on a working-class roommate who didn't ever want to go out to meet people-and told her daughter, in no uncertain terms, to change roommates.

Both Andrea and Alexis are examples of ''helicopter parents'', defined by their hovering and readiness with supplies, assistance and guidance. Their interventions were costly-requiring time, financial reserves, social understanding and knowledge of higher education-though they had different purposes.

Why does educational and professional success today seem to require financial and emotional parental support? In large part, it reflects the shifting relationship between families and the university in America in the past century. Slowly after WWI and rapidly after WWII, many public universities were in fact free, as the government offered universities the resources to help families battle economic depression and poverty. However, in the 1980s, the government shifted financial aid largely from grants to loans. Soon, universities entered a period of heavy and expensive administrative growth as they faced new and intensive pressures. Without the support of the state, families eventually came to absorb many of these costs.

Universities now rely, in part, on parents, particularly those with money, time, and connections to meet their basic needs. However, paying parents bring more than funds alone. They often help promote the university; conduct admissions interviews; interface with donating alumni; assist with their own students’ emotional, cognitive and physical needs and help place graduates(both related and not) in valuable internships and jobs.

But the new family-university partnership exacts a toll. Parents are pushed to extend major parenting responsibilities into doing heavy financial lifting for their children who are supposed to be building their own financial security. There is also some truth to the notion that the helicoptered children are slow to adapt to adulthood, make decisions about their careers, and manage friendships without calling on their parents for help.