Skip to footer

10 young adult books for readers of all ages who want to learn

Don't avoid these titles because they're billed for younger readers. These are fascinating books for all ages.

5. "Escape from Tibet: A True Story," by Nick Gray and Laura Scandiffio

  • By Ross Atkin

(Annick Press, 154 pp.)

Two Tibetan brothers, one a novice monk, seeking freedom from the suspicion and the oppression of Chinese authorities, undertake a dangerous journey over the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain range. Their story recounts the challenges presented by everything from border police to severe weather.

Here's an excerpt from "Escape from TIbet":

“In the morning the brothers hitched a ride on a truck heading south to Shigatse, Tibet’s second-largest city. From there, Pasang told Tenzin they would walk south to the border with Nepal.

“‘But I thought we were going to India,” Tenzin said, confused.

“‘We are – one step at a time,” Pasang answered. ‘Crossing into Nepal is the first big step.’

“After brooding over their meager funds, Pasang was sure their best hope was a quicker, but riskier, dash across the border, rather than the daunting mountain trek he had made in his first escape. The main highway was the fastest place to cross the Tibet-Nepal border, but it was also the most heavily guarded by the Chinese, who kept a vigilant watch for Tibetans attempting to leave the country.”

5 of 10
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.