If you’re looking for some suggestions for summer reading, I’d like to recommend you read the book Beyond the Blackboard. This slender volume is the inspirational story of teacher Stacey Bess of Salt Lake City, Utah.

As a first-year teacher, Stacey landed in a classroom set up in a storage shed in a local homeless shelter. The facility was literally referred to as the School With No Name. As you can imagine, her students wrestled with a variety of issues, including unstable living arrangements, domestic abuse, poverty, a transient lifestyle, and parents who abused alcohol and drug. Not the most desirable circumstances for learning. But this remarkable teacher created a safe and loving classroom environment for her kids—on a shoestring, no less. She went to battle with the local school board for a more suitable teaching space and better resources. And, oh, yeah, she raised her own family and defeated cancer at the same time.

You can read the story of the dynamic Stacey Bess in Beyond the Blackboard, available through amazon.com.