One of our favorite writers, Patricia Leavy, is back with a novel that is one of the most important books you’ll ever read. Shooting Stars Above is one of those books that, once you start, you cannot put down (yes, 4am bedtime, but happy!). 

Publisher’s note: This is an excerpt from Chapter Five (Props for the House) of Portrait of a Presidency:  Patterns in My Life as President of The College of New Jersey (Koehler Books: 2025), R. Barbara Gitenstein, President Emerita, The College of New Jersey, Senior Fellow and Senior Consultant, Association of Governing Boards. The book will be published on January 21, 2025.

When twelve-year-old Charlotte is uprooted from New York City and forced to move to sweaty, sticky, roach-infested Florida, she’ll do anything to get back home – even conspiring with ghosts. Everyone in the kooky seaside town of Casaluna is obsessed with the supernatural, and Charlie finds herself living in the town’s most infamous haunted house, inhabited by a trio of rambunctious ghosts who were cursed for stealing a dead man’s diamond.

A stateless person, as defined by the 1954 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, is a person who is not considered a national of any state. This means that they do not hold formal citizenship of any state. 

If you were lucky enough to travel to Naples in the 18th century  and hoped to catch a glimpse of the antiquities being excavated at Herculaneum and Pompeii, you would likely have needed an invitation to one of the royal palaces of Charles VII of Naples. 

As an educator and/or parent, you're probably wondering HOW to teach and work with AI. It isn't easy. The field is constantly changing, and student, parents, and educators don't know where to even start to learn about, utilize, and think about AI.

We all know that students will consider using AI to do their school work this year. And, if they do hit the ‘easy’ button, they’ll most likely be accepting mediocre content. Authentic, human-generated and creative content is becoming a luxury good. Teachers can tell the difference.