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Jul/Aug 2025 | Vol. 82 No. 4

The 2025 Educator Book Award Winner

and Honorable Mention

ach year, the Educators Book Award—funded by the Educators Award Fund
Ethrough the DKG International Educators Foundation (DKGIEF)—
recognizes powerful, transformative literature that illuminates
the experiences of educators and students, challenges societal
norms, and deepens our understanding of teaching, learning, and
resilience. This year’s award winners are no exception. The 2025
winner, Glorious Sadness by Norina E. Bentzel, and the honorable
mention, Knowing Silence by Dr. Ariana Mangual-Figueroa,
represent two distinct yet profoundly impactful narratives. One

rooted in personal tragedy and courage, the other in ethnographic
insight and advocacy. Together, they offer readers an emotional and
intellectual journey through the lived realities of educational spaces
shaped by immigration, trauma, silence, and hope.

Winner: Glorious Sadness by Norina E. Bentzel
Glorious Sadness is the powerful memoir of Norina E. Bentzel, a Pennsylvania elementary principal who
heroically intervened when a machete-wielding intruder attacked her school in 2001. Though she sustained life-
altering injuries, Bentzel’s story is ultimately one of resilience, hope, and leadership through crisis. She reflects

on trauma, recovery, and the strength of a school community, offering insights into school safety, emotional
healing, and the transformative power of music and forgiveness. This narrative follows an educator’s resilient
journey through a tragic situation and the subsequent grieving process to choose peace and find purpose.

Honorable Mention: Knowing Silence by Dr. Ariana Mangual-Figueroa
In Knowing Silence, Dr. Ariana Mangual-Figueroa offers a heartfelt ethnographic study of six Latina students
navigating the complexities of immigration status within their families and school communities. Providing each
participant with an iPod Touch for extensive conversational recording allowed the author to listen to both what
was said and what was left unsaid in various situations, revealing how children process, conceal, and cope
with the realities of documentation status across time. Drawing on her background as a bilingual educator
and activist, Figueroa uses this book to shed light on the ways young people negotiate belonging, silence, and

identity in educational spaces.
While the narratives of Glorious Sadness and Knowing Silence differ greatly in tone and context, they converge
around several key themes. Both books underscore the emotional labor required of educators and students alike.
Bentzel’s story reveals the toll of physical and psychological trauma in moments of crisis; Mangual-Figueroa’s
work highlights the chronic emotional strain of living in legal and social precarity.
As we celebrate these remarkable works, we also honor the individuals behind them, Norina E. Bentzel
and Dr. Ariana Mangual-Figueroa, whose courage and scholarship offer a guiding light in today’s educational

landscape.

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