ILLUMINATING, PAGE-TURNING READS LIKE NO OTHER
In a Broken Educational System
Serendipity & Good Fortune Crush the Cycle of Poverty
Serendipity & Good Fortune Crush the Cycle of Poverty
We support independent local businesses. Check your local store and see if they have or can order these books; otherwise we recommend our local store for online orders, Kramer Books; links provided below.
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“In exquisite, heartfelt prose, the bestselling author of The Distance Between Us brings us this moving account of her experience as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for herself one fearless word at a time."
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“An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League.” A Hope in the Unseen tells the story of a heroic American struggle. Learn how Cedric Jennings goes from one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in D.C. to graduating from Brown University and his success beyond.
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"The moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago's West side who form the first all-black high school rowing team in the nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives. Growing up on Chicago's Westside in the 90's, Arshay Cooper knows the harder side of life. The street corners are full of gangs, the hallways of his apartment complex are haunted by drug addicts he calls "zombies" with strung out arms, clutching at him as he passes by. His mother is a recovering addict, and his three siblings all sleep in a one room apartment, a small infantry against the war zone on the street below.
….one day as he's walking out of school he notices a boat in the school lunchroom, and a poster that reads "Join the Crew Team". Having no idea what the sport of crew is, Arshay decides to take a chance." |
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“In January 2007, Deval Patrick became the first Black governor of Massachusetts, one of only two Black governors elected in American history. But that was just one triumphant step in a long, improbable journey that began in a poor tenement on South Side of Chicago.”
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"A Navajo basketball team takes on the universal challenges of high school and the great joys and unique obstacles facing Native Americans living on reservations…. This book details Powell’s season-long immersion in the team, the town, and a culture in which there are exhilarating wins, crushing losses, and conversations on long bus rides across the desert about dreams of leaving home and the fear of the same."
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“…presents a sensitive, nuanced account of how a generation of ambitious but underprivileged young Baltimoreans have struggled to succeed. It both challenges long-held myths about inner-city youth and shows how the process of “social reproduction”- where children end up “stuck” in the same place as their parents - is far from inevitable."
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“Charlise Lyles came of age amid turbulent events in Cleveland. She watched dark smoke billow as race riots and a river burned…. Despite a dubious debut in the “slow class” at an aging urban school, Lyles developed a drive to succeed. Then she landed a lucky break-- a scholarship to a prestigious prep school in a wealthy suburb.”
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“…even the fact of my survival is some kind of miracle. But the most miraculous part of my story is not me - it is the people who kept me from falling through the cracks, the people who saved my life. I’m no different from the next person, although I do possess a profound belief in what is possible and a deep gratitude for how I came to be here.”
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A masterpiece of a historical novel! The civil rights battle surfaces in a small 1960s Arkansas town. Sanderia Faye’s Mourner’s Bench, brilliantly and richly narrated through young Sarah, puts in perspective the historical connection to several personal page-turning stories on our book list. The townspeople’s kaleidoscopic complexities and conflicts bring into view how the past infiltrates the present in their lives and the lives of those whose stories are told in books on this page.
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"Drawing on interviews with dozens of undergraduates at one of America’s most famous colleges and on his own experiences as one of the privileged poor, Jack describes the lives poor students bring with them and shows how powerfully background affects their chances of success."
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A book recommended by Anthony Anderson (see our Inspiring Stories page), a student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music perfecting his opera skills. Once I opened it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s one of the many riveting stories I’ve read in the last year: heartwarming for the success Ryan Speedo Green achieved thanks to the good fortune of a middle school teacher starting him on a journey out of poverty and, ultimately to operatic stardom; and heartbreaking, for all those students our educational system leaves behind and for whom “angels” don’t discover.
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"Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence?"
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"Kristof and WuDunn tell the story of America’s crisis partly through the lives of friends Kristof grew up with in rural Yamhill, Oregon, a working-class area that was hit badly by the disppearance of blue-collar jobs."
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"Tells the stories of students trying to find their way, with hope, joy, frustration, through the application process into college . . . Whether you are facing your own decision about college or simply care about the American promise of social mobility, The Years that Matter Most will change the way you think - not just about higher education, but about the nation itself. "
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