Rivka's Presents by Laurie Wallmark
It is 1918 and Rivka cannot wait to go to school. But she is told the night before, she must stay home as her father has the flu and her mother needs help taking care of her younger sister, while she works. The Lower East Side of New York City comes alive with how one plucky young girl finds a way to get the education she needs. She trades chores for reading and math lessons. And when her father is finally well, all her hard […]
A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman
First, I will say that this is a darn cute book. Second, I adored this character as some of the things she does I related, too, but also because I like her spunk. And finally, this is a good book so, just go out and read it and do not worry about my review. However, if you want more about A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman I will say, this is a story about a young Afghan girl who wants an education. However, it is […]
Class Work: Vocational Schools and China's Urban Youth by T.E. Woronov
Stanford University Press was having an 80% off summer sale, which was an amazing deal, so I got a bunch of books that I otherwise would never have thought to purchase since academic press prices are usually prohibitively high. Class Work is the first of the batch that I’ve read, and it was a good start. This is a slim volume that packs a lot of information about the Chinese school system and the impact of testing and government efforts to make or re-mold class structures. […]
Secret Schools: True Stories of the Determination to Learn by Heather Camlot
If it had not been for a secret schooling system, we would not have had Marie Currie or Janusz Korczak (born Henryk Goldszmit). If it had not been for secret schooling, Japanese immigrants and their decedents would have lost their language and culture in Brazil. If it had not been for secret schooling in a South African prison, the man that would become of the first elected black leader of the country, Nelson Mandela, would probably have not been. If it had not been for […]
The Art of Growing Up by John Marsden
This book starts with a powerful chapter about young children and teens who are troubled and how we treat them differently as soon as they become young adults – losing our compassion and expecting them to act like the rest of us rational beings when really it isn’t possible after the dysfunctional upbringing they’ve endured. After reading this I thought the whole book was going be similar – a real challenge to my way of thinking. The rest was…… ok. Some of the writing I […]
