Labida.org - Guide to Children with Dyslexia

Compelling and Entertaining   February 14, 2002

This book should be mandatory reading for all teachers who begin their teaching careers in the inner city. It should also be required reading for middle class high school students who question the need for affirmative action. The students profiled in this book would run circles around your average middle class teenager.


A Success - A Terrific Read for Gifted Students Everywhere!   June 20, 2001
  7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I started this book while in the sixth grade, and finished it just a while after Summer Vacation started. I knew after the introdution, about Olivia, that I was going to love it. Little did I know that it would end up being my favorite book, even more than all the Harry Potter books.

Though we don't have gang-banging or drive-by shootings here, I can closely relate to the students. I was deeply interested with Sadikifu. I have never been in dentention or anything of the such, I have been in rather an acedemic slump lately. I had planned not to go to college, to simply get a job that paid enough to sustain a living while writing in any spare time I had. My love of writing also connected me with Sadi.

However, after reading this book, my mind was changed. I now plan on going to the best college that accepts me. I was so moved by this book that I actually cried at the end, and planned to help my friend also get into a good college.

I was also touched by Olivia's story, and cried both when they sent her to the Dorothy-Kirby center, and when they released her. She'd had such a hard life, and strived so hard to succeed, she deserved to go to college.

To sum up my review, I can simply say that this a wonderful book, excellently written, and the plot was amazing to be true. I soon plan to read "The Killing Season" by Miles Corwin, as soon as I finish "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I highly suggest reading this book to all ages, although it is quite an advanced book, but Gifted Students in sixth will only further relate to it than remeadiate tenth graders.


Another story from the 'hood   July 28, 2000
  17 out of 17 found this review helpful

After working in the LAUSD, I know how demoralizing it can be for faculty and students alike. Therefore, as an educator, I frequently seek out stories about kids who have developed a love of learning.

What was most interesting about this book was the representation of the relationship between Little and the students. While Little wasn't shown to be the most stable teacher, she had a strong and caring relationship with the students in her class.

Each of the stories of the students is compelling. From Olivia to Danielle, they ran the gamut of pathologies and outcomes, like any classroom. Ultimately, as a reader, I wanted to keep going to find out what happened to each student.

This book reminds me tremendously of Hope in the Unseen. I am frequently sceptical of the white middle class observer who bears witness to the folly of inner-city education. I worry about the accuracy of any ethnographic representation "getting it right." But like Hope in the Unseen, this book isn't for the kids who struggle, but it's for the middle class to observe and hopefully feel empathy towards the struggles of these students.

One complaint I do have about the book is how the descriptions of the students were redundant and also how each student came with a one phrase tagline (i.e., Miesha, whose brother Raymond acted as her surrogate guardian). Maybe it was more noticeable to me because I read the whole thing in one sitting. Or perhaps it is more symptomatic of the anthropolgists perspective.

Irrespective, this book will give much food for thought around the ideas of equity, priviledge and levelling the playing field.


Not just for those with children.   June 20, 2000
  28 out of 28 found this review helpful

This gripping immersion into inner city school life makes the perfect companion read to Tracy Kidder's "Among Schoolchildren". From a nice, safe, concerned, caring enviornment, where the problems are understandable and manageable in "Among Schoolchildren"; to a place where success is measured not merely by acheivement but by the tremendous obstacles students must overcome merely to be in school, in this gripping, similarly styled work. The two books are a startling picture of the tremendous gulf of opportunity and enviornment at the spectrum ends of our society.

I strongly recommend both books, to everyone; not just parents, teachers or those who are usually associated with "education" interests. "And Still We Rise.." is not merely a vision of a brutal social/educational reality that must be addressed, but a poignant drama, as well. The young people whose stories are followed are the heroes of the most brutal battles raging today; crime, drugs, racism, and a culture of despair and degradation. These are the best and the brightest ... they are forced to face obstacles that should be reserved only for those who have transgressed horribly against society.

The incidental intrusion of the writer into this jouranlistic narrative is the only jarring note to be found in an otherwise seamless view. The unfortunate, even tragic circumstances that cause that intrusion, however, are understandable, from a human standpoint, even if they are inexcusable as viewed through the prism of journalistic purity.

An emmimently readable, engaging work. Recommended.


"What is our aim?"   June 17, 2000
  24 out of 26 found this review helpful

"Victory, victory is spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road made be; for without victory, there is no survival." 13 May 1940 Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

Mr. Churchill certainly was not thinking about Crenshaw in South Central Los Angeles when he spoke those words. He was in fact speaking near the beginning of World War II. Sadly the quote is appropriate after reading of the day-to-day life of this small war zone.

Bullets are fired through the windows as teachers try to teach. Bullets and knives take the lives of friends and Family of the 12 Students this book focuses upon. Bullets penetrate the homes they live in. Many of these students come from backgrounds that would prevent virtually anyone from existing much less excelling.

The teachers of these students have issues as well. How do you teach Advanced Placement English without textbooks? Read and you will find out. If it seems impossible, the conditions almost did claim one teacher.

This is about one year and 12 kids, and the phenomenal amount of success they achieved. The excellence however is repeated year after year. As I read I was trying to decide whether these kids excelled because of, or in spite of what they faced. It really came down to each individual's story.

This book also touches on the issue of Affirmative Action and it's demise in California during the Senior Year of these students. They did not have to deal with the fallout, but subsequent classes did, and they will as well when they reach Graduate School. Did killing Affirmative Action have an effect; the book gives the results of subsequent classes and their experiences.

These kids are accepted at Yale, Stanford, Babson, Colby, UCLA, the list includes any top school you care to name. And when they arrive at College their performance remains well above the norm.

"Toya's stepfather strangled her Mother to death when Toya was in fifth grade. Olivia, a ward of the County, had lived in 10 different foster and group homes by the time she was 16. Sadi, who grew up as a gangbanger, has seen 3 of his homies die and numerous others go to jail. Stories such as these are part of everyday life for the gifted students of Crenshaw High School."

That's 3 of the 12 students in one year at Crenshaw. I'm glad I didn't have to compete with them based on merit and drive; I would have lost, repeatedly.

Mama Moultrie, Toni Little, Scott Braxton and others all provide for an amazing reading experience. They are amongst the teachers and administrators that maintain these programs in spite of the detractors.

Olivia's story was unique in some ways, as her story included how depraved the system is that's supposed to care of these kids. Olivia is to transfer to the school she has always wanted to attend. Olivia, there is a member of our household who is a Graduate of that same school. Contact if you ever are in need, you already have gained our respect and best wishes.

Remarkable book, remarkable people.