Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope

Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
by Jonathan Kozol

Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $5.99
You Save: $9.00 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.22 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jonathan Kozol
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-02-20
ISBN: 0060956453
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Perennial

Summary of Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope

Jonathan Kozol's books have become touchstones of the American conscience.  In his most personal and optimistic book to date, Jonathan returns to the South Bronx to spend another four years with the children who have come to be his friends at P.S. 30 and St. Ann's.  A fascinating narrative of daily urban life seem through the eyes of children, Ordinary Resurrections gives the human face to Northern segregation and provides a stirring testimony to the courage and resilience of the young.

Yet another classic of unblinking social observation from one of the finest writers ever to work in the genre, Ordinary Resurrections is a piercing discernment of right and wrong, of hope and despair -- from our nations's corridors of power to its poorest city streets.


Stepping back from his 30-year attack on the inequalities of education, Jonathan Kozol allows the children to speak for themselves in Ordinary Resurrections. These are the schoolchildren of South Bronx's most dismal neighborhood, Mott Haven, where social struggles with poverty and imprisoned fathers rate just under AIDS and asthma as the greatest threats to young lives. Yet, Kozol marvels, despair and bitterness don't come to mind when you meet 10-year-olds like Ariel, who "skips through life" and displays a healing tenderness to others at the church afterschool program that has become a living laboratory of sorts for Kozol since he wrote Savage Inequalities in 1996. This is "not the land of bad statistics but the land of licorice sticks and long division, candy bars and pencil sets," he writes. In recording conversations between these kids and each other, their teachers, caretakers, parents, and even himself, Kozol manages to move the adults to the periphery in order to let the children teach. There is no government data, no research conclusions, only a sense of hope and wonder at the resiliency of the young.

Kozol readily admits that he's due for a reflective moment. In his 60s, living alone, his parents seriously ill, he seeks safety in surrounding himself with children. He confesses that he's not a religious man, yet he finds himself overcoming his awkwardness with prayer, even bowing his head with the children at times. His writing in this moving account is among his most eloquent, as when he describes the gentle way in which a teacher tugs for the attention of a dreamy first-grader as if carefully unwrapping a small package that may be breakable. He captures the rhythm of the exchanges between teacher and student in a way that practically whispers to the reader. Ultimately, this is a book about healing that reveals more about the lives of children in poor neighborhoods--and Kozol--than any of his prizewinning books to date. --Jodi Mailander Farrell

Children's Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Children's Books
Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story ImageLooking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story
by Daniel Pinkwater
HarperCollins; Published: 2004-06-01; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops: $16.89
The Magician's Nephew, Color Gift Edition (Narnia) ImageThe Magician's Nephew, Color Gift Edition (Narnia)
by C. S. Lewis
HarperCollins Narnia; Published: 2003-10-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.36
Price in other shops: $19.99
My Book About Me (Beginner Books) ImageMy Book About Me (Beginner Books)
by Dr Seuss
Harpercollins; Published: 1983-03-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.39
Call of the Wild (Hrw Classics Library) ImageCall of the Wild (Hrw Classics Library)
by Jack London
Holt Rinehart and Winston; Published: 1997-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.32
Price in other shops: $17.00
Apple Valley Year ImageApple Valley Year
by Ann Turner
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Published: 1993-09-30; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Tales of Olga da Polga ImageThe Tales of Olga da Polga
by Michael Bond
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Published: 1989-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $83.57
The Complete Chronicles of Narnia ImageThe Complete Chronicles of Narnia
by C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis
HarperCollins Children's Books; Published: 2006-11; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $165.00
How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? ImageHow Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?
by Jane Yolen
Harpercollins Childs; Published: 2004-01-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.09
Oh, The Places You'll Go! ImageOh, The Places You'll Go!
by Dr Seuss
HARPER COLL CHILDREN; Published: 2003; Paperback; Book
Lorax ImageLorax
by Dr Seuss
HARPER COLL CHILDREN; Published: 2004; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
The Fires: How a Computer Formula, Big Ideas, and the Best of Intentions Burned Down New York City--and Determined the Future of Cities ImageThe Fires: How a Computer Formula, Big Ideas, and the Best of Intentions Burned Down New York City--and Determined the Future of Cities
by Joe Flood
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2011-04-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.40
Price in other shops: $16.00
A School Like Mine ImageA School Like Mine
by DK Publishing
DK Publishing; Published: 2007-06-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.35
Price in other shops: $19.99
Teachers, Schools, and Society Brief with Reader (with CDROM) ImageTeachers, Schools, and Society Brief with Reader (with CDROM)
by David M. Sadker, Karen Zittleman
McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; Published: 2008-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $71.88
Reaching Out to Children and Families: Students Model Effective Community Service ImageReaching Out to Children and Families: Students Model Effective Community Service
by Michelle R. Dunlap
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Published: 2000-11-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.64
Price in other shops: $34.95
Class And Schools: Using Social, Economic, And Educational Reform To Close The Black-white Achievement Gap ImageClass And Schools: Using Social, Economic, And Educational Reform To Close The Black-white Achievement Gap
by Richard Rothstein
Economic Policy Institute and Teachers College; Published: 2004-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.78
Price in other shops: $21.95
Child Development and Education (4th Edition) ImageChild Development and Education (4th Edition)
by Teresa M. McDevitt, Jeanne Ormrod
Prentice Hall; Published: 2009-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $90.00
Price in other shops: $135.00
Eichmann in Jerusalem (Penguin Classics) ImageEichmann in Jerusalem (Penguin Classics)
by Hannah Arendt
Addison Wesley; Published: 2010-07-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.06
Price in other shops: $12.33
The Trouble With Black Boys: ...And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education ImageThe Trouble With Black Boys: ...And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education
by Pedro A. Noguera
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2009-06-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops: $17.95
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools ImageSavage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools
by Jonathan Kozol
Harper Perennial; Published: 1992-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.71
Price in other shops: $14.99
Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation ImageAmazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation
by Jonathan Kozol
Harper Perennial; Published: 1996-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: $14.99
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories