Short Synopsis
These affectionate letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, are rich with the happiness of teaching children, the curiosity and jubilant excitement children bring into the classroom at an early age, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.

Full Synopsis
In these affectionate letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, Jonathan Kozol vividly describes his repeated visits to her classroom while, under Francesca's likably irreverent questioning, also revealing his own most personal stories of the years that he has spent in public schools.

Letters to a Young Teacher reignites a number of the controversial issues that Kozol has powerfully addressed in recent years: the mania of high-stakes testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity and critical intelligence are no longer valued, the invasion of our public schools by predatory private corporations, and the inequalities of urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century ago.

But most of all, these letters are rich with the happiness of teaching children, the curiosity and jubilant excitement children bring into the classroom at an early age, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.

"Encouraging…forceful…convincingly argued" ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"This book cuts to the heart of the matter of what it means to be a teacher today…. Francesca's journey will leave you hopeful for our nation's children." ---Reg Weaver, president, National Education Association

"Remarkable…. Every citizen who cares about the future of our children ought to read this." ---Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

"I hope this inspiring book will spark a new generation of teacher-leaders heeding Kozol's passionate call and example." ---Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children's Defense Fund

"David Drummond delivers the material well. At some points his voice and words are gentle, as if trying to calm the new teacher; at others his tone is passionate and tinged with anger at the insanity of current policies." ---AudioFile

"What a wonderful book! Anyone who cares about rebuilding our public education system should read it. I could not put it down!" ---Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

Publishers Weekly Review