Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and AmericaNew York Times bestselling author Paul Tough's Whatever It Takes is "one of the best books ever written about how poverty influences learning, and vice versa" (The Washington Post). What would it take? That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children -- not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children's Zone, a ninety-seven-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America. His conclusion: if you want poor kids to be able to compete with their middle-class peers, you need to change everything in their lives -- their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents. Whatever It Takes is a tour de force of reporting, an inspired portrait not only of Geoffrey Canada but also of the parents and children in Harlem who are struggling to better their lives, often against great odds. Carefully researched and deeply affecting, this is a dispatch from inside the most daring and potentially transformative social experiment of our time. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - klburnside - LibraryThingI saw this book on a shelf at the bookstore and picked it up because it was praised by Ira Glass on the cover. I then turned it over and saw additional praise from Dave Eggers and Michael Pollan. I ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - MichelleCH - LibraryThingIronically Paul Tough was a little tough on the parents he portrays in the Harlem Children's Zone and in my opinion, helps to promote stereotypes around dress, household composition and styles of ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Paul Tough Limited preview - 2009 |
Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Paul Tough No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America |
| Author | Paul Tough |
| Editor | Paul Tough |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009 |
| ISBN | 0547247966, 9780547247960 |
| Length | 310 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Political Science / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies Social Science / Poverty & Homelessness |
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