I know, February seems a long way off. But for the record: I’ll be reading from “Whatever It Takes” and answering questions at the University of Pennsylvania bookstore in Philadelphia at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24. It’s at 3601 Walnut St.
Audio of today’s discussion is now online. Click “listen.” We start about nine minutes in.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be on Smart City Radio, a weekly public-radio news program, talking with host Carol Coletta about Whatever It Takes. As the Smart City web site puts it:
What would it take to change the lives of poor children? Not one by one, but in big numbers, and in a big way. That’s the question that led Geoffrey Canada to create the Harlem Children’s Zone, a place to test new and controversial ideas about poverty and education. We’ll speak with author and journalist Paul Tough about his experience writing his book about the Harlem Children’s Zone, and the future of this innovative experiment.
The audio is online now here.
Jay Mathews, education columnist for the Washington Post, reviews “Whatever It Takes”:
Paul Tough has devoted several years to writing about poverty, but much of the time he is really writing about schools. This is apparent in his insightful book “Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America.” You don’t see the words “schools” or “education” in the title, but be assured this is one of the best books ever written about how poverty influences learning, and vice versa.
Now online: video of my talk in November at the Campaign for Educational Equity symposium, at Teachers College in New York City.
On Friday I’ll be on To the Point, a news talk program broadcast nationally on public radio, discussing education politics and the choice of Arne Duncan as education secretary. My fellow guests are Randi Weingarten, Rick Hess and Joe Williams. As the show’s website explains:
Barack Obama has picked a secretary of education who’s endorsed both sides of the raging debate over how to improve American schools. Will he become an agent of change or will splitting the difference reinforce the status quo? Why is Obama so focused on early childhood education?
Check here for stations and times.
Now online: a brief review of Whatever It Takes from the September issue of O, The Oprah Magazine:
Paul Tough’s Whatever It Takes (Houghton Mifflin) brings you inside the Promise Academy and into the mind of a visionary who has known failure (his school continues to struggle), yet has the nerve to keep the future squarely in view.
Insideschools.org, “an independent, not-for-profit website devoted to informing parents, teachers, and students about New York City public schools,” has started an online book club. The first book under discussion is Whatever It Takes.
Paul Tough, who writes about education for the New York Times Magazine, tackles hefty social science quandaries – like what causes poverty and how it can be alleviated — within the narrative of Geoffrey Canada’s dramatic, ongoing struggle to change the lives of Harlem’s children. … After five years of reporting, Tough describes Canada’s venture – the Harlem Children’s Zone – through the stories of the people who work for and are served by the project, which includes two charter schools. Tough also explains the research behind anti-poverty efforts, relating it to the sometimes nail-biting, sometimes heartbreaking, yet surprisingly hopeful story of Canada’s work.
Whatever It Takes makes the Washington Post’s “Best Books of 2008″ list.