I read Death at an Early Age by Jonathan Kozol about 40 years ago, it was a stirring account of his first year as a teacher in the Boston school system working with some of the most disadvantaged students in America. The book won the National Book Award in Science, Philosophy and Religion. It has sold more than two million copies in the United States and Europe. The book made an impact on me and lead me to change my major to education, however I soon ran away from education and concentrated on Political Science, it wasn’t until several years later I returned to school at the University of Georgia and received my B.S. ED in social science education. But stuff happens and I never taught, I got caught up in life and work and a family and I took the easy path and stayed where I was, but many times I regret the decision not to teach. Anyway throughout the years I kinda stayed away from 
politics and the writing of Jonathan Kozol. I knew he was out there fighting for the poorest of the poor in the South Bronx with books like Amazing Grace and Rachel and Her Children but I never read them. Well when I saw his new book Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America I couldn’t resist and it has become Book 5 of 2013.
The book tells the stories of many of the children that Jonathan has touched and have in turn touched him. There are stories of children overcoming all odds and exceeding their wildest dreams and then there are others who just couldn’t break free and their lives ended tragically. Here are what some others say about the book…..
“Jonathan Kozol is America’s premier chronicler of life among the children of societal neglect. And Fire in the Ashes may be his best book yet…. Kozol does not just write about these people; he becomes an intimate part of their lives, sharing their triumphs and defeats, and too often mourning their deaths…. If you care about the children who are the future of America, this is a book you must read”– Ellis Cose – Author of The End of Anger and The Rage of the Privileged Class.
“Jonathan’s struggle is noble, his appeal urgent. What he says must be heard. His outcry must shake our nation out of its guilty indifference.” – Elie Wiesel
and finally from Deborah Meier, Author of In Schools We Trust and The Power of Their Ideas echoes my sentiments about the book:
“Kozol has a knack for describing his relationships with poverty-stricken children with a sympathy that is so straightforward, one can not indulge in pity. Fire in the Ashes is a wonderful book, I couldn’t put it down”
Many of the children in Fire in the Ashes were helped by The Education Action Fund that Jonanthan has established. From his website Jonathan Kozol.com :
The Education Action Fund is a nonprofit charitable foundation, provides direct support to many of the children and adults portrayed in Jonathan’s books, and to others living in profoundly segregated inner-city neighborhoods, served by underfunded and overcrowded schools, who share in the same impoverishment. Continue Reading
So go read this book… donate to the fund to help those who need help the most! And maybe someday I can figure out what I can do to help and then do it!
