In this moving lesson drawn from his short teaching career, the author-narrator Ed Boland's clear baritone communicates the type of humble confidence that gives his experiences authenticity and his advice credibility. His writing is fluid, often vulnerable, and his sensitive expression of dialogue and pathos will make listeners admire him and want to get involved with the issues he cares about. Gripping stories of kids with enormous challenges fill the first part of the audio. His sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which these student live is palpable. Though his conclusions are hard-hitting and the bureaucratic and political obstacles enormous, the simplicity of his arguments gives his closing chapters power. He's utterly convincing that nothing is more important than preparing these vulnerable youth for life.
Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781478985327
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kozol’s shocking exposé of inequities in the funding of our public schools contrasts white suburban schools with those serving black and Hispanic populations. Interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators add eloquent testimony to Kozol’s disturbing presentation of facts. Narration by Jack Winston is clear and brisk, but the pace is unrelenting, with little pause for transition between scenes or chapters. Winston’s cool, detached voice contrasts with Kozol’s impasssioned and outraged message. The sheer repetition and magnitude of Kozol’s damning evidence is numbing; the narration gives no relief. Powerful medicine, most easily taken in small doses. Music signalling tape changes is jarringly inappropriate.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Block calls into question the validity of the home-schooling system, having personally experienced many of its failures.
Block narrates his own memoir of being home-schooled by his mother for five years in the 1990s. Aside from a few math lessons, young Stefan is left to his own devices and uses his time to watch television or wander outside. By the time he re-enters the public school system in ninth grade, he is woefully behind, both academically and socially. Although Block’s story is filled with emotional trauma, including an overbearing mother and bullying from fellow students, his narration is unsentimental, as if he expected his life to be this way. The steel in his voice conveys his resilience and determination.
Block calls into question the validity of the home-schooling system, having personally experienced many of its failures.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
Duration: N/A
DD ISBN: 9781488237102
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2026
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