Narrator Lisa Renee Pitts channels the author's outrage at this true story of prosecutorial and judicial overreach. The allegations in the 2013 Atlanta schools cheating scandal were shocking enough--that teachers and administrators had plotted to change standardized test answers to make it appear that students performed better than they actually did. Educators went to prison over this--a few were sentenced to 20 years. Author Shani Robinson is one of the convicted. She maintains her innocence and develops a convincing argument that the real cheats are the ones who grab public school funding for other purposes and who develop spurious measures for teacher performance. Pitts's narration is excellent. She maintains a tone of genuine disbelief and wonder at the situation. Her narration enhances this story of ignoble events.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2019
Duration: 11 hrs
Publisher: Beacon Press
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: 7 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781488237102
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2026
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