KIRKUS REVIEW
A collection of stories about children who risk much to avail themselves of learning opportunities and determined individuals who fight to bring education to those children.
Scandiffio takes readers on an inspiring tour around the world to countries where obstacles to universal access to education such as discrimination, poverty, and war seem insurmountable, yet driven individuals do what they can to bring schooling to many. Okello Kelo Sam, a former child soldier in Uganda, is the founder of a school for children like himself. In a backyard classroom in India, teenager Babar Ali passes on what he has learned to child workers too poor to afford the required uniforms to attend school. Young women in Pakistan risk their very lives to attend school. Obstacles to learning persist even in developed nations, such as Canada, where inequitable resources are allocated for First Nations children, and the United States, where rampant gang violence in Chicago and other cities keeps children from attending school. The book’s design features decorated, multicolored page backgrounds and frequent color photographs.
This moving look at children going to extraordinary lengths, even risking their lives, to get an education should be required reading for the millions of American students who resent going to school. (photos, bibliography, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
