The life of the ``Teacher of Teachers,'' the first female Italian doctor, who led, almost by accident, an education revolution, and who created in a Roman slum the teaching method that would become the basis for the system of Montessori schools. This engrossing biography of a giant in her field draws a picture of a brilliant woman devoted to work, whose iron determination overcame all obstacles. Though clearly admiring, Shephard deals with Montessori's problems as well as her triumphs, including her illegitimate son, and the time when her own ego and inflexibility interfered with the spread of her movement. The book focuses more on Montessori than her methods; thus several important pieces of equipment are mentioned without real explanation. But this is a fluent, readable work on an important figure often overlooked. (b&w photos, sources, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 9, 1996
ISBN: 0-8225-4952-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996
Longwinded though affecting tribute to resilience and solidarity.
Even a Category 5 hurricane can’t stop a revered coach and his championship high-school football team.
Popular historian Thompson (Driving with the Devil, 2006, etc.) begins in the locker room of New Orleans’ John Curtis Christian School on August 26, 2005. It was the night of the “jamboree” scrimmage that opened the season, and members of the Patriots were hoping to win another state championship for their school. Nationally recognized coach J.T. Curtis, also the school’s headmaster and son of its founder, knew that his hardworking, enthusiastic squad couldn’t compare to last year’s lineup. Many key players had graduated to college ball, and he needed to mentally and physically condition a young, unproven team with efficient, college-level practices consisting of “equal parts Broadway musical and football drills.” The 2005-6 Patriots included an anxious new starting quarterback, a Harvard hopeful, a spiritual heavyweight and a star linebacker whose religion forbade him to play on Friday nights. John Curtis School favored community building and happiness over flashy exteriors, and Coach Curtis reflected those values in his broadminded teaching style and paternal approach to his players’ personal lives. Hurricane Katrina confronted him and his team with the ultimate challenge. Returning to the drowned city, J.T. found the school in miraculously good shape and set out to reunite his squad and get them on the field again. Some players were tempted to join teams in other school districts, and Hurricane Rita tested them once again, but the devoted coach kept on plugging. Thompson deftly profiles a generous selection of players and families torn apart by the disaster and considers the contagious obsession for football shared by participants and fans alike. In a somewhat meandering fashion, he delivers a fully realized interpretative portrait of a coach and a sports organization willing to sacrifice all in the name of football.
Longwinded though affecting tribute to resilience and solidarity.Pub Date: July 31, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4165-4070-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
A noble debut with its heart in the right place, but lacking the substance of its spiritual cousin, Hoop Dreams.
Friday Night Lights meets Boyz n the Hood on the mean streets of Boston.
Obsessive basketball coach Jack O’Brien was a beloved mainstay at Charlestown High School, leading its team to multiple championships. What made his accomplishments so impressive was the fact that his team was comprised of young men from the projects who were bussed into school. During the 2004-05 season documented here, Charlestown was led by Jason “Hood” White, a cornrowed guard who, when he was three, was run over and almost killed by a crackhead on her way to get a fix. As important as it was for O’Brien to take another title, it was just as vital that his players get into college or, at the very least, survive the streets. If that meant helping Hood navigate his way through the Massachusetts court system, so be it. Award-winning Boston Globe Magazine staff writer Swidey comes from a hard-news background, which proves a double-edged sword in executing this hoops-in-the-hood book. His straight journalistic chops infuse the legal proceedings and the player profiles with a higher-than-expected level of gravitas, but his depictions of the games are less than gripping. Since basketball was the primary raison d’être for O’Brien and his brood, the lack of fire in the sports reporting diminishes its significance. (Swidey could take some lessons in suspense from Jack McCallum’s Seven Seconds or Less, 2006.) Perhaps the author seeks to emphasize that basketball should enhance people’s lives, not overwhelm them—a fair sentiment, but it doesn’t make for the kind of book that will resonate beyond a niche audience.
A noble debut with its heart in the right place, but lacking the substance of its spiritual cousin, Hoop Dreams.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58648-469-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
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