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MIRACLE IN EAST HARLEM

Name: MIRACLE IN EAST HARLEM
Author: Sy Fliegel
ISBN: 0-8129-2039-2

THE FIGHT FOR CHOICE IN PUBLIC EDUCATION

by Sy Fliegel & James MacGuire ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1993

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The story of N.Y.C.'s famous District 4 alternative schools and how they changed the lives of children growing up in one of the city's most challenging neighborhoods. In the recent plethora of books about improving our educational system, District 4 is inevitably one of the shining examples of what can be done. And District 4 is inevitably linked with Deborah Meier, winner of a MacArthur ``genius grant'' for her innovations in education. As this study makes clear, Meier was only one of dozens of District 4 teachers, principals, and administrators who in 1973 began to build a series of small, tightly knit schools, each with a focused curriculum, that engaged the parents and the community and that allowed families to choose the schools where their children could learn most effectively. By 1983, there were 14 alternative schools in District 4, and by the end of this school year, there will be 29. More important, in ten years, District 4 went from being the worst school district in N.Y.C. (32nd out of 32) to number 15. Reading scores soared, violence and absenteeism dropped, and students began to be accepted in record numbers to elite high schools and prestigious colleges. Fliegel (who was District 4's director of alternative schools and then deputy superintendent) and MacGuire (Senior Fellow/Manhattan Institute) recount how the alliance of visionary administrators, principals, and teachers practiced ``creative noncompliance'' with the teachers' union and a bureaucratic board of education to make choice a reality. Fiscal and other scandals—recounted relatively unsparingly here—plagued the program, and an unsympathetic superintendent slowed its momentum, but District 4's brave and innovative example is finally spreading to other districts in New York and elsewhere. Factual and editing errors—in student biographies, for example (including that of Kirkus's own Mara Frank, whose college major, job title, and very name were gotten wrong)—mar what's otherwise a satisfying behind-the-scenes look at an experiment that has given a generation of hard-pressed youngsters opportunity and hope.

Pub Date: May 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-8129-2039-2

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Times/Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.