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Reading with Patrick

A Teacher, a Student and the Life-Changing Power of Books

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Reading with Patrick

By: Michelle Kuo
Narrated by: Michelle Kuo
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About this listen

As a young English teacher keen to make a difference in the world, Michelle Kuo took a job at a tough school in the Mississippi Delta, sharing books and poetry with a young African-American teenager named Patrick and his classmates. For the first time, these kids began to engage with ideas and dreams beyond their small town, and to gain an insight into themselves that they had never had before.

Two years later, Michelle left to go to law school; but Patrick began to lose his way, ending up jailed for murder. And that’s when Michelle decided that her work was not done, and began to visit Patrick once a week, and soon every day, to read with him again.

Reading with Patrick is an inspirational story of friendship, a coming-of-age story for both a young teacher and a student, an expansive, deeply resonant meditation on education, race and justice, and a love letter to literature and its power to transcend social barriers.

 Educators Professionals & Academics Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Women

Critic Reviews

Reading with Patrick [is] Michelle Kuo's rich memoir of her literary friendship with a student in a small town in the Mississippi Delta
Remarkable . . . Honest, generous, humble and wise, Reading with Patrick will endure as a defining story for our times, and, abidingly, a testament to the power of language and of books. (Claire Messud, author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs)
'Honest, thoughtful, and humane, Kuo’s book is not only a testament to a remarkable friendship, but a must-read for anyone interested in social justice and race in America. Thoughtfully provocative reading.'
This book is special and could not be more right on time. An absorbing, tender, and surprisingly honest examination of race and privilege. (Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore)
Riveting . . . An empathetic story of connection: between a dedicated teacher and her student, between history and our current times, and between literature and life. It is hard to imagine a more inspiring testament to the transformative power of reading. (Elliot Holt, author of You Are One of Them)
A gorgeous, urgent and heartbreaking memoir. (Darcy Frey, author of The Last Shot)
I delighted in this book and read it in a single weekend. Reading with Patrick is a significant work that could swell the ranks of highly motivated and qualified teachers—people who understand they are not just transferring information but transforming lives (Bill Moyers)
[A] tender memoir.
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