Fight to Learn: The Struggle to Go to School - Softcover

Laura Scandiffio is the author of many non-fiction books for young readers, including the award-winning title, People Who Said No (2013 Skipping Stones Honor Award, Independent Publishers Book Award, 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award.) She lives in Toronto, ON, Canada.

Gr 5–8—The obstacles children face worldwide to obtain an education are discussed in accessible terms using real-life examples of how youth and adults fight these barriers—from gender bias in the Middle East to gang violence in Chicago to poverty in India. The work is divided into four topics: poverty, discrimination, violence, and protest movement. Each subject has two sections that discuss the situation through personal narratives, usually from the perspective of an educator. The stories are engaging and well paced. Readers will learn a bit of backstory about how educational inequality is built into a particular culture or region (for example, Roma people were ostracized from the larger European community), what this discrimination means (systematic poverty, high rates of illiteracy), and what people are doing to make a change (Julia Bolton Holloway's Alphabet School and Emir Selimi's activism for Roma people in Sweden). Softly colored pages, clear photographs, and small chalkboard and pinned note insets with quotes from the text help to create visual appeal. Further information is offset in notebooklike graphics. An introduction, an afterword, and main sources are included. VERDICT This is a fascinating and frightening examination of international education issues; a solid addition for libraries wanting more titles on education or social justice.—Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA