Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Emily

Kozol's book is the report of a period of months he spent in New York City's poorest neighborhoods. These areas are devastated with poverty, and as a result receive terrible funding for education, child care, and health care. As a result, many of its citizens are exposed to drugs, prostitution, and gang violence at a very young age. I was appalled to learn that these conditions exist in our world's wealthiest and most powerful country.

Kozol intertwines studious reporting, facts, and statistics with interpersonal accounts of people he meets, from children who cannot read, to preteen girls that have been raped, to teenage boys that must support their entire family, to mothers dying of AIDS and elderly people suffering from drug addictions. Its a heavy read, somewhat depressing, but also very enlightening. Due to its thematic nature, I wouldn't suggest young adults under 12 read Amazing Grace, but boys and girls 12 or older would certainly benefit from knowing what's going on in our imperfect world.