About this title: As an honor student walking the gauntlet of sneers and threats at his crime-infested high school in Washington, D.C., Cedric Jennings achieved the impossible: a 4.02 grade-point average and acceptance into Brown University. Suskind won a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his stories about Jennings and now expands them into this full-length, nonfiction ...
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Description: Good. 0767901266 Paperback with moderate shelf-wear, rubbing, fraying, tears, fading, chipping, and bumping to the cover, edges, corners, and spine. The spine is creased from the book being read. Inside pages are free from underlining, note taking, and/or highlighting. Book is in stock and ready to ship same or next business day. ELIGIBLE FOR! Buy with confidence! Please leave feedback after your purchase. It helps other buyers know we are a responsible and reliable seller. Thank you! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway
Date Published: 1999-05-04
ISBN-13:9780767901260ISBN:0767901266
Description: Good. A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League. Pages are clean and free from markings and/or highlighting, with tight binding. First 100 pages are rippled; first several pages have a faint water stain. NO mold, mildew or musty odor! 8249. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"this book is truly an inspiration whether you or someone you know faces the challenges of our educational system. Teachers of every kind deserve to be heralded, but I have a special place for those who help to promote the talents of students who may otherwise be overlooked by the system. The up-close and honest relationship that the author was able to cultivate with Cedric is incredible and I'm so glad I read this updated version so I could find out what happened to his life after the 1st year of college."
"This book challenged my ideas of affirmative action. It is an interesting perspective from a motivated son of a single mother who works his way out of the drug-infested and violent ghetto of his Washington D.C. neighborhood to earn a spot at an Ivy League University. He initially finds the culture of the other white and middle-class minority students completely foreign and his education preparation woefully lacking. The help that he gets, and doesn't get, along the way says a lot about what we value as a society."
"I picked this book up from the stairs of my parents' house. I think it was my brother's freshman English book, but I simply needed something to read on the plane ride back to Vegas.
I was at first mesmerized by the writing. It was descriptive! It was interesting! It sounded like an author had written it! Turns out, an author did write it. I have a snobbish aversion to reading memoirs by non-writers, so I was happy to realize Ron Suskind wrote the book about Cedric Jennings.
After the first few chapters, the writing began to loose its luster. I became immersed in the story itself. The eventual success of Cedric was a given since the title says he gets to the Ivy League. I was much more interested about how Cedric coped with getting there. As a white female, firmly ensconced in the middle class, it seems amazing that a student could pass high school without knowing what Ellis Island is. Cedric's struggle to fit in culturally at Brown was the defining part of the book for me as the reader.
For anyone who is looking for a companion piece to this book, I highly recommend Ruby Payne's life-changing book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty. It will explain much of the why of what happened to Cedric Jennings, and highlight the immense triumph of his journey."
"This is one of my favorite books because of its many themes (I'm only going to list a few).
Does SAT scores predict success? (Not necessarily in my opinion). The role of the church in the lives of African Americans. African American leadership in schools. Class differences among African Americans. The Ivy League as panacea. Parents in prison. Welfare vs. day care. The benefits(?) of benefactors.
What makes me sad about this book is that most people will never get the opportunity that Cedric Jennings did. Certainly Jennings worked very hard to get into Ivy League Brown University. His foundation was established by a dedicated mother who put her son and the church in the center of her life. However, what hurts me as a reader (and teacher and librarian) are those that don't get the chance. In addition, even those who do get to succeed -- will there be jobs/opportunities? I understand that Cedric Jennings is now a social worker, which makes me happy because the helping professions definitely need male role models. However, young children/teenagers need the hope that there will be something to strive FOR."
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