Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Because this falls into the memoir category, I won't be giving any rating to it. However, I have personal thoughts about it that I will share. (**Rating given on NetGalley due to the requirement to assign a rating to books feedback is provided on**)

A bit undecided about her future, Michelle Kuo decides to volunteer with Teach for America until she can solidify her plans. She accepts an assignment in the Jim Crow south - Helena, Arkansas to be exact. Optimistic and determined to make a difference, Kuo soon realizes that what she signed up for doesn't resemble the stories she's read or heard. So Kuo finds her own way and ends up making an inexplicable connection with Patrick. She leaves Arkansas after two years to, reluctantly and uncertainly, attend law school. As she is preparing to graduate, Michelle hears that Patrick has been arrested for murder. Unwillingly to believe it, she goes back to Arkansas to visit Patrick and find out what has happened. What she learns puts her on a detour from her post-law school life and she moves back to Helena to continue teaching Patrick while he is in jail and moving through the legal system. As Michelle and Patrick read through various pieces of literature and poetry, they both learn more about themselves, each other, and the systems they live within. Kuo also discovers that Patrick has a gift for poetry which is incredibly moving.

The honest assessment Kuo goes through personally as a result of her time with Teach for America, in law school, and working with Patrick is really interesting to read about. I appreciated Kuo's willingness to discuss her failures and her efforts to correct her thinking and behaviors as they pertained to her worldview and humanity. I really liked meeting Patrick and the way in which Kuo protected his privacy and yet allowed us to see below the surface (she sought his permission so he also approved how he chose to share his story with others). In sharing Patrick she gives evidence to the fact that there is so much more to a person's story and experiences than what the external eye can observe.

Michelle Kuo also gives evidence for the transformative power of words and stories and their ability to connect humanity.

I did not have a chance to read this book, but it is effecting my feedback rating. I am giving books 5 stars that I haven't read to improve my feedback rating. I am not recommending the book for my classroom or students since I have not read the book. There needs to be a better system of leaving feedback for books not read.

MIchelle Kuo's moving memoir of her experience with Teach for America is a compelling exploration of poverty and race issues in rural Arkansas. It highlights the challenges posed for those able and willing to change the forces that lead young people to lives of crime and failure. Michelle arrives in Arkansas, without the understanding or support of her Taiwanese immigrant parents, with lofty goals and desires to uplift the underprivileged through literacy. After leaving the program for law school, Michelle discovers that one of her favorite students, Patrick, is incarcerated for murder. She feels responsible for leaving Patrick, and returns to Arkansas to assist him. Through literature, Michelle and Patrick form a strong bond and friendship, and Michelle gains a more meaningful understanding of the impacts of race and poverty on youth in America. It highlights the systemic issues and need for continued educational and social services for the underprivileged and under-served populations of our country. I found the book to be both emotionally devastating and uplifting. Bravo Ms. Kuo!

This was an eye-opening book. I found Kuo's story at turns heartening and frustrating — as an eager member of Teach for America, she offered hope for an impoverished, unruly group of last-chance students, but at the same time, she was so ill-equipped and naive it was dangerous. Often throughout the book, Kuo compares Patrick's plight to her own immigrant family's struggles, which I understand, but I think it made her tone-deaf to this particular urban crisis. I give Kuo tremendous credit for reconnecting with Patrick when she learned he was incarcerated, but I sometimes felt those months with him provided a beyond-reproach excuse for her own career indecision. Upon her return to the Delta, Kuo learns the harrowing fates of many in the class she taught, but does not seem concerned by her inability to make an impact with anyone but Patrick. What's more, at different points Kuo acknowledges huge gaps in their education, that provide few with the skills to reach beyond their circumstances. Obviously, this is not a situation that can be changed overnight, or with the limited attention span of a short-term volunteer teacher, but still.

I appreciate Kuo's devotion to Patrick, and the sacrifice it entailed. But parts of this story seemed more to me (and I hate how cynical I feel saying this) like they were intended to pad a resume or write a book. There were so many others in Patrick's class simply left behind, and I could not get that out of my head, how you could choose just one student to place all of your hope in, at the expense of the rest. But despite all my misgivings, I do believe that Kuo has provided a valuable window into an untenable situation — where the difference between the haves and the have nots is, in some cases, literally criminal.



For Goodreads:

Why I picked it — Who doesn't like an uplifting true story?

Reminded me of… The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, because it involves a similar scenario where an outsider enters a culture and tries to understand it at a critical time.

For my full review — click here

Incredible! Kuo's ability to write about her follies with candidness and to put the experiences of the Delta in a larger historical context are strong. Very readable, very well researched.

Reading With Patrick is an ambitious debut by Michelle Kuo. Reading this as an educator felt both inspiring and exhausting at the same time. I loved Kuo's honesty, and at times my heart ached for her as she tried to do the best she could with Patrick and others. It's heart wrenching to think about a world where systematic racism and poverty run the show. As a reader, I found myself wondering what I could do to make a difference. Reading with Patrick is one of those books that you pick it up, can't put it down.. finish it in one sitting and mull it over in your brain for a few days before going back to it! I would recommend this book for educators and dream makers.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley so that I could give an honest review of the book.

Excerpt from Review"...In the words of Patrick, this book is “real.” If this book had one of those “and they lived happily ever after” endings where Patrick becomes a lawyer's assistant or an English teacher, the story would have been suspect, but the book doesn’t have one of those endings. Patrick has a rough go of things and Michelle finds herself questioning what she meant to her student until she begins to read letters he had written to her from prison. After all, education wasn’t the only thing that Michelle had to offer Patrick. For someone society has given up on, one of the most important thing a person could offer them is friendship. The friendship that blooms between Michelle and Patrick is beautiful. Sure, things are not easy and there are pitfalls here and there, but that friendship will always help to boost both of them over the bumpy road ahead..."

I didn't know what to expect from the book when I first picked it up, but I was engaged right away. The story for the most part is quite sad, and I was surprised to learn some things about the US that I believed to be "long forgotten in the past".

I admire Michelle for her dedication and hard work. I believe her intentions were good and the lives of people while she was present was better because of her.

Especially if the reader has been a teacher, she will identify with this memoir that Chronicles the growth of a devastatingly underprivileged student, of his teacher, and of their touching relationship. The efforts and individualized attention provided by Ms. Kuo are at times amazing, and the story is b heartbreaking and yet hopeful.

This book is heartbreaking, and feels so real and makes you truly think about education and the lack thereof for those who just can't cope. The story is about how a young African American Boy, Patrick who lives in a small town in Arkansas in one of the poorest cities struggles with so many failures along with success through the hands of his special teacher, Michelle Kuo. Ms. Kuo managed to reach him as well as others while she taught in that small town and her interactions with Patrick manage to set him on a different path as he and the other students touched her life as well.

More than the story of how a teacher reached a particular student, more than the poems or literary works that appear here, this book casts an eye-opening spotlight at the levels of poverty found in the Arkansas Delta--which I was not aware was a thing.

Reading with Patrick is a lovely and very well-written memoir, wonderfully grounded in social scientific theory and research about race, inequality, education, and mass incarceration. Since it’s also about books and reading, this was a book I felt destined to love, and I did. I would have liked to have learned even more about Patrick and his family and community, but I also respected Kuo’s reflective process of considering to what extent Patrick’s story is hers to tell. In general, I thought she wrote with great care and respect, while also being brave enough to confront and examine many painful realities.

This book describes a life-changing friendship between a student and a teacher as the subtitle explains. That friendship is the result of the author's desire to make a difference and her willingness to try against all odds. It's hard! Does she succeed? In the long run and depending on your definition of success, I guess that is still to be determined. Sometimes the desire to make a difference and change people's lives is superseded by the fact that our intersections with others, planned or random, may bring about change, just not always as we expect. Ultimately people can change only through their own desire and willingness to change. However, genuinely caring about them might be just the motivation that helps them start.
I encourage any teacher to read this book. You will have an opinion, and it will make you think about your attitude about teaching. This is also a must read for anyone concerned about the inequalities of the world for people of color or other minorities. Most importantly, it is a must read for white people who need to have their eyes opened to the situations that many young black men and women face due to the color of their skin and the fact of their life situations. It's hard and it's not getting easier, but trying to understand and feel a little of what they feel might be a starting point to change. And, of course, anyone who loves and believes in the power of literature and words will find this book to be filled with everything that you already know.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title, and thank you to Michelle and Patrick for being people who are special and important in our world and sharing your story. I'm pulling for you Patrick!!

This book is based on the true memoir of Michelle Kuo and her teacher/student relationship with Patrick Browning. The story takes place in Helena, a rural Arkansas town where Kuo works as a teacher for the Teach for America program. There she meets Patrick when he becomes one of her English classroom students. After working with Patrick for a year, she looses contact with him. A couple of years later, she finds out that he has been accused of murder and is waiting in jail for his trial. During this time they reconnect and once again become teacher and student as Kuo tries to figure a way to help Patrick and his situation.

What is interesting about this book besides the characters themselves, is the relationship Patrick has with his English homework. The memoir points to how environment, race, relationship, and personal desire affect how an individual portrays his self-edification.

Kuo narrates the story and often questions her own significance to the relationship they have forged. She is confused by what she wants to do in life and what she feels she must do to live up to her immigrant Taiwanese parents expectations.

The book is interesting in all various aspects that Kuo covers. There is a lot of complexity to the individuals in this relationship which leads the reader to analyze both. It is a good read but can be a bit slow at times, however it is worth continuing on to the end.

This was a fantastic memoir from Michelle Kuo, child of Taiwanese immigrants, who graduated from Harvard and signed up for a two year stint through Teach for America in the rural city of Helena, Arkansas. Her descriptions of the living conditions and learning environment in this very poor area are heartbreaking. Still, she tries to make a difference in the lives of her students and one child in particular, Patrick, seems to thrive with her attention. Her memoir covers her years of teaching in the Mississippi Delta, time in Harvard Law School and return to the Delta after a phone call about Patrick being jailed for murder. Michelle does something that I do not think many people would do and definitely something that Patrick does not expect: she stays and resumes his teaching, even though he is in jail awaiting trial.

This was an amazing and heartbreaking story but it was fun to watch Patrick grow as the book went on with his love of reading and writing and become more confident in himself. The memoir is peppered with passages from books and poems that Ms. Kuo included in Patrick's "homework". My high school English teacher mostly ruined poetry for me but I did find myself reading through the passages of well known poems as well as poems written by Patrick. Perhaps I just didn't have the right teacher.

I really enjoyed this memoir and highly recommend it. I expect that this book, which include reflections on poverty, race, crime and education, will be talked about for some time to come. I hope that Ms. Kuo continues writing.

This is a fascinating memoir told by Michelle, who taught middle school English in a school for kids who had been kicked out of the regular schools for various reasons. Michelle learned how to connect with her students through literature though not the way she had originally thought she would. She went on to law school in order to better make a difference in the world and learned that one of her former students, Patrick, was in jail for murder. She visited him in jail and taught him there as well. The story highlights the poverty that still exists in the deep south and the way that black people are treated there and what their lives are like. She sees how just a little bit of care and effort on her part brought out Patrick's intelligence and helped him to grow and see the world differently. I think the book is eye opening and I highly recommend it.

In this moving memoir, Michelle Kuo, a first-generation Taiwanese American, walks readers through her decision to enter the Teach for America program after graduating from Harvard, much to the dismay of her parents. Kuo faced her own share of racism and xenophobia as she grew up and, wanting to somehow make a difference, chose to commit to teaching for two years at a high school in Helena, Arkansas, located in one of America’s poorest counties.

Stars, the school where Kuo was placed, was an “alternative” or “second chance” school, where students were sent as a last resort. As an English teacher, Kuo tried to reach these students — who she’d continually observed falling through the cracks, often due to circumstances beyond their control — and engage with them around reading and writing, not an easy task when many were barely literate. But Patrick, one of the students she encountered at Stars, really began to shine as he was given the encouragement to write and explore literature.

When Kuo’s two-year commitment to the program came to an end, she bowed to parental pressures and decided to go to Harvard Law School rather than continue to teach at Stars. Then, just as she was embarking upon her new law career, she discovered that Patrick had been arrested for stabbing a man and was in jail awaiting trial. In an unexpected turn, Kuo decided to return to the Delta and resume her teaching one-on-one with Patrick, helping him earn his GED.

Reading with Patrick is, on the surface, the memoir of a teacher. It is a story about the impact a teacher can have on a student. It is about the power of reading, writing, and expression. It is also about the many mistakes Kuo made along the way and about the failures of our country’s educational system. It shines a light on the legacy of Jim Crow and institutionalized racism, and it reflects upon the state of the criminal justice system. Above all, it is a heartbreaking, inspiring, empathetic, and beautifully written account of one person trying to make a difference by using her strengths to help others discover theirs.

First of all I want to beg you not to read the first bit and decide it's boring. The author explains her early life to give you background so you understand how she ended up devoting so much time to this young man. You need to understand her motivation. Unfortunately, she is very self-effacing and it's very dry.

The rest of the book is brilliant. Draws you in and instructs you without preaching. I read the history, listened to people, watched movies. I had an intellectual understanding of white privilege. Now I have a "from my skin down to my bones" understanding. Thank you Ms. Kuo. I get it now. All this and a great story too. What more could you want?

This book is a testimonial to books being life-changing forces, even in the lives of adults. From the book's title, I expected Patrick to play a central role. However, most of the story is about Ms. Kuo and how Patrick changed her life. I am more interested in Patrick, though. His voice changes as he reads and writes more often while incarcerated. His poetry is dark, moving and hopeful at the same time. I especially reeled at the letters to his daughter. I tend to enjoy books focusing on character development. I would suggest this book to patrons interested in history, poetry and student/teacher life.