The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching

The best writing from a lifetime in the trenches and at the typewriter, from the renowned and much-beloved National Book Award–winning educator.
 
In more than forty books on subjects ranging from social justice to mathematics, morality to parenthood, Herb Kohl has earned a place as one of our foremost “educators who write.” With Marian Wright Edelman, Mike Rose, Lisa Delpit, and Vivian Paley among his fans, Kohl is “a singular figure in education,” as William Ayers says in his foreword, “it’s clear that Herb Kohl’s influence has resonated, echoed, and multiplied.” Now, for the first time, readers can find collected in one place key essays and excerpts spanning the whole of Kohl’s career, including practical as well as theoretical writings.
 
Selections come from Kohl’s classic 36 Children, his National Book Award–winning The View from the Oak (co-authored with his wife Judy), and all his best-known and beloved books. The Herb Kohl Reader is destined to become a major new resource for old fans and a new generation of teachers and parents.
 
“Kohl has created his own brand of teaching . . . [He is] a remarkable teacher who discovered in his first teaching assignment that in education he could keep playing with toys, didn’t have to stop learning, and could use what he knew in the service of others.” ―Lisa Delpit, The New York Times
 
“An infinitely vulnerable and honest human being who has made it his vocation to peddle hope.” ―Jonathan Kozol

A recipient of the National Book Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, Herbert Kohl was a founder and the first director of the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City. He lives in Point Arena, California.

William Ayers is Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a co-editor of City Kids, City Schools.