Reading Lives : Working-Class Children and Literacy Learning

While not shying away from the potent obstacles and dislocating challenges experienced by all children restricted by social class, this text lends a measure of hope, humor, and practical insight to the work of teaching literacy to white children with blue-collar families.

Deborah Hicks sets her long-term study of two working-class children alongside her own story of growing up in the rural Southeast of the United States. She also includes the early reading experiences of other writers, such as Mike Rose, Annie Ernaux, and Janet Frame, to show how the class-specific language practices of "Laurie" and "Jake" put them at a tremendous disadvantage as they encounter "middle-class ways of talking, acting, and valuing.” By exploring their successes and challenges, the book reveals how children's lived experience influences who they come to be and how they come to know in relation to reading practices. The result is a powerful book that will guide readers to move closer to the intersection of "feeling" and "knowing" in their critical role as teachers.

Deborah Hicks studies and practices literacy education among poor and working-class children. She currently teaches courses on literacy research and gender and education at the University of Cincinnati.