Includes bibliographical references.

Machine generated contents note: PART I -- 1.A Raisin in the Sun -- 2.The Free Write -- 3.The Fire Next Time -- PART II -- 4.The Death of Ivan Ilyich -- PART III -- 5.Crime and Punishment -- 6.The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- 7.He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven -- 8.Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass -- 9.I Have Read Everything on This Paper (The Guilty Plea) -- 10.To Paula in Late Spring -- PART IV -- 11.Easter Morning.

As a young English teacher keen to make a difference in the world, Michelle Kuo took a job at a tough school in the Mississippi Delta, bringing the wonders of literature to a young African-American boy named Patrick and his rowdy classmates. For the first time, these boys began to engage with ideas and dreams beyond their small town, and to gain an insight into themselves that they had never had before. Two years later, Michelle moved back to California; but Patrick began to lose his way, killing a man and ending up with a lengthy jail sentence. And that's when Michelle decided that her work was not done, and began to visit Patrick once a week, to read with him again.