I read this book several years ago when I was teaching inner city students in New Jersey. A colleague of mine passed it along because he thought it was a very important book for aspiring educators to read.

In Savage Inequalities, Jon Kozol takes a look at schools across the US in New Jersey, New York, St. Louis, and Washington DC and describes what's happening to children from poor families in the inner cities and less affluent suburbs.

This book is one of the few places where you see a real account of the ways the US operates in some sections like an underdeveloped country; some of the underfunded schools are environments that even pose a physical hazard to the children.

Since I used to live in New Jersey, I was able to relate to his portrayal of affluence existing five minutes away from burned-out Camden, where in 1985 nearly a quarter of families had less than $5,000 annual income.

"As the city's aged sewers crumble and collapse, streets cave in, but there are not funds to make repairs. What is life like for children in this city?...'' he asks in this powerful and moving book.

Kim Dismont Robinson