Words No Bars Can Hold: Literacy Learning in Prison (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780393713671)

Words No Bars Can Hold provides a rare glimpse into literacy learning under the most dehumanizing conditions. Deborah Appleman chronicles her work teaching college- level classes at a high- security prison for men, most of whom are serving life sentences. Through narrative, poetry, memoir, and fiction, the students in Appleman's classes attempt to write themselves back into a society that has erased their lived histories.

The students' work, through which they probe and develop their identities as readers and writers, illuminates the transformative power of literacy. Appleman argues for the importance of educating the incarcerated, and explores ways to interrupt the increasingly common journey from urban schools to our nation's prisons. From the sobering endpoint of what scholars have called the "school to prison pipeline," she draws insight from the narratives and experiences of those who have traveled it.

Author: Deborah Appleman
ISBN-10: 0393713679
ISBN-13: 9780393713671
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English
Published: 06/18/2019
Pages: 160
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 05/15/2019 pg. 6
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2019