A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court [Hardcover]

William Ayers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0807044024 | ISBN-13: 978-0807044025

The author traces his five years as a teacher and observer of Chicago's Juvenile Court prison, the nation's first and largest institution of juvenile justice, and offers real-life portraits of its inner-city youths. Tour."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

William Ayers brings a reporter's eye and an activist's heart to this well-written and profoundly disturbing book, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court. Ayers, who teaches offenders in Chicago's juvenile court system, is a brilliant storyteller, the damning fly on the wall. His book portrays the lives of his students--both within the juvenile temporary detention center and on the "outside." Ayers puts their stories into historical context; argues passionately about the roles of media, poverty, and neglect; refutes the idea of teenager as "superpredator"; and challenges parents--all of us--to ask the question, "Is this good enough for my child?" when determining the standard to use when we think of justice for kids.

From Library Journal

Headlines regularly depict juvenile criminals as extreme and violent "superpredators"?a distorted and incomplete picture that shapes the way Americans think and feel about poor (and mostly minority) city kids. For five years, Ayers, a former member of the radical 1960s Weathermen organization, acted as a teacher and an observer in Chicago's Juvenile Court prison, the nation's first?and largest?institution of juvenile justice. Founded by the legendary Jane Addams to act as a "kind and just parent" for children in need, the court today epitomizes the confused and confusing way American justice deals with children. In Ayers's book, an account of one year in his classroom there, students describe their lives, analyze their situations, and think about their futures. Like Jonathan Kozol in Amazing Grace (LJ 10/1/95), Ayers shows that we must overcome our preconceived notions of these children and learn to deal with the realities of their lives. Ayers is a born educator and communicator, with a voice of hope. Recommended for general collections.?Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (June 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807044024
• ISBN-13: 978-0807044025
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Law > Family & Health Law > Child Advocacy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important book for all to read, February 3, 2010

By 

N. Haack "avid bookworm" (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court (Paperback)

This book really finds the humanity in an otherwise demonized demographic (juvenile delinquents). Everyone going into education should read this book.

7 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories of juveniles and justice system in trouble., December 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court (Paperback)

This is a story of children, real children, still soft inside, and yet with a force field that can put off both the kindest and the most brutal attacks one can inflict. It is a story of a justice system long gone amuck, but often with good intentions, and some surprisingly good people lighting up the corners. Ayers is a good tale-teller, and catches students at the juvenile detention "home" in Chicago - it could just as well be many other places - in moments of anger, despair, humor, joy, self-deception and learning, along with the teachers that carefully try to offer regularity, challenge and choice. For those many to whom juveniles and juvenile detention facilities are not real, this book is a must. For those who know, it will be a renewed inspiration and challenge.

[...]

4 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is powerful, instructive, and brilliant., April 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court (Hardcover)

Ayers book should be read by all educators who work with young people forgotten by the system. His case studies are brilliantly drawn and teach us a great deal about "juvenile justice". It has provoked discussion of poverty, violence, and social change. It has changed the thinking of many of my students for its clarity, insight, and hope.