Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

One of America's most celebrated educators teaches parents how to create extraordinary children-in the classroom and beyond

In his bestselling book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, readers were introduced to Rafe Esquith and his extraordinary students in Hobart Elementary School's Room 56. Using his amazing and inspiring classroom techniques, Esquith has helped thousands of children learn to maximize their potential. In Lighting Their Fires, Esquith shows that children aren't born extraordinary; they become that way as a result of parents and teachers who instill values that serve them not just in school, but for the rest of their lives. Framed by a class trip to a major league baseball game, Lighting Their Fires moves inning by inning through concepts that help children build character and develop enriching lives. Whether he is highlighting the importance of time management or offering a step-by-step discussion of how children can become good decision makers, Esquith shows how parents can equip their kids with all the tools they need to find success and have fun in the process. Using examples from classic films and great books, he stresses the value of sacrifice, the importance of staying true to oneself, and the danger that television can pose to growing young minds. Lighting Their Fires is that rarest of education books: one that explains not just how to make our children great students, but how to make them thoughtful and honorable people.

About the Author

Rafe Esquith has taught at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles for twenty-four years. He is the only teacher to have been awarded the president's National Medal of the Arts. His many other honors and awards include the American Teacher Award, Parents magazine As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey's Use Your Life Award TM, and People magazine's Heroes Among Us Award.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670021083
• ISBN-13: 978-0670021086
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,797 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for educators and parents, a great read for the rest of ya, September 7, 2009

By	Clayton Stromberger (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a night at the ballgame you don't want to miss.

"Lighting Their Fires" is not a prescriptive, I've-got-the-answers book. Instead, it's a precious opportunity to spend some time at a baseball game with five really remarkable young people, as teacher Rafe Esquith was fortunate enough to do last year in Dodgers Stadium. If you don't learn something from these five kids while reading this book, then you are a Scrooge indeed and perhaps in need of a midnight visit from the Ghost of Education Future, pointing a gnarled finger towards quite a few children being "left behind" if we keep going the way we're headed.

Rafe Esquith is onto something here. "Lighting Their Fires," like "There Are No Shortcuts" and "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire" before it, is a gentle but firm wakeup call, reminding us, in a phrase he used often in his previous books, "I think we can do even better."

Where we can do better, Esquith says, is in helping our children ("ours" as teachers or as parents) become extraordinary -- not in their brilliance or test scores, though those have their place, but in their ability to develop their own code of conduct and then live it in a way that benefits everyone around them, from family members to classmates to strangers to even, thank goodness, their bearded and vest-and-tie-wearing teacher.

What Rafe and his students have discovered over the past 24 years in Room 56 at Hobart Elementary, it seems to me, is a new entryway into the ancient wisdom that great education is all about making us better people, not better test-takers. The energy and commitment level that is unleashed in these kids when they discover the joy of being selfless is a remarkable thing to behold. In some cases it qualifies as heroic, especially in the face of adversity that most of us have never imagined.

This is a great book because it tells the truth. Rafe is saying that our culture, the stuff our children absorb countless times each day, is making it harder, not easier, to raise and teach children to become good citizens, good friends, good people. As a parent and teacher, I have to agree. All the folks screaming at elected officials at "town hall" meetings could benefit from a few weeks in Rafe's class. It's a place where the American dream is a practical, living reality, earned with hard work, patience, and thousands of hours of practice. And it's a dream rooted in a fundamental decency and concern for others.

I've spent some precious time as a guest in Rafe's classroom, and had the privilege of briefly meeting the five children seen leaping for joy on the cover of "Lighting Their Fires." I watched them and the other Hobart Shakespeareans work math problems, play baseball, read aloud "Huckleberry Finn," and perform Shakespeare and rock and roll and rollicking dance numbers. More impressively, I also remember some of these same students, and others, quickly offering me bottled water every time I entered their classroom. And I marveled at the humility and patience they demonstrated as they quietly watched their classmates rehearse for hours on end, long after all the other Hobart students had gone home. They are the real thing.

Watching these children, I could only wish for the same experience for my children; not, I realize now (thanks to this book) the experience of the "getting to do all this great stuff," but the living experience of being a kid who has decided to think of others first and, through that generosity, chosen to aim for excellence. Alas, my two kids cannot be Hobart Shakespeareans, cannot have Rafe as their classroom teacher. But like all true teachers, he is ready to share what he has learned with anyone who will make the effort to listen. This book is just another way of doing that. So check it out, spend some time at Dodgers Stadium with Rafe and the students, and see what you find yourself thinking about as you drive home after the ballgame, late at night, pondering what really matters in this life and what you want people to say about you when you're gone.

I can promise you'll be thinking about more than the final score.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone can benefit from this book, October 7, 2009

By	Diane M. Davidson "mystery writer" (Evergreen, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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When I first heard Rafe Esquith speaking on the radio, I drove straight to a bookstore and bought his first two books, TEACH LIKE YOUR HAIR'S ON FIRE and THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. As a former teacher, I can tell you that they are both excellent. When I saw Mr. Esquith had written a new book and, better yet, was coming to Denver, I had to attend. With his students performing Shakespeare (beautifully) and Mr. Esquith providing (superb) comments, I was not disappointed. The evening was phenomenal, and I highly recommend that readers and book lovers of all ages, not just teachers, try to get to one of his signings.
I just finished the book yesterday, and it was amazing. He teaches kids time management. (Is this taught anywhere else? It should be.) He teaches them life skills such as getting and staying organized. He gives them a love of learning, so that they do extra reading not just because it's assigned, but because the reading itself brings intrinsic rewards. And most importantly, he teaches them values such as generosity, honesty, and humility. The kids learn these traits and keep them for a lifetime.
(Although I am a Rockies fan, I didn't even mind that the book was set at a Dodgers game. Little humor there. Please don't write to me; I am a huge admirer of Joe Torre.)
The lessons Mr. Esquith imparts can work for all ages. We can all turn off the television and read more; we can all toss the video games and play a board game; we can all be more generous, honest, and loving, not just when someone is watching. I bought four copies of this book, and plan to buy more. I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST READ for parents and teachers, October 28, 2009

By	M. Busch - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This book is a must read for parents of school aged kids and teachers. it helps you focus on raising kids with true values, discipline and self-satisfaction in a world that has lost these values. I can't say enough good about the book, you MUST read it. it's easy to read and broken into short sections so even if you don't like to read or don't have time, it's an easy book to read just before bed or anywhere you may have a few minutes of time. As a first time parent, i am terified about my child growing up in a value-less, self-involved society. This book helped me learn what to do to help steer my child in the right direction. i'm a bit more confident about raising my son now. thanks Mr. Esquith for taking the time to write this book!