Live to See the Day

Metropolitan Books
Hardcover
240 pages • $29.99
ISBN: 9781250850065

Coming of Age in American Poverty

Nikhil Goyal

In Kensington, Philadelphia, eighteenth birthdays are not rites of passage but statistical miracles. Distinguished only by its poverty, Kensington is home to Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel, three Puerto Rican children who live among the most marginalized families in the United States. This is the story of their coming-of-age, which is beset by violence—the violence of homelessness, hunger, incarceration, stray bullets, sexual and physical assault, the hypermasculine logic of the streets, and the drug trade. One mistake drives Ryan out of middle school and into the juvenile justice pipeline. For Emmanuel, his queerness means his mother’s rejection and sleeping in shelters. School closures and budget cuts inspire Giancarlos to lead student walkouts, which get him kicked out of the education system. Although all three are high school dropouts, they are on a quest to defy their fate and their neighborhood and get diplomas. In a triumph of empathy and drawing on nearly a decade of reporting, sociologist and policymaker Nikhil Goyal follows Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel on their mission, plunging deep into their lives as they strive to resist their designated place in the social hierarchy. In the process, Live to See the Day confronts a new age of American poverty, after the end of “welfare as we know it,” after “zero tolerance” in schools criminalized a generation of students, when the odds of making it out are ever slighter.

© Timothy O’Connell

Nikhil Goyal is a sociologist and policymaker who served as senior policy advisor on education and children for Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on the Budget. He developed education, child care, and child tax credit federal legislation as well as a tuition-free college program for incarcerated people and correctional workers in Vermont. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Nation, and other publications. Goyal earned his B.A. at Goddard College and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. He lives in Vermont.

Rising Class

Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR
Hardcover
352 pages • $19.99
ISBN: 9780374313579

How Three First-Generation College Students Conquered Their First Year

Jennifer Miller

As the low-income daughter of immigrants, Briani knows she’ll face imposter syndrome at her Ivy League college. But the biggest challenges of freshman year are the ones she never saw coming. Conner grew up shouldering extra responsibility and can’t wait for more independence. But 1,200 miles away from his mom, brother, and girlfriend, he feels more tied to them than ever. Jacklynn decided to attend community college and live at home. Soon, though, she’s balancing school with a stressful job and lifealtering family events. Rising Class follows Briani, Conner, Jacklynn, and their friends as they experience not only their first year of college but the COVID-19 pandemic, which turned the world upside down. Eye-opening and poignant, Jennifer Miller writes a heartening true story that speaks to new beginnings, coming of age, and perseverance in the face of unparalleled challenges.

© Jason Feifer

Jennifer Miller is the author of four critically acclaimed books, Inheriting the Holy Land, The Year of the Gadfly, The Heart You Carry Home, and Mr. Nice Guy. Today Miller is a regular contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post. She has reported extensively on teenagers and campus life and, more broadly, on disenfranchised communities, including military veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and the rural working class. She has taught undergraduate writing courses at Columbia and has been a thesis advisor at both the Columbia School of the Arts and the Columbia Journalism School. Please visit byjennifermiller.com for more information.

Dream Town

Henry Holt and Co.
Hardcover
400 pages • $31.99
ISBN: 9781250834416

Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity

Laura Meckler

In this searing and intimate examination of the ideals and realities of racial integration, award-winning Washington Post journalist Laura Meckler tells the story of a decades-long pursuit in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and uncovers the roadblocks that have threatened progress time and again—in housing, in education, and in the promise of shared community. In the late 1950s, Shaker Heights began groundbreaking work that would make it a national model for housing integration. And beginning in the seventies, it was known as a crown jewel in the national move to racially integrate schools. The school district built a reputation for academic excellence and diversity, serving as a model for how white and Black Americans can thrive together. Meckler—herself a product of Shaker Heights—takes a deeper look into the place that shaped her, investigating its complicated history and its ongoing challenges in order to untangle myth from truth. She confronts an enduring, and troubling, question—if Shaker Heights has worked so hard at racial equity, why does a racial academic achievement gap persist? In telling the stories of the Shakerites who have built and lived in this community, Meckler asks: What will it take to fulfill the promise of racial integration in America? What compromises are people of all races willing to make? What does success look like, and has Shaker achieved it? The result is a complex and masterfully reported portrait of a place that, while never perfect, has achieved more than most and a road map for communities that seek to do the same.

© Jeanne Van Atta

Laura Meckler is national education writer for The Washington Post, where she covers the news, politics, policies, and people shaping American schools. She previously reported on the White House, presidential politics, immigration, and health care for The Wall Street Journal, as well as on health and social policy for the Associated Press. Her honors include a Nieman Fellowship and a Livingston Award for National Reporting, and she was part of a team that won the George Polk Award for Justice Reporting. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two sons.