PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewOpens with a superb survey ... The narrative can be plodding, with long detours into state-by-state and city-by-city political and court battles. And, curiously, it ends before the arrival of the Covid pandemic and the convulsions of school closings, book banning and school culture wars ... Still, the book is a timely history.
David Denby
MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewDenby doesn’t provide a convincing answer to his question about the future of advanced literacy in today’s youth culture, in part because his own enthusiasm for literature overtakes the voices of the students. In the end, it isn’t clear whether the students are getting as much out of the books as he believes they are.
