John Spector is a seasoned high school teacher with 22 years in the trenches of
a ghetto school filled with struggling teenagers, gangs, apathetic students—but
also students “who make an indelible impression, kids with souls and hearts
as big as the world.” We get the whole spectrum from Spector, a brave and
decent soul, a soft touch, too nice, too caring perhaps. Herriges spent many years
as a high school teacher. He brings substance and legitimacy to Streethearts.
The authenticity of his narrative comes across in every line of every page, many
of them packed with witty and sparkling dialogue, at times genuinely humorous,
occasionally grim or even horrific, but always candid, always down-to-earth, always
reliable.
Shrewdly written, its style rich but minimal without being minimalist, its language
bursting with street-smart wisdom, Streethearts puts us on the inside track
of what it really means to be an inner-city educator trying not only to teach but
to survive what is an increasingly menacing world loaded with poverty, misery and
violence. The hard-won truths we learn from Spector are more than enlightening,
they’re intellectually life-altering. The book is a triumph and should be
required reading for anyone who thinks he has the answers as to why so many of
America’s schools are failing.
—Previously published in Amazon Editorial Reviews
(28 August 2011)
is the author of six novels, and recipient of an AWP Award for Best Novel
(The Book of Mamie), a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Award for Favorite Book of the year
(The Altar of the Body), a Milwaukee Magazine Best Short
Story of the Year Award, and a Pushcart Honorable Mention.
Brenna’s stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Cream City
Review, SQ, Agni, The Nebraska Review, The Literary Review, The Madison Review,
New Letters, and numerous other literary venues. His work has been translated
into six languages.
www.duffbrenna.com