The Water is Wide by Pat ConroyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1973, this memoir recounts Pat Conroy's year of teaching poor, isolated children on Yamacraw Island. Out of a class of 18 5th-8th graders, none knew the name of their country, only a handful knew the alphabet or could count to ten. Conroy throws the textbook away, and listens and talks to the children, bringing in speakers, films, and records to introduce them to the larger world. He fights racism and ignorance as he tries to make a difference in this segregated school of the late 1960s. In many ways this reminds me of To Sir, With Love.
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