Ginette B. (Niteowl7) reviewed on 8/16/2007 + 242 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The author records his experiences teaching a voluntary class on writing to incarcerated juvenile offenders. With no "rules of writing" and just notebooks as tools, these adolescents find themselves expressing their innermost thoughts and feelings in a way they weren't able to before. They also tell their background stories; some poignant, some self-serving, and some quite painful to hear. I found the best part of this book to be the parts when reading about these young mens' growth in self-expression. The part I liked the least was the way Salzman taught the class. I found the class too open-ended in that the boys' could write whatever they wanted without learning anything about the art of writing. Salzman reminds me of the psychiatrist who has his patient just sitting in front of him while the doctor just nods and ocassionally makes a comment. In fact, this was really more of a therapy class done in the old fashioned analyst style with a small group of troubled boys. Nonetheless, the book is a worthwhile reading experience just from getting to know the boys and seeing how for the first time they are able to share their pasts and current thoughts and feelings that have led them to incarceration.

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