Hi everyone, this week’s review post is on an inspirational biography I discovered somewhat by accident. Since both parents’ families had teachers and principals, the blurb from this book tugged at my heartstrings and I felt compelled to read about this amazing teacher/principal. Check out my review below…
Title: The bridge to brilliance: how one principal in a tough community is inspiring the world
Author: Nadia Lopez with Rebecca Daley
Genre: Non-Fiction – Education
Publication details: Viking; NY, 2016
ISBN: 9781101980255
What this book is about: In 2010, Nadia Lopez started her middle grade public school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy, in one of America’s poorest communities, in a record heat wave – and a crime wave. Everything was an uphill battle – to get the school approved, to recruit faculty and students, to solve a million new problems every day – but Lopez was determined to break the downward spiral that had trapped too many inner-city children. The lessons came fast: unengaged teachers, wayward students, and the educational system itself, rarely in tune with the already disadvantaged and underprepared. Things were at a low ebb for everyone when one of her students told a photographer that his principal, “Ms Lopez,” was the person who most influenced his life. The posting on Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York site was the pebble that started a lucky landslide for Lopez and her team. Lopez found herself in the national spotlight and headed for a meeting with President Obama, as well as the beneficiary of a million-dollar campaign for the school, to find her next dream: a field trip for her students to visit another school – Harvard. The Bridge to Brilliance is a book filled with common sense and caring that will carry her message to communities and classrooms far from Brooklyn. As she says modestly, “There are hundreds of Ms Lopezes around this country doing good work for kids. This honours all of them.”
My review: this was such an amazing and inspirational book!! I so much wished I’d had a version of Ms Lopez growing up when I did!! The way she described her approaches to teaching and managing both her teachers and scholars is so effective and emotional. I enjoyed reading about the challenges she faces in getting the school up and running and the many events she organised throughout her career. You can see she is an educational mentor who always thinks of the kids first. Such an inspiring read!! I think everyone in education and anyone who has many kids in schools should read this!! A really well written read.
My rating: 4 ⭐
Miss Mahee's Library of Reads 