A Kind and Just Parent

The five years William Ayers spent teaching and observing at Chicago's Juvenile Court prison are the basis of his account. The reformer Jane Addams founded the court, the country's first and largest juvenile justice institution, to act as a kind and just parent for children in need. Ayers follows one year in the prison school, through portraits of young people who are funny, quirky, sometimes violent and often vulnerable as they talk about their lives, friends and futures, and of some remarkable teachers. Ayers sets the media image of juvenile offenders as predators against what he saw, and he combines history and analysis to explain what brought these children to court and what might keep their younger siblings out.

It appears among the nonfiction titles in a roundup of every book Barack Obama recommended during his presidency.