Still Waters in a Storm: The One-Room School Where Everyone Listens to Everyone


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Previously published as Kid Quixotes, the unlikely, inspiring true story of a one-room school where children of undocumented immigrants and their teacher unlock the revolutionary power of listening.

"Haff paints a picture of what education in America could and perhaps should be. His story is passionately honest, profoundly open-minded, and suffused with optimism, and his writing is crisp and clear and persuasive."

--Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

Still Waters in a Storm is an after-school program held in a small room in Bushwick, Brooklyn; it is a place for kids to practice reading and writing in English, Spanish, and Latin. For the students, many living in constant fear of deportation, Still Waters is a refuge. For Stephen Haff, a former public-school teacher, it is the sanctuary he built following a breakdown caused by bipolar depression. At Still Waters, all agreed that there would only be one rule: "Everyone listens to everyone." And this has unlocked spectacular potential.

Since 2016, the students have been collectively translating Don Quixote into English, taking the Spanish tale--a story about a dreamer who never gives up--and adapting it into a bilingual musical. Six-year old Sarah tells of her mother's journey across the desert from Mexico riding on the back of a tiger. Alex, a very private teenager, sings her coming out song to standing ovations. As the kids perform their work across NYC, they learn that they belong in this country--their voices amplifying to deliver a message of diversity, love, hope, and resilience essential to us all.




Author: Stephen Haff
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 02/01/2022
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9780062934079
ISBN10: 0062934074
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Educators
- Education | Arts in Education
- Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional | Hispanic & Latino

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