米歇爾·郭（Michelle Kuo）剛從哈佛大學畢業，就以樂觀和乾勁來到阿肯色州的鄉村小鎮海倫娜，滿懷樂觀和乾勁。但她很快就遭遇了美國最貧困縣之一的殘酷現實，那裡仍然受到奴隸制和吉姆·克勞法的影響。在這本感人至深的回憶錄中，身為台灣移民子女的郭講述了她對學生帕特里克·布朗寧複雜而有益的指導經歷，以及他非凡的文學和個人覺醒。米歇爾‧郭堅信自己能夠改變青少年學生的人生，她全心投入工作中，利用安靜的閱讀時間和指導寫作，幫助那些被支離破碎的學校體系所遺棄的學生建立自我意識。雖然米歇爾因為逃學甚至槍支暴力而失去了一些學生，但她也受到了像帕特里克這樣的學生的激勵。十五歲，八年級的派崔克在米歇爾的悉心照料下開始茁壯成長。然而，在教了兩年書之後，米歇爾迫於父母的壓力以及三角洲地區以外眾多機會的誘惑，離開了阿肯色州，前往法學院就讀。後來，在法學院畢業前夕，米歇爾得知派崔克因謀殺罪被判入獄。米歇爾覺得自己離開三角洲地區太早了，決心彌補自己的錯誤，於是回到海倫娜，繼續派崔克的學業——即使他現在正坐在牢房裡等待審判。在接下來的七個月裡，他們每天都研讀經典小說、詩歌和歷史著作。漸漸地，派崔克成長為一位自信、善於表達的作家和一位專注的讀者，弗雷德里克·道格拉斯、詹姆斯·鮑德溫、沃爾特·惠特曼、W·S·默溫等人的作品激勵著他。正如詹姆斯·福爾曼 (James Forman, Jr.) 和亞瑟·埃文奇克 (Arthur Evenchik) 所寫，在這本強有力的回憶錄中，“避免了教育作為救世主的陳詞濫調”，郭女士在與奴隸制的遺留問題作鬥爭時，自己也發生了轉變，她質疑什麼是“好階層”的生活，以及特權的人對那些前景黯淡的人。
"Penetrating, haunting ... In all of the literature addressing education, race, poverty, and criminal justice, there has been nothing quite like Reading with Patrick."--James Forman, Jr. and Arthur Evenchik, The Atlantic Recently graduated from Harvard University, Michelle Kuo arrived in the rural town of Helena, Arkansas, as a Teach for America volunteer, bursting with optimism and drive. But she soon encountered the jarring realities of life in one of the poorest counties in America, still disabled by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning, and his remarkable literary and personal awakening. Convinced she can make a difference in the lives of her teenaged students, Michelle Kuo puts her heart into her work, using quiet reading time and guided writing to foster a sense of self in students left behind by a broken school system. Though Michelle loses some students to truancy and even gun violence, she is inspired by some such as Patrick. Fifteen and in the eighth grade, Patrick begins to thrive under Michelle's exacting attention. However, after two years of teaching, Michelle feels pressure from her parents and the draw of opportunities outside the Delta and leaves Arkansas to attend law school. Then, on the eve of her law-school graduation, Michelle learns that Patrick has been jailed for murder. Feeling that she left the Delta prematurely and determined to fix her mistake, Michelle returns to Helena and resumes Patrick's education--even as he sits in a jail cell awaiting trial. Every day for the next seven months they pore over classic novels, poems, and works of history. Little by little, Patrick grows into a confident, expressive writer and a dedicated reader galvanized by the works of Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Walt Whitman, W. S. Merwin, and others. In this powerful memoir that "avoids the education-as-savior cliché," as James Forman, Jr. and Arthur Evenchik write, Kuo is herself transformed as she contends with the legacy of slavery and he questions of what constitutes a "good" life and what the privileged owe to those with bleaker prospects.
