About this item
In a green town in the middle of America, a bright 18-year-old Hispanic student named Isaias Ramos sets out on the journey to college.Isaias, who passed a prestigious national calculus test as a junior and leads the quiz bowl team, is the hope of Kingsbury High in Memphis, a school where many students have difficulty reading. But Kingsbury's dysfunction, expensive college fees, and forms printed in a language that's foreign to his parents are all obstacles in the way of getting him to a university.Isaias also doubts the value of college and says he might go to work in his family's painting business after high school, despite his academic potential. Is Isaias making a rational choice? Or does he simply hope to avoid pain by deferring dreams that may not come to fruition? This is what journalist Daniel Connolly attempts to uncover in The Book of Isaias as he follows Isaias, peers into a tumultuous final year of high school, and, eventually, shows how adults intervene in the hopes of changing Isaias' life.Mexican immigration has brought the proportion of Hispanics in the nation's youth population to roughly one in four. Every day, children of immigrants make decisions about their lives that will shape our society and economy for generations. In the tradition of Friday Night Lights and A Hope in the Unseen, this engaging, poignant book captures an American microcosm and illustrates broader challenges for our collective future.
About the Author
Daniel Connolly is a journalist who uses rigorous reporting to tell true stories about immigration, economics and globalization.
A fluent speaker of Spanish and German, he was born in Memphis, Tennessee, graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio and completed a postgraduate Fulbright teaching fellowship in Germany.
He's covered Mexican immigration to the U.S. South for more than a decade and has worked for The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal since 2006.
Daniel has won numerous awards from state and national journalism organizations and received grants and support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the International Center for Journalists.
In his spare time he enjoys running, jiu-jitsu and judo. He worked on The Book of Isaias for more than five years, starting in November 2010 and finishing in early 2016.
For much more background on the book, please visit www.danielconnolly.net
