Book Review- No Child by Nilaja Sun

Nilaja Sun reflects on her experiences as a teacher in New York City. In the play, Ms. Sun begins teaching drama to a group of students at Malcolm X High School in Brooklyn. The students perform a play called "Our Country's Good" which is about a group of convicts who perform a play together. So it's a play within a play within a play within a play. A meta-drama about a meta-drama. A super-meta-drama? This emphasizes many of the most important themes in the play, like the power of art to transform troubled people. The students relate to the convicts and that changes how they feel about art, drama, and literature, and I think that's an experience every English teacher wants each of their students to have.

I saw "No Child" performed at the University of Nebraska when I was 12 years old and it made an impression on me. This play was one of the things that inspired me to become a teacher, which is why I decided to read it this year.

"No Child" is such a powerful commentary on public schools, teacher-student relationships, violence, and the power of education. The title itself is a reference to the No Child Left Behind Act.

This play spoke to me in so many ways. When I first saw the play and when I read it I wished I'd had a teacher who was as firm and as kind and as streetwise as Ms. Sun. Most of my teachers in middle school either had no control over the classroom and no respect from their students, or had complete control of the classroom but lacked a rapport with their students. It also spoke to me because shortly after I saw the play performed I moved from a racially diverse, lower-class community to a middle-class white community, and I want so badly to move back to a more diverse community and teach in a "ghetto" school. Other people have advised against that. They don't think I can handle teaching in a ghetto school. I see where they're coming from. I'm a young, short, soft-spoken white lady, and I'm not very assertive. In some ways I really just want to be exactly like Ms. Sun. But I can't, for a lot of reasons. I can, however, use her example to be a successful teacher in a diverse community. I'm already on the right track because I'm prepared to love all of my students unconditionally.

I'm so glad to have had this play as an inspiration for what kind of person and what kind of teacher I'd like to be. This is a book for anyone who either hated or loved English class in high school, for anyone who wants to be a teacher one day, and for anyone who has ever been to public school or who hasn't been to public school and wonders what really happens there.

5/5 stars