Overview
""In my years of experience as a writer and as a college professor, I have never seen anything like this: the love for language, the passion for discussion, clarity of mind, and humility of heart. Stephen Haff invents impossible projects and makes them possible.""--Valeria Luiselli, author of Lost Children Archive The unlikely, inspiring true story of a one-room school where children of undocumented immigrants and their teacher discover their voices and speak truth to power. 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.
Full Product Details
Author: Stephen Haff ,
Sarah Sierra
Publisher: HarperCollins
Imprint: HarperCollins
Edition: Unabridged edition
Dimensions:
Width: 14.70cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 14.20cm
Weight: 0.136kg
ISBN: 9781094026565
ISBN 10: 1094026565
Publication Date: 21 April 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
Cervantes would be proud that his 400-year-old novel is helping these extraordinary schoolkids and their impressive teacher make sense of their lives, face their fears, and tell their stories. -- Salman Rushdie, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"""Cervantes would be proud that his 400-year-old novel is helping these extraordinary schoolkids and their impressive teacher make sense of their lives, face their fears, and tell their stories."" -- ""Salman Rushdie, #1 New York Times bestselling author"""
Author Information
Stephen Haff is the founder of Still Waters in a Storm, a one-room school serving Spanish-speaking immigrant children in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Previously, he taught English at a public school in Bushwick for nearly a decade. He earned his MFA in Theater Studies at Yale, and has made a living directing plays and writing essays for the Village Voice and other publications. Stephen lives in Queens with his wife, children's book author Tina Schneider, and their three children.
