Many a reluctant young scholar has fantasized about a world without school. For the estimated 124 million children around the globe without access to education cause of "poverty, discrimination, and violence" e notion of a permanent vacation only ensures a future with no chance of improvement. The populations described here forgo schooling for survival: sharecropping or scrounging for scraps (India's "untouchables"), begging on the street (Europe's itinerant Roma), or cowering at home for fear of reprisals by Muslim fundamentalists (Pakistan's "other Malalas") or street gangs (residents of Chicago's South Side). Scandiffio relates a half dozen inspiring stories, starting with that of a Bengali boy who, at age nine, started sharing what he'd learned at school with less fortunate friends; before long, hundreds of knowledge seekers began flocking to his backyard, rechristened "The Home of Joyful Learning." The closing chapters, about education-reform protests in Canada's First Nation reserves and in Chile, are less dramatic but could serve as a road map for students dealing with inadequacies in their own school systems.

A collection of stories about children who risk much to avail themselves of learning opportunities and determined individuals who fight to bring education to those children.Scandiffio takes readers on an inspiring tour around the world to countries where obstacles to universal access to education such as discrimination, poverty, and war seem insurmountable, yet driven individuals do what they can to bring schooling to many. Okello Kelo Sam, a former child soldier in Uganda, is the founder of a school for children like himself. In a backyard classroom in India, teenager Babar Ali passes on what he has learned to child workers too poor to afford the required uniforms to attend school. Young women in Pakistan risk their very lives to attend school. Obstacles to learning persist even in developed nations, such as Canada, where inequitable resources are allocated for First Nations children, and the United States, where rampant gang violence in Chicago and other cities keeps children from attending school. The book's design features decorated, multicolored page backgrounds and frequent color photographs. This moving look at children going to extraordinary lengths, even risking their lives, to get an education should be required reading for the millions of American students who resent going to school. (photos, bibliography, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Many students take the advantage of being able to attend school for granted. In Fight to Learn, Scandiffio highlights the lives of many different children from countries across the globe and even inner-city schoolchildren from Chicago and the struggle they have overcome to attend school. Some of the stories are positively heartbreaking, as Scandiffio tells of a child soldier in Uganda who fled battle and then fought for other child-soldier refugees to have access to education in the arts as a means to overcome the trauma of war violence. Other stories that students may be aware of, such as the story of Malala Yousafzai, are joined with those of other girls who were on the same bus as Malala. They tell the story of what happened to those after Malala left for England, further educating students with the knowledge of Taliban condemnation of girls going to school and the impact that Malala had made. These stories are interspersed with colorful pictures, quotes from the students, and small articles about the social issues that make it difficult for students all over the world to go to school, such as poverty and violence.There is an appendix that allows students to trace the original articles from which the information appeared, but unfortunately the "Further Reading" section is limited to only a few books, and there are no links to websites. This book is an excellent addition to public and school libraries but may require some hand-selling for the librarians.Stephanie Wilkes.