Preview
  • How Children Succeed

  • Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
  • By: Paul Tough
  • Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
  • Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (74 ratings)

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How Children Succeed

By: Paul Tough
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
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Publisher's summary

Why do some children succeed while others fail?

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs.

But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough traces the links between childhood stress and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to help children growing up in poverty.

Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, can not only affect the conditions of children's lives, it can alter the physical development of their brains as well. But now educators and doctors around the country are using that knowledge to develop innovative interventions that allow children to overcome the constraints of poverty. And with the help of these new strategies, as Tough's extraordinary reporting makes clear, children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things.

This provocative and profoundly hopeful book has the potential to change how we raise our children, how we run our schools, and how we construct our social safety net. It will not only inspire and engage listeners, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

©2012 Paul Tough and Robert Petkoff (P)2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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What listeners say about How Children Succeed

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Insightful and informative

Thought-provoking, especially the part about attachment. The long section on chess was not that engaging.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Article based on interviews

In my opinion, the book lacks specific findings and actionable conclusions. Instead, it focuses on narrating the experiences of students, schools, and their respective journeys.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This is a must read for Educators

I love how this book goes deeper into what Children need. We hear that children need two parent household and good schools, but what makes a two parent household a reason why a child would succeed? What makes a school "Good"? It shows how the system plays a part as to why so many low income children face so much adversity without the resources and community.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

What a great book!

Easy to read and understand, very informative. Author brings together the information and supports it with research and ties it all together into a well rounded interesting book.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

virtually no tactical instructions

if you're a parent looking for ways to cultivate the positive character traits conveyed in this book and do not need any more convincing of their benefits this book has little value. this work is filled with inspirational stories of underserved children but has virtually no pragmatic practices that parents can take away and incorporate in their day-to-day lives.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Eh

I didn’t see the book going anywhere. It’s probably a fine book but as an audiobook it just drags on and on without going anywhere

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