-
Little Soldiers
- An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $22.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing Up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of China's widely acclaimed yet insular education system - held up as a model of academic and behavioral excellence - that raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education.
When students in Shanghai rose to the top of international rankings in 2009, Americans feared that they were being "out-educated" by the rising super power. An American journalist of Chinese descent raising a young family in Shanghai, Lenora Chu noticed how well-behaved Chinese children were compared to her boisterous toddler. How did the Chinese create their academic superachievers? Would their little boy benefit from Chinese school?
Chu and her husband decided to enroll three-year-old Rainer in China's state-run public school system. The results were positive - her son quickly settled down, became fluent in Mandarin, and enjoyed his friends - but she also began to notice troubling new behaviors. Wondering what was happening behind closed classroom doors, she embarked on an exploratory journey, interviewing Chinese parents, teachers, and education professors and following students at all stages of their education.
What she discovered is a military-like education system driven by high-stakes testing, with teachers posting rankings in public, using bribes to reward students who comply, and shaming to isolate those who do not. At the same time, she uncovered a years-long desire by government to alleviate its students' crushing academic burden and make education friendlier for all. The more she learns, the more she wonders: Are Chinese children - and her son - paying too high a price for their obedience and the promise of future academic prowess? Is there a way to appropriate the excellence of the system but dispense with the bad? What, if anything, could Westerners learn from China's education journey?
Chu's eye-opening investigation challenges our assumptions and asks us to consider the true value and purpose of education.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
We Were Dreamers
- An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
- By: Simu Liu
- Narrated by: Simu Liu
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime.
-
-
This Asian-American Approves.
- By Jasmine Y. on 06-04-22
By: Simu Liu
-
The In-Between
- Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
- By: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Narrated by: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
-
-
Author's Reach is Beyond Her Grasp
- By CW on 07-26-23
-
Red Roulette
- An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
- By: Desmond Shum
- Narrated by: Tim Chiou
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Desmond Shum was growing up impoverished in China, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity he earned an American college degree and returned to his native country to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China’s male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of China’s Communist Party, the so-called red aristocracy.
-
-
Desmond Shum is not a rube! He knows about wine, ok?
- By Peter L Hansen on 10-06-21
By: Desmond Shum
-
Einstein
- His Life and Universe
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: You thought he was a stodgy scientist with funny hair, but Isaacson and Hermann reveal an eloquent, intense, and selfless human being who not only shaped science with his theories, but politics and world events in the 20th century as well. Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos.
-
-
Surprise: Two books in one!
- By Henrik on 04-20-07
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Explosive Child
- A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
- By: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Narrated by: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Ross Greene, a distinguished clinician and pioneer in the treatment of kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, has worked with thousands of explosive children, and he has good news: these kids aren't attentionseeking, manipulative, or unmotivated, and their parents aren't passive, permissive disciplinarians. Rather, explosive kids are lacking some crucial skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, and they require a different approach.
-
-
I started to cry....and this Dad doesn't do that
- By Jj on 02-26-15
-
They Called Us Exceptional
- And Other Lies That Raised Us
- By: Prachi Gupta
- Narrated by: Prachi Gupta
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prachi Gupta’s family embodied the American Dream: a doctor father and a nurturing mother who raised two high-achieving children with one foot in the Indian American community, the other in Pennsylvania’s white suburbia. But their belonging was predicated on a powerful myth: that Asian Americans have perfected the alchemy of middle-class life, raising tight-knit, ambitious families that are immune to hardship.
-
-
Good good
- By Wild on 08-29-23
By: Prachi Gupta
-
We Were Dreamers
- An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
- By: Simu Liu
- Narrated by: Simu Liu
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime.
-
-
This Asian-American Approves.
- By Jasmine Y. on 06-04-22
By: Simu Liu
-
The In-Between
- Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
- By: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Narrated by: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
-
-
Author's Reach is Beyond Her Grasp
- By CW on 07-26-23
-
Red Roulette
- An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
- By: Desmond Shum
- Narrated by: Tim Chiou
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Desmond Shum was growing up impoverished in China, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity he earned an American college degree and returned to his native country to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China’s male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of China’s Communist Party, the so-called red aristocracy.
-
-
Desmond Shum is not a rube! He knows about wine, ok?
- By Peter L Hansen on 10-06-21
By: Desmond Shum
-
Einstein
- His Life and Universe
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: You thought he was a stodgy scientist with funny hair, but Isaacson and Hermann reveal an eloquent, intense, and selfless human being who not only shaped science with his theories, but politics and world events in the 20th century as well. Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos.
-
-
Surprise: Two books in one!
- By Henrik on 04-20-07
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Explosive Child
- A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
- By: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Narrated by: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Ross Greene, a distinguished clinician and pioneer in the treatment of kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, has worked with thousands of explosive children, and he has good news: these kids aren't attentionseeking, manipulative, or unmotivated, and their parents aren't passive, permissive disciplinarians. Rather, explosive kids are lacking some crucial skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, and they require a different approach.
-
-
I started to cry....and this Dad doesn't do that
- By Jj on 02-26-15
-
They Called Us Exceptional
- And Other Lies That Raised Us
- By: Prachi Gupta
- Narrated by: Prachi Gupta
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prachi Gupta’s family embodied the American Dream: a doctor father and a nurturing mother who raised two high-achieving children with one foot in the Indian American community, the other in Pennsylvania’s white suburbia. But their belonging was predicated on a powerful myth: that Asian Americans have perfected the alchemy of middle-class life, raising tight-knit, ambitious families that are immune to hardship.
-
-
Good good
- By Wild on 08-29-23
By: Prachi Gupta
-
Alibaba
- The House That Jack Ma Built
- By: Duncan Clark
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In just a decade and a half, Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded Alibaba and built it into one of the world's largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China's booming private sector.
-
-
Strange: Best part of story happens "off-screen"
- By Tristan on 09-02-16
By: Duncan Clark
-
Invisible Child
- Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- By: Andrea Elliott
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care.
-
-
Narration is completely over the top
- By Heather on 10-14-21
By: Andrea Elliott
-
Pygmalion
- By: Bernard Shaw
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser, Lucy Whybrow, Geoffrey Palmer, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pygmalion remains one of the most popular stories, but mainly in the medium of the musical; the evergreen My Fair Lady. But much of the charm and wit comes from the words and timing in Shaw's original play. Here are the characters of Professor Higgins, his friend Colonel Pickering, and their charge, Eliza Doolittle.
-
-
Classroom Use
- By Kellee M. Lyons on 12-11-12
By: Bernard Shaw
-
Outliers
- The Story of Success
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stunning audiobook, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers" - the best and the brightest, the most famous, and the most successful. He asks the question: What makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: That is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing.
-
-
Engaging, but overrated
- By Scott T. Hards on 12-13-08
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
- The Heart of Parenting
- By: John Gottman PhD
- Narrated by: Roy Worley
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on 20 years of research at the University of Washington studying parent-child interactions, award-winning research psychologist John Gottman and his team have developed Emotion Coaching - a technique parents can use to teach their children self-awareness and self-control and to foster good emotional development. This proven technique has demonstrated a positive effect on children's physical health, academic achievement, and emotional well-being.
-
-
My parenting philosophy, in writing!
- By Dave on 03-03-21
By: John Gottman PhD
-
The Self-Driven Child
- The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control over Their Lives
- By: William Stixrud PhD, Ned Johnson
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of us know we're putting too much pressure on our kids - and on ourselves - but how do we get off this crazy train? We want our children to succeed, to be their best, and to do their best, but what if they are not on board? A few years ago, Ned Johnson and Bill Stixrud started noticing the same problem from different angles: even high-performing kids were coming to them acutely stressed and lacking any real motivation. Many complained that they had no real control over their lives.
-
-
Practical, wise, and well researched
- By Andrew on 07-12-18
By: William Stixrud PhD, and others
-
Make It Stick
- The Science of Successful Learning
- By: Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To most of us, learning something 'the hard way' implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head and will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.
-
-
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW HOW TO LEARN
- By ANDRÉ on 11-22-14
By: Peter C. Brown, and others
-
The Knowledge Gap
- The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and How to Fix it
- By: Natalie Wexler
- Narrated by: Natalie Wexler
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system - one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware.
-
-
Thoughts on The Knowledge Gap
- By cchamberalain on 02-28-20
By: Natalie Wexler
-
Permission to Feel
- Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive
- By: Marc Brackett
- Narrated by: Marc Brackett
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This program is read by the author.
Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University’s Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In his 25 years as an “emotion scientist”, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults - a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel.
-
-
Learn to Read
- By Stonerchick on 04-19-20
By: Marc Brackett
-
The Teenage Brain
- A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults
- By: Frances E. Jensen, Amy Ellis Nutt
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert, Frances E. Jensen
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on her research, knowledge, and clinical experience, internationally respected neurologist--and mother of two boys--Frances E. Jensen, MD, offers a revolutionary look at the adolescent brain, providing remarkable insights that translate into practical advice both for parents and teenagers.
-
-
Preachy and Uninformative
- By endlessemma on 05-16-16
By: Frances E. Jensen, and others
-
How to Raise Successful People
- Simple Lessons for Radical Results
- By: Esther Wojcicki
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The godmother of Silicon Valley, legendary teacher, and mother of a super family shares her tried-and-tested methods for raising happy, healthy, successful children using trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness: TRICK. How to Raise Successful People offers essential lessons for raising, educating, and managing people to their highest potential. Change your parenting, change the world.
-
-
Rushed, no depth, very disappointed
- By Bobby Canedy on 05-16-19
By: Esther Wojcicki
-
How to Raise an Adult
- Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success
- By: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Narrated by: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research; on conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers; and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large.
-
-
Target Audience- Upper-Middle Class
- By Savy shopper on 06-02-16
Related to this topic
-
Whatever It Takes
- Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America
- By: Paul Tough
- Narrated by: Ax Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it take?That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children, not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America.
-
-
Aboslutely terrific!
- By Anthony on 09-21-10
By: Paul Tough
-
Young China
- How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World
- By: Zak Dychtwald
- Narrated by: Zak Dychtwald
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A close-up look at the Chinese generation born after 1990, exploring through personal encounters how young Chinese feel about everything from money and sex to their government, the West, and China’s shifting role in the world - not to mention their love affair with food, karaoke, and travel. Set primarily in the Eastern 2nd tier city of Suzhou and the budding Western metropolis of Chengdu, the book charts the touchstone issues this young generation faces.
-
-
Erudite, enthralling, and engaging!
- By Anonymous User on 03-22-19
By: Zak Dychtwald
-
The Great Expectations School
- A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle
- By: Dan Brown
- Narrated by: Gregory St. John
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 22, Dan Brown came to the Bronx's P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. Unbeknownst to him, his assigned class, 4-217, was the designated "dumping ground" for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could ever anticipate. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away.
-
-
I had to stop
- By Amazon Customer on 02-03-21
By: Dan Brown
-
The Smartest Kids in the World
- And How They Got That Way
- By: Amanda Ripley
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do other countries create "smarter" kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they've never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy.What is it like to be a child in the world's new education superpowers? In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embedded in these countries for one year.
-
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
An Uncomplicated Life
- A Father's Memoir of His Exceptional Daughter
- By: Paul Daugherty
- Narrated by: Robert McCollum
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A father’s exhilarating and funny love letter to his daughter with Down syndrome whose vibrant and infectious approach to life has something to teach all of us about how we can better live our own. Jillian Daugherty was born with Down syndrome. On the day Paul and Kerry, her parents, brought her home from the hospital they were flooded with worry and uncertainty, but also overwhelming love, which they channeled to “the job of building the better Jillian”. While their daughter had special needs, they refused to allow her to grow up needy - “expect, don’t accept” became their mantra.
-
-
A Story on the Beauties of DS
- By Matthew on 04-16-23
By: Paul Daugherty
-
Love That Boy
- What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations
- By: Ron Fournier
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love That Boy is a uniquely personal story about the causes and costs of outsized parental expectations. What we want for our children - popularity, normalcy, achievement, genius - and what they truly need - grit, empathy, character - are explored by National Journal's Ron Fournier, who weaves his extraordinary journey to acceptance around the latest research on childhood development and stories of other loving-but-struggling parents.
-
-
Very enjoyable. Listened to it twice.
- By howharryisharry on 09-05-17
By: Ron Fournier
-
Whatever It Takes
- Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America
- By: Paul Tough
- Narrated by: Ax Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it take?That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children, not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America.
-
-
Aboslutely terrific!
- By Anthony on 09-21-10
By: Paul Tough
-
Young China
- How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World
- By: Zak Dychtwald
- Narrated by: Zak Dychtwald
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A close-up look at the Chinese generation born after 1990, exploring through personal encounters how young Chinese feel about everything from money and sex to their government, the West, and China’s shifting role in the world - not to mention their love affair with food, karaoke, and travel. Set primarily in the Eastern 2nd tier city of Suzhou and the budding Western metropolis of Chengdu, the book charts the touchstone issues this young generation faces.
-
-
Erudite, enthralling, and engaging!
- By Anonymous User on 03-22-19
By: Zak Dychtwald
-
The Great Expectations School
- A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle
- By: Dan Brown
- Narrated by: Gregory St. John
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 22, Dan Brown came to the Bronx's P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. Unbeknownst to him, his assigned class, 4-217, was the designated "dumping ground" for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could ever anticipate. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away.
-
-
I had to stop
- By Amazon Customer on 02-03-21
By: Dan Brown
-
The Smartest Kids in the World
- And How They Got That Way
- By: Amanda Ripley
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do other countries create "smarter" kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they've never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy.What is it like to be a child in the world's new education superpowers? In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embedded in these countries for one year.
-
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
An Uncomplicated Life
- A Father's Memoir of His Exceptional Daughter
- By: Paul Daugherty
- Narrated by: Robert McCollum
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A father’s exhilarating and funny love letter to his daughter with Down syndrome whose vibrant and infectious approach to life has something to teach all of us about how we can better live our own. Jillian Daugherty was born with Down syndrome. On the day Paul and Kerry, her parents, brought her home from the hospital they were flooded with worry and uncertainty, but also overwhelming love, which they channeled to “the job of building the better Jillian”. While their daughter had special needs, they refused to allow her to grow up needy - “expect, don’t accept” became their mantra.
-
-
A Story on the Beauties of DS
- By Matthew on 04-16-23
By: Paul Daugherty
-
Love That Boy
- What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations
- By: Ron Fournier
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love That Boy is a uniquely personal story about the causes and costs of outsized parental expectations. What we want for our children - popularity, normalcy, achievement, genius - and what they truly need - grit, empathy, character - are explored by National Journal's Ron Fournier, who weaves his extraordinary journey to acceptance around the latest research on childhood development and stories of other loving-but-struggling parents.
-
-
Very enjoyable. Listened to it twice.
- By howharryisharry on 09-05-17
By: Ron Fournier
-
Bend, Not Break
- A Life in Two Worlds
- By: Ping Fu, MeiMei Fox
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ping Fu knows what it’s like to be a child soldier, a factory worker, and a political prisoner. To be beaten and raped for the crime of being born into a well-educated family. To be deported with barely enough money for a plane ticket to a bewildering new land. To start all over, without family or friends, as a maid, waitress, and student. Ping Fu also knows what it’s like to be a pioneering software programmer, an innovator, a CEO, and Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
-
-
A true account as good as any Horatio Alger story!
- By Roy B. Paschal on 01-14-13
By: Ping Fu, and others
-
The Boy Who Loved Too Much
- A True Story of Pathological Friendliness
- By: Jennifer Latson
- Narrated by: Heather Auden
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it be like to see everyone as a friend? Twelve-year-old Eli D'Angelo has a genetic disorder that obliterates social inhibitions, making him irrepressibly friendly, indiscriminately trusting, and unconditionally loving toward everyone he meets. It also makes him enormously vulnerable. Eli lacks the innate skepticism that will help his peers navigate adolescence more safely - and vastly more successfully.
-
-
Williams Syndrome
- By Sharlotte on 09-20-19
By: Jennifer Latson
-
You Are Not Special
- ...And Other Encouragements
- By: David McCullough Jr.
- Narrated by: David McCullough Jr.
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A profound expansion of David McCullough, Jr.’s popular commencement speech - a call to arms against a prevailing, narrow, conception of success viewed by millions on YouTube - You Are Not Special is a love letter to students and parents as well as a guide to a truly fulfilling, happy life. By acknowledging that the world is indifferent to them, McCullough takes pressure off of students to be extraordinary achievers and instead exhorts them to roll up their sleeves and do something useful with their advantages.
-
-
The Teacher is Wise
- By E. Pearson on 09-22-16
-
A Hope in The Unseen
- An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling investigative journalist Ron Suskind based this book on his Pulitzer Prize winning articles about Cedric Jennings, a Black youth struggling to survive one of D.C.'s toughest school districts. A moving portrait of inner city life, A Hope in the Unseen offers a view of life through the eyes of someone trying desperately to make his way up from the bottom.
-
-
Great Story
- By Adam Evans on 12-25-10
By: Ron Suskind
-
Language Arts
- By: Stephanie Kallos
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Marlow is a Seattle English teacher who instructs his students to expand their worlds through language. Lately, however, with one child off to college and the pressure from his ex-wife to make plans for their severely autistic son who's about to age out of the system, he prefers the company of the ghosts he turns up in the storage boxes in his crawl space.
-
-
The beauty of the broken
- By SJ Evans on 04-27-18
By: Stephanie Kallos
-
Without You, There Is No Us
- My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
- By: Suki Kim
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields - except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
-
-
The King and I meets Mary Poppins
- By Michael on 02-22-15
By: Suki Kim
-
Carly's Voice
- Breaking Through Autism
- By: Arthur Fleischmann, Carly Fleischmann
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking. Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Although she made some progress after years of intensive behavioral and communication therapy, Carly remained largely unreachable. Then, at age 10, Carly had a breakthrough....
-
-
A peek inside...
- By Yolanda on 08-09-13
By: Arthur Fleischmann, and others
-
Life, Animated
- A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Ron Suskind
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn't speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood. The family was forced to become animated characters, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song; until they all emerge, together, revealing how, in darkness, we all literally need stories to survive.
-
-
Life, Animated ... is Love, Animated *****
- By Tom T. Rumble on 04-12-14
By: Ron Suskind
-
Under Red Skies
- Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
- By: Karoline Kan
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower.
-
-
An intimate view of real life in China
- By Lonnie G. Hardy, Jr. on 08-15-19
By: Karoline Kan
-
Street of Eternal Happiness
- Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
- By: Rob Schmitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital, ideas, and opportunity. Marketplace's Rob Schmitz is one of them. He immerses himself in his neighborhood, forging deep relationships with ordinary people who see in the city's sleek skyline a brighter future, and a chance to rewrite their destinies.
-
-
Deserving of better audio
- By Rachael on 02-19-18
By: Rob Schmitz
-
Born Bright
- A Young Girl's Journey from Nothing to Something in America
- By: C. Nicole Mason
- Narrated by: Robin Eller
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born Bright, C. Nicole Mason's powerful memoir, is a story of reconciliation, constrained choices, and life on the other side of the tracks. Born in the 1970s in Los Angeles, California, Mason was raised by a beautiful but volatile 16-year-old single mother. Early on, she learned to navigate between an unpredictable home life and school, where she excelled. By high school, Mason was seamlessly straddling two worlds.
-
-
Solid Book
- By Daryl on 11-06-16
By: C. Nicole Mason
-
Letters to a Young Teacher
- By: Jonathan Kozol
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these affectionate letters to Francesca, a first-grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, Jonathan Kozol vividly describes his repeated visits to her classroom while, under Francesca's likably irreverent questioning, also revealing his own most personal stories of the years that he has spent in public schools.
-
-
A must read for new teachers
- By Santiago on 03-31-10
By: Jonathan Kozol
What listeners say about Little Soldiers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Radar01
- 07-02-23
Insight into culture and classroom
As an American math teacher of 20 years, I have always been curious about the foundation of Chinese education. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The narrator’s use of voice is wonderfully done; you don’t lose which character she is invoking.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lightweaver
- 09-09-20
lightweaver
Good book that tells the story of a family struggling to find balance and doing it. A lot to think about and a good listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Middle school
- 08-25-21
An American teacher MUST READ
From Chinese authoritarian traits in schools of China to valuable lessons of hard work and goal setting, this book helped reveal in the story of a mother how she maneuvered her way through the teachers, culture, and anxieties of sending her child through the kindergarten education system of China and what she learned from other parents in rural and urban China and America.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dani
- 11-06-21
Very Informative
Not the type of book I thought I'd be interested in initially but it was incredibly insightful and well written. Had facts and figures but had enough personal stories and a plotline so didn't feel like reading a text book. Fair and unbiased on both ends of the spectrum. As a long time Chinese learner I also appreciated they actually found a narrator that could properly pronounce the Chinese words😅 Most other books I've found on audible that include Chinese words cannot say the same. Highly recommend for an interesting insight on east vs west education.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KZ
- 10-18-22
Amazing!
This is an amazing book with perfect narration. It will expand your horizons while keeping you completely engaged by the personal stories and perspective. Highly recommended!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ShoeLover
- 03-04-18
Dallas TX Homeschool Mom enlightened and on a mission to now incorporate Chinese style education to my young children.
This book has completely changed my views about test taking and many other things. I always knew in the back of my mind my kid was and is capable of so much more. God bless you Lenora for bringing such rich and valuable information to us. You are an amazing woman to bring your own experiences to us. Thanks for making this book so funny too! I loved the part about the piñata! ~Dallas TX Momma
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tia
- 10-06-19
The story was well told and interesting!!!
I loved every chapter and learned so much about Chinese education. This book was great!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nora Wilson
- 11-12-21
Very insightful regarding Chinese education
I've lived in China for 10 years and as an American, when my kids start school here I've had a lot of apprehension. This book gave great insights, though I find the reader made the Chinese people sound overly harsh.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jean
- 10-09-17
An Interesting examination of Educational Systems
The author is born in Philadelphia and raised in Houston. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism. Her grandparents fled China during the Cultural Revolution and immigrated to the United States. Chu notes the irony that 50 years ago Mao conducted his anti-intellectual purge and now Shanghai schools top the world in math, reading, and science and the USA is only in the middle of the pack.
Chu and her husband live in Shanghai for his work at a news agency. They have a young son who goes to the local school. His skills in math and Chinese language excelled but Chu noted behavioral changes that lead her to examine the educational system in China and the USA.
The book is well written and researched. It is written in the journalistic style. The author noted that the Chinese schools give less attention to the poor students and spend time and resources on the high achievers. She stated the U.S. system is “No Child Left Behind”. She noted the Chinese schools are rote memorization then they allow them to explore more complex applications after they have achieved a certain level of understanding. The Chinese schools also taught obedience and self-discipline and squelched individualism and creativity from the beginning of school. I found the differences in educational techniques interesting and was wondering if there was a way to combine the best of the two systems to create a better school system. The conformity and lack of individualism and creativity really bothers me about the Chinese system. According to the author, China is in the process of changing its methods to allow for more creativity in the students.
The book is eleven and a half hours long. Emily Woo Zeller does an excellent job narrating the book. Zeller is a voice over artist and an Audie nominated audiobook narrator. She has also won numerous Earphone and SOVAS awards plus was voted Best Voice in 2013 and 2015 by Audiobook Magazine.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam
- 11-13-17
Accurate Portrayal of The Chinese system
I have lived in China for over 13 years now and what is depicted here offers insight into how much of Chinese society works, the good and the bad. My daughter is the same age as Rainy, so this book was particular poignant to me. Generally I agree with Lenora’s feelings on the positives and negatives of the Chinese system and this book made me more comfortable with perhaps “localizing” my daughter a bit more... with limits... “Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry”
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful