Dear Diary Boy
An Exacting Mother, Her Free-Spirited Son, and Their Bittersweet Adventures in an Elite Japanese School
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
Dear Diary Boy
Buy for $13.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Cindy Kay
About this listen
When her five-year-old son passed the rigorous entrance exams to one of Japan's top private elementary schools, Makihara, a single mother, thought they were on their way. Taro would wear the historic dark blue uniform and learn alongside other little Einsteins while she basked in the glory of his high achievements with the other perfect moms. Together they would climb the rungs into the country's successful elite.
But it didn't turn out that way. Taro had other things in mind. While set in Japan, their struggles in the school's hypercompetitive environment mirror those faced by parents here in the US and raise the same questions about the best way to educate a child - especially one that doesn't quite fit the mold. Public or private? Competitive or nurturing? Standardized or individualized? Helicopter parenting or free-range? Amid this frenzied debate, how does one find balance and maintain a healthy parent-child relationship?
Dear Diary Boy is an intensely personal, heartwarming, and heartbreaking chronicle of one mother and child's experience in a prestigious private Tokyo school. It's a tale that will resonate with all parents as we try to answer the age-old questions of how best to educate our children and what, truly, is in their best interests versus what is in our own.
©2018 Kumiko Makihara (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Misfit
- Growing Up Awkward in the '80s
- By: Gary Gulman
- Narrated by: Gary Gulman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 372
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 351
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 351
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian’s comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two stints in a psych ward, he found himself back in his mother’s house in Boston—living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six, as he struggled to regain his mental health. That’s where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back. This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the listener through every year of his childhood education, with detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I get it
- By Karen Johnson on 10-02-23
By: Gary Gulman
-
I Left My Homework in the Hamptons
- What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent
- By: Blythe Grossberg
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Ben orders daily room service while living in a five-star hotel. Olivia collects luxury-brand sneakers worn by celebrities. Dakota jets off to Rome when she needs to avoid drama at school. Welcome to the inner circle of New York’s richest families, where academia is an obsession, wealth does nothing to soothe status anxiety and parents will try just about anything to gain a competitive edge in the college admissions rat race.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why such bad reviews?
- By vicki on 10-23-22
By: Blythe Grossberg
-
First Gen
- A Memoir
- By: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Narrated by: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Alejandra Campoverdi has been a child on welfare, a White House aide to President Obama, a Harvard graduate, a gang member’s girlfriend, and a candidate for U.S. Congress. She’s ridden on Air Force One and in G-rides. She’s been featured in Maxim magazine and had a double mastectomy. Living a life of contradictory extremes often comes with the territory when you’re a “First and Only.” It also comes at a price. With candor and heart, Alejandra retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Must READ for any Latina
- By M. Delatorre on 09-14-23
-
Malaya
- Essays on Freedom
- By: Cinelle Barnes
- Narrated by: Cinelle Barnes
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Out of a harrowing childhood in the Philippines, Cinelle Barnes emerged triumphant. But as an undocumented teenager living in New York, her journey of self-discovery was just beginning. Because she couldn’t get a driver’s license or file taxes, Cinelle worked as a cleaning lady and a nanny and took other odd jobs - and learned to look over her shoulder, hoping she wouldn’t get caught.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Captivating and powerful
- By Megan on 12-18-19
By: Cinelle Barnes
-
Confucius Never Said
- By: Helen Raleigh
- Narrated by: Helen Raleigh
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
This book is a four-generation family journey from repression and poverty in China to freedom and prosperity in the United States. Their lives overlap with many significant historical events taking....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wake up America
- By K and J on 12-14-19
By: Helen Raleigh
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,244
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,241
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
Misfit
- Growing Up Awkward in the '80s
- By: Gary Gulman
- Narrated by: Gary Gulman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 372
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 351
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 351
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian’s comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two stints in a psych ward, he found himself back in his mother’s house in Boston—living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six, as he struggled to regain his mental health. That’s where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back. This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the listener through every year of his childhood education, with detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I get it
- By Karen Johnson on 10-02-23
By: Gary Gulman
-
I Left My Homework in the Hamptons
- What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent
- By: Blythe Grossberg
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Ben orders daily room service while living in a five-star hotel. Olivia collects luxury-brand sneakers worn by celebrities. Dakota jets off to Rome when she needs to avoid drama at school. Welcome to the inner circle of New York’s richest families, where academia is an obsession, wealth does nothing to soothe status anxiety and parents will try just about anything to gain a competitive edge in the college admissions rat race.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why such bad reviews?
- By vicki on 10-23-22
By: Blythe Grossberg
-
First Gen
- A Memoir
- By: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Narrated by: Alejandra Campoverdi
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Alejandra Campoverdi has been a child on welfare, a White House aide to President Obama, a Harvard graduate, a gang member’s girlfriend, and a candidate for U.S. Congress. She’s ridden on Air Force One and in G-rides. She’s been featured in Maxim magazine and had a double mastectomy. Living a life of contradictory extremes often comes with the territory when you’re a “First and Only.” It also comes at a price. With candor and heart, Alejandra retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Must READ for any Latina
- By M. Delatorre on 09-14-23
-
Malaya
- Essays on Freedom
- By: Cinelle Barnes
- Narrated by: Cinelle Barnes
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Out of a harrowing childhood in the Philippines, Cinelle Barnes emerged triumphant. But as an undocumented teenager living in New York, her journey of self-discovery was just beginning. Because she couldn’t get a driver’s license or file taxes, Cinelle worked as a cleaning lady and a nanny and took other odd jobs - and learned to look over her shoulder, hoping she wouldn’t get caught.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Captivating and powerful
- By Megan on 12-18-19
By: Cinelle Barnes
-
Confucius Never Said
- By: Helen Raleigh
- Narrated by: Helen Raleigh
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
This book is a four-generation family journey from repression and poverty in China to freedom and prosperity in the United States. Their lives overlap with many significant historical events taking....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wake up America
- By K and J on 12-14-19
By: Helen Raleigh
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,244
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,241
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
Notes on a Silencing
- A Memoir
- By: Lacy Crawford
- Narrated by: Lacy Crawford
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,208
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,202
When Notes on a Silencing hit bookstores in the summer of 2020, even amidst a global pandemic, it sent shockwaves through the country. Not only did this intimate investigative memoir usher in a media storm of coverage, but it also prompted the elite St. Paul's School to issue a formal apology to the author, Lacy Crawford, for its handling of her report of sexual assault by two fellow students nearly 30 years ago.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Everything about this book is magnificent
- By swimmergal on 08-15-20
By: Lacy Crawford
-
Sigh, Gone
- A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In
- By: Phuc Tran
- Narrated by: Phuc Tran
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 878
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 743
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 742
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance, they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Profanity Alert
- By Alene L. Wesner on 04-23-20
By: Phuc Tran
-
Rice Room
- Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'N' Roll
- By: Ben Fong-Torres
- Narrated by: Ben Fong-Torres
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
One of America's best-known rock and entertainment journalists describes his journey from his childhood, cooped up in the "rice room" of his family's restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown, where he did chores, to the major role he played as a writer and editor at Rolling Stone. It is a story of teen worship of Elvis, but also of Chinese customs and the tragic murder of his brother, and of the '60s scene in San Francisco, where he found freedom - and his career.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I have never left a review before!
- By Lady Rose Powers on 05-21-22
By: Ben Fong-Torres
-
My Seven Black Fathers
- A Young Activist's Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole
- By: Will Jawando
- Narrated by: Will Jawando
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 68
Will Jawando tells a deeply affirmative story of hope and respect for men of color. As a boy growing up outside DC, Will, who went by his Nigerian name, Yemi, never quite fit in. He was a Black kid with a divorced white mother, a frayed relationship with his biological father, and teachers who scolded him for being disruptive in class. Eventually, he became close to Kalfani, a kid he looked up to. Years after he got the call that Kalfani was dead, another casualty of gun violence, Will looks back on the extraordinary mentors that enabled him to thrive.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Must Read Narrative
- By BarryCappa on 10-25-22
By: Will Jawando
-
Troop 6000
- The Girl Scout Troop That Began in a Shelter and Inspired the World
- By: Nikita Stewart
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 23
Giselle Burgess was a young mother of five trying to provide for her family. Though she had a full-time job, the demands of ever-increasing rent and mounting bills forced her to fall behind, and eviction soon followed. Giselle and her kids were thrown into New York City's overburdened shelter system, which housed nearly 60,000 people each day. They soon found themselves living at a Sleep Inn in Queens, provided by the city as temporary shelter; for nearly a year, all six lived in a single room with two beds and one bathroom.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Inspiring and Essential Read for Leaders
- By Digital Lily on 03-30-21
By: Nikita Stewart
-
Pregnant Girl
- A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families
- By: Nicole Lynn Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicky Sunshine
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
An activist calls for better support of young families so they can thrive and reflects on her experiences as a Black mother and college student fighting for opportunities for herself and her child. Pregnant Girl presents the possibility of a different future for young mothers - one of success and stability - in the midst of the dismal statistics that dominate the national conversation.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Political
- By Amazon Customer on 01-16-23
-
A Dream Too Big
- The Story of an Improbable Journey from Compton to Oxford
- By: Caylin Louis Moore
- Narrated by: Caylin Louis Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 54
When Caylin Louis Moore was a young child, his mother gathered her three young children and fled an abusive husband, landing in poverty in a heavily policed, gang-ridden community. When Moore’s father was convicted of murder and his mother was sexually assaulted in the hospital while recovering from open-heart surgery, Moore was forced to enter adulthood prematurely.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Truly inspiring.
- By Anonymous User on 12-14-22
-
Children Under Fire
- An American Crisis
- By: John Woodrow Cox
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 61
In 2017, seven-year-old Ava in South Carolina wrote a letter to Tyshaun, an eight-year-old boy from Washington, DC. She asked him to be her pen pal; Ava thought they could help each other. The kids had a tragic connection - both were traumatized by gun violence. Ava’s best friend had been killed in a campus shooting at her elementary school, and Tyshaun’s father had been shot to death outside of the boy’s elementary school. Ava’s and Tyshaun’s stories are extraordinary, but not unique.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What about the kids that are left behind?
- By Denise on 04-11-21
By: John Woodrow Cox
-
Invisible Child
- Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- By: Andrea Elliott
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 709
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 623
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 617
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Narration is completely over the top
- By Heather on 10-14-21
By: Andrea Elliott
-
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
- A Novel
- By: Cho Nam-Joo, Jamie Chang - translator
- Narrated by: Kathleen Choe
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 475
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 402
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 404
In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A 30-something-year-old “millennial everywoman”, she has recently left her white-collar desk job - in order to care for her newborn daughter full-time - as so many Korean women are expected to do. But she quickly begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her husband, parents, and in-laws: Jiyoung impersonates the voices of other women - alive and even dead, both known and unknown to her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This is not a novel.
- By Anonymous User on 02-17-21
By: Cho Nam-Joo, and others
-
The Newcomers
- Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom
- By: Helen Thorpe
- Narrated by: Kate Handford
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 171
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
Offering a nuanced and transformative take on immigration, multiculturalism, and America's role on the global stage, The Newcomers follows and reflects on the lives of 22 immigrant teenagers throughout the course of their 2015-2016 school year at Denver's South High School. Unfamiliar with American culture or the English language, the students range from the ages of 14 to 19 and come from nations struggling with drought, famine, or war.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Surprisingly great read.
- By Ellen V. Moore on 05-23-18
By: Helen Thorpe
-
Little Soldiers
- An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve
- By: Lenora Chu
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 225
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 195
Lenora 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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An Interesting examination of Educational Systems
- By Jean on 10-09-17
By: Lenora Chu
Related to this topic
-
Pregnant Girl
- A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families
- By: Nicole Lynn Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicky Sunshine
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
An activist calls for better support of young families so they can thrive and reflects on her experiences as a Black mother and college student fighting for opportunities for herself and her child. Pregnant Girl presents the possibility of a different future for young mothers - one of success and stability - in the midst of the dismal statistics that dominate the national conversation.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Political
- By Amazon Customer on 01-16-23
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 930
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 812
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 812
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).
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The King and I meets Mary Poppins
- By Michael on 02-22-15
By: Suki Kim
-
Up the Down Staircase
- By: Bel Kaufman
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 155
Up the Down Staircase is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose clash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents – anyone concerned about public education. Bel Kaufman lets her characters speak for themselves through memos, letters, directives from the principal, comments by students, notes between teachers, and papers from desk drawers and wastebaskets, evoking a vivid picture of teachers fighting the good fight against all that stands in the way of good teaching.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing how much and how little some things change
- By Runner Gal on 12-23-16
By: Bel Kaufman
-
Invisible Child
- Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- By: Andrea Elliott
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 709
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 623
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 617
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Narration is completely over the top
- By Heather on 10-14-21
By: Andrea Elliott
-
Born on a Blue Day
- A Memoir
- By: Daniel Tammet
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 822
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
One of the world's 50 living autistic savants is the first and only to tell his compelling and inspiring life story and explain how his incredible mind works. Worldwide, there are fewer than 50 living savants, those autistic individuals who can perform miraculous mental calculations or artistic feats. (Think Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man.) None of them has been able to discuss his or her thought processes, much less write a book. Until now.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ordinary Life Through Unordinary Eyes
- By J. C. AZ on 05-09-07
By: Daniel Tammet
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,244
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,241
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
Pregnant Girl
- A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families
- By: Nicole Lynn Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicky Sunshine
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
An activist calls for better support of young families so they can thrive and reflects on her experiences as a Black mother and college student fighting for opportunities for herself and her child. Pregnant Girl presents the possibility of a different future for young mothers - one of success and stability - in the midst of the dismal statistics that dominate the national conversation.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Political
- By Amazon Customer on 01-16-23
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 930
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 812
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 812
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).
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The King and I meets Mary Poppins
- By Michael on 02-22-15
By: Suki Kim
-
Up the Down Staircase
- By: Bel Kaufman
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 155
Up the Down Staircase is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose clash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents – anyone concerned about public education. Bel Kaufman lets her characters speak for themselves through memos, letters, directives from the principal, comments by students, notes between teachers, and papers from desk drawers and wastebaskets, evoking a vivid picture of teachers fighting the good fight against all that stands in the way of good teaching.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing how much and how little some things change
- By Runner Gal on 12-23-16
By: Bel Kaufman
-
Invisible Child
- Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- By: Andrea Elliott
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 709
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 623
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 617
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Narration is completely over the top
- By Heather on 10-14-21
By: Andrea Elliott
-
Born on a Blue Day
- A Memoir
- By: Daniel Tammet
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 822
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
One of the world's 50 living autistic savants is the first and only to tell his compelling and inspiring life story and explain how his incredible mind works. Worldwide, there are fewer than 50 living savants, those autistic individuals who can perform miraculous mental calculations or artistic feats. (Think Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man.) None of them has been able to discuss his or her thought processes, much less write a book. Until now.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ordinary Life Through Unordinary Eyes
- By J. C. AZ on 05-09-07
By: Daniel Tammet
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,244
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,241
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
a Wanna-be fiction writer avoids the subject
- By Niall on 11-23-13
By: Amanda Ripley
-
Undocumented
- A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League
- By: Dan-el Padilla Peralta
- Narrated by: Dan-el Padilla Peralta
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 430
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 387
Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy he came here legally with his family. Together they left Santo Domingo behind, but life in New York City was harder than they imagined. Their visas lapsed, and Dan-el's father returned home. But Dan-el's courageous mother was determined to make a better life for her bright sons. Undocumented is a classic story of the triumph of the human spirit. It also is the perfect cri de coeur for the debate on comprehensive immigration reform.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must read, but
- By Louise de Marillac on 10-10-15
-
Children Under Fire
- An American Crisis
- By: John Woodrow Cox
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 61
In 2017, seven-year-old Ava in South Carolina wrote a letter to Tyshaun, an eight-year-old boy from Washington, DC. She asked him to be her pen pal; Ava thought they could help each other. The kids had a tragic connection - both were traumatized by gun violence. Ava’s best friend had been killed in a campus shooting at her elementary school, and Tyshaun’s father had been shot to death outside of the boy’s elementary school. Ava’s and Tyshaun’s stories are extraordinary, but not unique.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What about the kids that are left behind?
- By Denise on 04-11-21
By: John Woodrow Cox
-
Confucius Never Said
- By: Helen Raleigh
- Narrated by: Helen Raleigh
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
This book is a four-generation family journey from repression and poverty in China to freedom and prosperity in the United States. Their lives overlap with many significant historical events taking....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wake up America
- By K and J on 12-14-19
By: Helen Raleigh
-
Laughing Without an Accent
- Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad
- By: Firoozeh Dumas
- Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 306
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
In the best-selling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Sigh
- By Sara on 01-29-14
By: Firoozeh Dumas
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An intimate view of real life in China
- By Lonnie G. Hardy, Jr. on 08-15-19
By: Karoline Kan
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Aboslutely terrific!
- By Anthony on 09-21-10
By: Paul Tough
-
Factory Girls
- From Village to City in a Changing China
- By: Leslie T. Chang
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 421
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 265
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 261
A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America's shores remade our own country a century ago.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Living in Shenzhen - and What A Disappointment
- By Abstraction on 03-01-10
By: Leslie T. Chang
-
Carly's Voice
- Breaking Through Autism
- By: Arthur Fleischmann, Carly Fleischmann
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 389
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 348
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A peek inside...
- By Yolanda on 08-09-13
By: Arthur Fleischmann, and others
-
Flesh Wounds
- By: Richard Glover
- Narrated by: Richard Glover
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family...Richard Glover's favourite dinner-party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?' It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed toy collector.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Such a Meaningful Reflection
- By Awarenessing on 11-28-15
By: Richard Glover
-
Bad Boy
- By: Walter Dean Myers
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
Into a memoir that is gripping, funny, heartbreaking, and unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers richly weaves the details of his Harlem childhood in the 1940s and 1950s: a loving home life with his adopted parents, Bible school, street games, and the vitality of his neighborhood. Although Walter spent much of his time either getting into trouble or on the basketball court, secretly he was a voracious reader and an aspiring writer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Tough times
- By Megan on 01-30-12
-
Funny in Farsi
- A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
- By: Firoozeh Dumas
- Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,669
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,669
In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The melting pot, next generation
- By Jerry on 02-15-08
By: Firoozeh Dumas
-
My Father's Paradise
- A Son's Search For His Family's Past
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
What listeners say about Dear Diary Boy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lars
- 12-13-21
A cultural picture.
This is a delightful description of trying to fit to cultural norms. Trying to understand a different boy because of his ADHD.
This is a great description of the every day dealing with cultural and child raising challenges.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!