This is a warm and moving account of how a teacher made a safe yet stimulating place for young children to play and grow (and learn). Sydney teaches respect for all people, and by the end of the year the four-year-old children not only read and communicated clearly, but cared for each other as well. You will meet Millie, who arrived almost inarticulate and learned to love language; Ivan, who started out breaking everything he could reach, to get back at a world that had brutalized him from birth. He learned to curl up with a book and be gentle; and the twins, Deena and Dinah, who taught Sydney about their home- grown support systems. Sydney thinks critically about American education based on her experience. She tells us many ways of showing respect for children and urges teachers to listen more carefully to children and their parents.