"We can't read this book without becoming more sensitive to the things students react to. And this prompts us to reexamine our teaching strategies, practices, and assumptions."

- English Journal Student voices are the backbone of this book. From some five thousand pages of data--in the form of interview transcripts, transcribed composing aloud sessions, student papers, and field notes--the author has distilled a chilling account of what went wrong over the years in the writing lives of forty eleventh graders she observed and interviewed in urban, suburban, and suburban/rural schools, from the East Coast, the Midwest, and the West Coast. The book explores the writing experiences of successful, unsuccessful, and ESL writers. It includes students whose teachers have had writing project experience and those who haven't. It examines writers' responses to teachers and peers as well as to institutions, curriculums, and social factors. And it suggests ways to help students find voice and reestablish intrinsic motivation for writing.