"When things pile up on you…" you start thinking "I'm better if I'm dead" (p. 71). In the book, this poor struggling woman receives $20 from the man who had sex with her; with that money she buys Pampers, bologna with a loaf of bread. In 2009, it is doubtful that $20 would buy those three items. But a student could take Kozol's story and perhaps have the man who picked her up off the street be a kind, thoughtful person, who takes her to his home where he and his wife provide temporary shelter for her family, and even locate a job for her the next day.

On page 143 Elizabeth relates a story about a friend who invited her to come and visit. Take bus number 23, he says, but he cannot tell her where to get off or what the street is named because he cannot read. "The world is words," says Elizabeth. "If you cannot read, you do not know" (p. 143). A student could take that story and create an entirely different ending. The woman who has the friend who can't read takes library books to her friend and reads to him every afternoon. Then she locates flash cards in the library and begins to teach him the simplest words first, and as the weeks to by more difficult words. Then she works with sentences. Finally, she coaxes him out of his little flat and into the library where the children's books are kept. He enjoys relating the pictures with the words, and after a few months, he can read. By now his whole outlook on the world has changed. He begins to write letters to family back in Mississippi; they are simple letters but it makes him burst with pride to have accomplished basic...

Wanda has four children and is pregnant again buts she plans to have an abortion. "What you want to bring another baby into this place for?" she asks, with justification. A student could take that depressing story and educate Wanda as to how she could put her next child up for adoption. Helping her meet New York City adoption agency representatives, and showing her how her baby would be welcomed by a family that is unable to have children, would provide a warm, worthy ending to the story.
On page 67 Kozol writes about a homeless woman who has lost her faith in God, and admits that she has been "…prayin' all my life and I'm still here…I lost my faith. Ain't nobody -- no God, no Jesus -- gonna help us in no way." This story could be changed; a minister from a nearby Protestant church could befriend this woman, take her out of her tiny, messy, cold apartment in a dingy hotel and renew her faith by giving her a part time job in the church. Her job would be to help clean up the sanctuary, to assist in the church's feeding program, and to water the lawn and the flowers outside. For her help, she would receive a clean warm room for her children, three good meals a day, and her choice of clothing from the church's thrift shop. Her faith soon will be renewed, and in addition, she will begin to feel productive.

Work Cited

Kozol, Jonathan. (1988). Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America.…