Pub Day!

“How Children Succeed” comes out today! Please stop by your local independent bookstore or online bookseller and pick up a copy. As well, please check out the interview I did this morning on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Finally: If you’re in New York City, please come to the bookstore event I’m doing with Ira Glass of “This American Life” tonight at 7 pm at the Barnes & Noble at 82nd and Broadway. See you there!

Post-Christmas Shopping

Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic kindly included “Whatever It Takes” on his list of suggested “Gifts for the Wonk in Your Life,” writing:

Winning the War on Poverty: I first encountered the writing of Paul Tough a few weeks ago, while working on an article about the long-term effects of adversity in the first two years of life. Tough had written a New Yorker article on the subject. But recently I discovered that he had, years ago, written a terrific book on a related subject. Whatever It Takes focuses on the Harlem Children’s Zone and Geoffrey Canada, the man who created it. The Zone is an effort to create a seamless system of social supports for low-income children within Harlem. The book is uplifting and depressing, hopeful and pessimistic. In short, it is complicated, just like public policy in the real world.

Home Delivery

In Athens, Georgia, the Avid Bookshop, which will be selling books on Dec. 2 at my talk at the University of Georgia chapel, reports on Facebook that

We *just* received tons of boxes via UPS: they contain 200 copies of Paul Tough’s WHATEVER IT TAKES for the Dec. 2nd event at UGA. We’re looking forward to selling these books to you so that you can have Mr. Tough sign them. We’ve helped with several events before, but never one this big (or, arguably, this significant for the Athens community).

Janet, one of the bookstore’s owners, adds this tempting offer:

if you live in Athens, we can arrange for you to get the book before then with no shipping cost (as I’ll drop it off myself).

Books & Co. in Dayton

Tonight at 7 p.m. I’ll be reading from and speaking about “Whatever It Takes” at Books & Co. at the Greene in Dayton, Ohio.

Minneapolis City Pages

This week’s issue of the Minneapolis City Pages has a preview of my reading and talk this Sunday at Magers and Quinn Booksellers:

The book tracks [Geoffrey] Canada’s own tale of escaping the ghetto and attending Harvard, but the real story is his willingness to try anything to change the prospects of Harlem’s kids. His greatest achievement turns out to be the Harlem Children’s Zone, an area of central Harlem where programs educate youth and their parents, as well as prepare kids to compete for education and work opportunities. Tough will discuss his book, which notes the simple things Canada has done (encouraging mothers to read to their kids at an early age) and the more epic accomplishments (opening a school, maintaining long-term success). It is one hell of a story.

KWMU Radio

I spent an hour this morning on “St. Louis on Air,” on KWMU Radio, speaking with the host, Don Marsh, and taking calls from listeners about Whatever It Takes. You can stream the audio here. Or download it here.

I’m in St. Louis for the reading tonight at Left Bank Books, at 7 p.m.

Minneapolis reading and talk

On Sunday, October 18, at 5 p.m,  I’ll be reading and speaking and answering questions at Magers and Quinn Booksellers, a Minneapolis bookstore located at 3038 Hennepin Avenue South.

Reading in St. Louis

On October 12, at 7 p.m., I’ll be reading from the new paperback edition of Whatever It Takes at Left Bank Books in St. Louis.

Daily Pennsylvanian article

An account in today’s Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper of University of Pennsylvania, on my reading yesterday at the U. Penn bookstore:

“There is a model here that can work and be adapted in other places,” Tough said. “My hope is that other people building on what [Canada] has done will be able to meet [his] success and surpass it.”

Reading in Philadelphia

Tomorrow, February 24, at 6 p.m., I’ll be reading from and discussing “Whatever It Takes” at the Penn Bookstore, 3601 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.