“What can a book about a year in the life of a single school—a timeworn genre—tell us about the pressures facing the uneven, chaotic, increasingly data-driven American public education system? If that book is Michael Brick’s Saving the School, the answer is, quite a lot…”
—The Daily Beast

“At once an inspiring portrait of a Texas principal's fight to reform her school and an indictment of the American education system.”
—O Magazine

“Michael Brick details the down-to-the-wire efforts to keep Austin's once great Reagan High School afloat.”
—Parade Magazine, Parade Picks selection

“A compelling, enlightening account of a school community rising to save itself in the unforgiving, data-driven, often nonsensical world bequeathed to public education by No Child Left Behind.”
—Washington Post

“A closely observed, vividly rendered narrative following one particular school as its principal, teachers, and students fight to keep the doors open in the face of No Child Left Behind.”
—Boston Globe

“The narrative is character-driven, with the spotlight on the principal, a science teacher, a coach-teacher and several students, one of whom is the star athlete. This approach works well. Even readers who know nothing about this particular high school are likely to relate to the heartfelt struggle to improve public education.”
—Houston Chronicle

“A great story of grit, character, and struggle.”
—The Dallas Morning News

“Recommended for anyone interested in an inspirational story of a school beating the odds, and especially those readers looking for different perspectives on the debate about education reform.”
—Library Journal

“A quickly paced book that helpfully illuminates some of the current debates in public education.”
—Christian Science Monitor

“Through the compelling tale of Reagan High’s spitfire principal, Anabel Garza, Michael Brick humanizes the policy debates over education and renders an empathetic and generous dry-point of teachers and students struggling to succeed against the odds. Saving the School is a poignant and moving read about the real toll of education reform on those charged with shaping our children’s futures.”
—Warren St. John, author of Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference

“Saving the School is an amazing piece of reporting. Michael Brick has burrowed deep inside a failing American high school to write a dramatic, first-hand account of what it took to rescue it. Where most writing about education rests on statistics and policy-speak, this one probes the lives of the school’s remarkable principal, a teacher on the front lines, coaches, and several students. It’s a fascinating, real-time look at American education.”
—S. C. Gwynne, author of Empire of the Summer Moon

“Every day, in schools across America, a war is being fought for the hearts and minds of children in at-risk communities. We can choose to retreat from the front lines, or turn around and discover what the battle for our future looks and tastes and feels like. Read the first few pages of Michael Brick’s book. You won't have a choice anymore. You’re in the trenches.”
—Gary Smith, author of Sports Illustrated: Going Deep

“Michael Brick’s work tells the story of one school, and through vivid characters and muscular prose, tells the story of all schools. It’s a tapestry of modern America, of the things being lost and the things worth saving.”
—Wright Thompson, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine

“A masterfully written, nail-biter of a book. Saving the School illuminates today’s high stakes education debates like no other work. A must-read for anyone who cares about the education of our nation's kids.”
—Dave Isay, Founder of StoryCorps