How Children Succeed Grit Curiosity & the Hidden Power of Character

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people’s lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“Illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall.”—New York Times

“I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids.”—Slate

"Paul Tough shows, from the inside, how the nation's most important work gets done." – Adrian Nicole Leblanc

“Powerful and hopeful, disturbing and daring, its one important book. Essential even.”—Alex Kotlowitz

“Paul Tough takes on one of the biggest questions going: how do you teach people to be successful?”—Stephen Dubner

“[A] moving account of . . . giving Harlems children access to the same dreams as children in New Yorks most privileged neighborhoods.”—Marian Wright Edelman

"[E]asily the most compelling and potentially the most important book on the problem of poverty in urban America in years."--Michael Pollan

"[A] must-read for any American committed to solving our nation's greatest social injustice"—Wendy Kopp, Teach for America

“The question of whether these terribly disadvantaged kids will fail or succeed takes on all the nail-biting urgency of any high-stakes, novelistic thriller.” —Elizabeth Gilbert

“[This] account of this visionary man in Harlem changed my understanding of poverty in America it …made me feel hopeful.”—Ira Glass

" [T]his book gives readers a solid look at the problems facing poor communities and their reformers, as well as good cause to be optimistic about the future."

Publishers Weekly

"Outstanding literary nonfiction, distinguished by in-depth reporting, compelling writing and deep thinking." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"A remarkable book ... a story more gripping and inspiring than you'd imagine social policy could possibly be." Gentleman's Quarterly

"This unflinching book will motivate us all to take action and make our schools places of possibility and hope."--Essence

"This is an engrossing look at a visionary man and a bold experiment" Booklist, ALA, Starred Review

"At a time when school systems have completely lost focus on what really matters, John Hunter reminds us what we should be teaching our children. His ideas will help anyone who has the courage to understand that a real education must go beyond filling in circles on a standardized test form." — Rafe Esquith, author of Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire

"John Hunter's World Peace Game is more than a brilliant example of educational game design. It shows us exactly how to inspire and manage creative collaboration around the most complex problems imaginable. And given that virtually all young people today are growing up gamers, this book is a must-read for twenty-first century educators and leaders." — Jane McGonigal, author of Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

"Hunter's optimism is infectious"  — Publishers Weekly

"With numerous reflections on the games impact on certain students and a resounding final chapter highlighting his classs 2012 visit to the Pentagon, Hunter proves the value of “slow teaching” in this important, fascinating, highly readable resource for educators and parents alike."  — Booklist

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories, Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young peoples lives.

This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“Success” is a popular buzzword in discussions about children. But instead of prescribing what success looks like for kids, we should be making sure that they develop the skills they will need to become “doers”—people who proactively seek out what they want in life. Raising Can-Do Kids offers parents hands-on, proven ways to raise kids who embrace the uncertain and challenging adventure that is growing up.

That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children—not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Childrens Zone, a ninety-seven-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America. His conclusion: if you want poor kids to be able to compete with their middle-class peers, you need to change everything in their lives—their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents.

Whatever It Takes is a tour de force of reporting, an inspired portrait not only of Geoffrey Canada but also of the parents and children in Harlem who are struggling to better their lives, often against great odds. Carefully researched and deeply affecting, this is a dispatch from inside the most daring and potentially transformative social experiment of our time.

Can playing a game lead to world peace? If its John Hunters World Peace Game, it just might. In Hunters classroom, students take on the roles of presidents, tribal leaders, diplomats, and military commanders. Through battles and negotiations, standoffs and summits, they strive to resolve a sequence of many-layered, interconnected scenarios, from nuclear proliferation to tribal warfare.

Now, Hunter shares inspiring stories from over thirty years of teaching the World Peace Game, revealing the principles of successful collaboration that people of any age can apply. He offers not only a forward-thinking report from the frontlines of American education, but also a generous blueprint for a world that bends toward cooperation rather than conflict. In this deeply hopeful book, a visionary educator shows us what the future of education can be.

“Inspired, breath-of-fresh-air reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“With numerous reflections on the games impact on certain students and a resounding final chapter highlighting his classs 2012 visit to the Pentagon, Hunter proves the value of ‘slow teaching in this important, fascinating, highly readable resource for educators and parents alike.” — Booklist