This gracefully written book works wide territory - from issues of discourse and identity to school reform - and lays open for us the complex intersection of language, aspiration, social ties, and institutional life. - Mike Rose, UCLA, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and author of Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America; ""This engaging and accessible account draws the reader into the amazing and intertwined stories of a truly innovative, alternative school and the remarkable students it served."" - Nancy H. Hornberger, University of Pennsylvania; ""Rymes focuses on one charter school's attempt to provide education in a situation of chronic social inequality, and she draws concepts and methods from discourse analysis and linguistic anthropology to provide a sharp picture of how language, narrative and naming constitute the precarious social and institutional relationships involved in this endeavor."" - Ben Rampton, King's College, London