I have spent my entire career working in the education sector. Dr. Bettina Love is a force, and her newest work should be essential reading.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Punished for Dreaming offers a really insightful look at education that is NOT taught in educator training courses, but is vital for educators to know. It is definitely going to change the way I look at my classroom. I purchased a copy of the book already, and plan to loan it out to my coworkers.

This book is very informative about all the ways racism causes harm in education for black children. It address issues like corporations using schools to make money, racist reforms and the carceral system and their impact on students. It also has solutions and positivity. It’s written in a very readable way. She does an excellent job tying in personal stories with the facts to make it easier to take in.

This was such an important read - one that everyone definitely needs to read!

I thought Love made her points clearly and had data/info to back them up. And I liked how Love also included interviews and experiences from several Black folks throughout the book.

I learned so much while reading - thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the #gifted copy.

This sheds light on the state of education in America and specifically the education of black boys and girls. If you are an educator chances are you are already aware of some, is not most, of the issues that face children of color in American schools today. I was glad to have been able to read this perspective as it filled in several gaps regarding how we have reached this point since integration. However, I had hoped there would have been more information about what individual educators can do be better allies and help students find their voices. I am desperately looking for ways to better connect with my girls of color; as I often see the injustices they face daily in schools. Overall, this is a great book for new educators and those that may not understand that state of public education in the United States and how desperately we need to reflect and make change.

Title: Unveiling the Power of Dreams: A Review of "Punished for Dreaming" by Bettina Love

In "Punished for Dreaming," Bettina Love delivers a compelling and urgent exploration of the intersection of education, race, and liberation. With unflinching honesty and profound insight, Love challenges readers to confront the systemic injustices that perpetuate the criminalization of Black and Brown youth in schools across America.

At the heart of the book is Love's impassioned call for a radical reimagination of education—one that prioritizes love, joy, and the freedom to dream. Drawing on her own experiences as a scholar and educator, as well as the voices of students and communities impacted by punitive schooling practices, Love presents a searing critique of the punitive disciplinary measures that disproportionately target marginalized youth.

Through a series of deeply personal anecdotes and rigorous academic analysis, Love dismantles the myth of meritocracy and exposes the ways in which racism, capitalism, and white supremacy shape the educational landscape. She challenges educators to confront their own biases and complicity in perpetuating systems of oppression, while offering a vision for transformative justice rooted in love and solidarity.

What sets "Punished for Dreaming" apart is Love's unwavering commitment to centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted by punitive schooling practices. From the stories of Black girls who are disproportionately pushed out of schools to the grassroots organizing efforts led by students and communities fighting for justice, Love amplifies the voices of those who have been marginalized and silenced.

Throughout the book, Love emphasizes the power of dreams as a radical tool for liberation. She argues that by embracing the radical imagination and fostering spaces where young people are encouraged to dream, create, and envision a better world, educators can disrupt the cycle of oppression and cultivate spaces of joy, healing, and possibility.

"Punished for Dreaming" is not merely a critique of the status quo; it is a manifesto for hope and transformation. Love challenges readers to dream boldly and act courageously in the pursuit of justice. In a world plagued by inequality and injustice, this book serves as a powerful reminder of the urgent need for love-centered education that honors the humanity and dignity of all students.

In conclusion, "Punished for Dreaming" is a profound and timely work that demands attention and action. With its powerful blend of personal narrative, scholarly analysis, and visionary advocacy, Love's book is a testament to the resilience and power of those who dare to dream of a more just and equitable world. It is essential reading for educators, activists, and anyone committed to building a more inclusive and compassionate society.

In Bettina Love's unapologetic, candid and frank approach, she addresses ago old issues related to years, at least 40, in which education policies were created to disrupt the ability for blacks or bipocs to actually experience what for so long was referred to as 'the american dream". This book serves in a lot of ways as an expansion to Bettina's first book, "We Want to do More Than Survive". In very candid discussion she addresses vouchers, charter schooling, and as a true abolitionist, the topic of 'justice', whether health, healing or disability. all justices that have become a method of injustice in the lives of bipoc students seeking a thorough education.

THis was a horrible but wonderful look at the preschool to prison pipeline in the United States. Dissecting different presidential policies, educational appointments, and structural inequities, Bettina Love dove into what causes Black children to fail in their education - spoiler alert, the system fails them. With a mix between research an anecdotal evidence, this really pulled in both the science and the empathy. Should be required reading for all parents, policy makers, and educators (including administrators)

I taught this book in my Senior Seminar class in an Education Studies department. We used it to model their critical policy analysis assignment. Bettina Love does a great job walking the reader through compounding policies and providing guidance for reparations.

Another important book, akin to The New Jim Crow. This book is about the lack of fairness in the U.S. educational system and how race influences not only the education that a child receives, but the consequences of that- which impacts all. How many more of these books need to be written before we can make appropriate change? How do we engage the people who need to read these books who are not likely to pick them up? This is a well-researched book that is objective in its telling and should be the next read after The New Jim Crow.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this very significant book.

A fascinating book, well written and clear. Blows what I was taught in my teaching degree program out of the water. I had to take it slow and ponder the information as I had so much to unlearn. The research she uses to back up her thoughts was convincing. The real world examples helped to bring the ideas to life.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

I loved this book, it gave me everything I wanted as a reader and more. I am a sucker for a cover and fell in love with the storyline and characters. Well written and kept me engaged :)

I can genuinely say that I had not considered school reform at all—let alone enough to have an opinion on it—prior to picking up this book, but I found Bettina Love's interrogation of the subject to be fascinating. The blending of narrative between the historic and the personal made the entire thing much easier to read and digest, too, as for every fact there was a working example to give the message context and allow it to sink in.

I think if I were a parent (or planning to become one) this would be a more urgent read, but as it is, I enjoyed learning, and I think it contributes to a broader picture of the systems of oppression at work in our country.

Recommended for readers of Caste, Mediocre and the Color of Law.

I get where the author is coming from, but unfortunately my experience in education does not bear this out. I have actually seen the opposite: many Black students and parents trying to subvert the system and claim everything they don't like is racism by white teachers. People talk about how Black students are supposedly punished in higher rates and that this is evidence of racism, but when I walk through the hallways of my school and see 50 students talking in groups instead of being in class, and every single one is Black... I'm certain there is some racism in education, but let's also acknowledge the role Black students and parents play in their own outcomes.

This book was fine! It was so well-researched, timely, and important - but it was so boring. I wish it was shorter and with more engaging examples or something to make it less dry. On the whole I'm glad I read it, but it did feel like a slog at times. I'd recommend this but probably only for other educators like myself.

I was not a big fan of this book. I think that it could be an interesting story, but it was not up my normal alley. It was thoughtful and well written, but just not as easy to stay attuned to.

Bettina Love's "Punished for Dreaming" is an essential book not only for new teachers and educational leaders, but also for the general public. As special interest groups continue to assert the need to wrest control of education from professionals and experts, Love offers a searing critique of the inequalities that many students in American schools face. Not only does she emphasize the lack of representation and culturally responsive education, but she also examines the history of inequality and how educational reform in particular hurts students of color and students who come from low SES backgrounds. Using research, data and the particularly powerful narratives, interviews and experiences of those who have been punished for dreaming, Love crafts a powerful response to educational reform and posits how reparations for educational inequality could address some of the inequality in society. While I can see how others might view this proposal as controversial, Love and her colleagues have used data to determine an exact number for educational reparations.
While this book is not always easy to read, it is necessary and important for most Americans to read to understand the kinds of inequality that students face on a daily basis, and to see how we can make a change, not through the proposals like vouchers, charter schools, and other reformist approaches centered on making money rather than really supporting students.

This is, ultimately, a well-researched case for reparations and a new system of education that is actually for all students. It is, of course, awful to read about some of the effects that you may or may not have known about from various "education reform" measures. Thankfully, Love provides hope and a path forward as well.

This book is an absolute must read! Dr. Love lays out a compelling case on the systemic inequities in the U.S. education system that not only perpetuate disparities for black and brown communities, but also create essentially a feeder pool to the prison system. From President Reagan onward, a series of policies and reports highlighted the "achievement gaps" and the "track systems" as well as more recently "no child left behind." Evaluation systems were created that not only punished teachers and school systems, but in turn caused great harm to students' learning. But this book is not just about the history of education "reform" but adds a human face to this harm by sharing the stories of 25 different people. In the end, Dr. Love outlines reparations and actions. This is a systemic problem that will take a lot of collective efforts to challenge and dismantle these inequities.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.