Former elementary school teacher Carla Shalaby delves into the everyday lives of young children to challenge the endless pursuit to moderate, punish, and (often) medicate each child—instead of transforming our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. By seeing school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem—via Zora’s proud individuality and Sean’s persistent struggle with authority—educators, parents, and readers of all sorts will gain insight into how schools, often unintentionally, engender, exclude, and then ultimately try to erase trouble, along with the young people accused of making it.

With empathetic, elegant prose—reminiscent of Robert Coles’s The Moral Intelligence of Children and Andrew Solomon’s Far from the Tree—Troublemakers offers a deeply textured look at what student noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt and conform to in our schools.

Age Range:  Parents and Teachers