Imagine you are a twenty-three-year-old illiterate black inmate at San Quentin Prison, unable to read or answer your mail, walking blindly past warning signs posted on prison walls. Then out of the blue, a well-known reading specialist comes right to your door to teach you how to read. This book, A Rescue from Illiteracy, tells that very story. It all began during Mary Pecci's many workshops, when she would be confronted by participants who claimed that adult illiterates had "passed the point of learning." In an effort to disprove this theory, Mary set out to find an adult illiterate and teach him to read. She began to amuse herself with the thought that a prison was one of the few places where she could get an adult illiterate who would be predictably available. But San Quentin, the closest prison, was a maximum-security prison. She was scared stiff. As the days passed, she began to be intrigued by the thought of some poor, lost illiterate in some prison hellhole receiving the services of a professional reading specialist. She could picture him pinching himself to see if it was really happening. She then thought to herself, Wouldn't it be fun to bring a miracle into someone's life? So, Mary prayed for a sign from the Lord, and when she received that sign, she made the arrangements to volunteer to teach an inmate to read at San Quentin Prison. As this story unfolds, it sheds light on three major issues that have a critical impact on our society: the crippling handicap of illiteracy; what life is like in the prison system; and the inadequacy of our public education system.

Talking about Literacy re-examines dominant notions of what litreracy is, and challenges the problem-solution reflex to the issue (the problem is illiteracy: the solution is more literacy). Literacy has enormous emotional and political associations, and the job of literacy educator often concerns changing attitudes and challenging prejudices - whether in the form of publicity strategies, counselling new students, or in curriculum design. In short, adult literacy education means not only teaching courses like 'fresh start', 'basic skills', 'study skills', 'communication skills', 'language support' and 'return to study', but also designing strategies to encourage people to see that these courses may meet their own interests - and educating them and others to rethink their own negative attitudes to 'illiteracy'. The book looks in detail in at five principles put forward by Jane Mace as central to the education of people who often can read, but wish they could read better; who, technically can write, but have a desire to do so with more expression and coherence. These principles focus on five themes: context, inquiy, authorship, equality and community. Since it is all too easy for literacy education involving adults who do not have formal qualifications to stop short of teaching techniques for 'correct' writing, these principles mean taking seriously a view that adult students are writers as well as readers - that they have an entitlement to be read, as well as to read others.

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Leadership lessons do not just come from the rich, famous, or seasoned corporate veterans, and similarly knowledge and acumen are not acquired exclusively in the classroom or boardroom. Majed Yaghi, a retired corporate executive, shares inspiring lessons from his mother, Nazira, who never attended school yet still built a thriving enterprise grounded in her relentless passion for winning and will to overcome all odds. Until her passing in 2012, she demonstrated leadership qualities typical of Ivy League graduates and corporate executives, except she was neither. Instead, she was the head of a household of eight children whose passion was to encourage them to be high achievers and the best in their respective fields. In a guide inspired by his mother’s influence, Yaghi shares four vital leadership competencies that focus on instilling passion, planning, persistence, and perpetual optimism into the journey to become a better leader. Included are other lessons that focus on learning and leading by axioms. Leadership Lessons from an Illiterate Mom is a guide that shares lessons inspired by a Jordanian mother who led all eight of her children to achieve greatness through her mentoring and servant leadership.