“A fascinating look into a world many of us never see, and a powerful story about one woman’s journey to find her own strength, with a clear message of the importance of books and information for all.” —Booklist (American Library Association), starred review Shortlisted for the 2020 Social Justice & Advocacy Book Award by In the Margins Book Awards.In December 2008, twentysomething Jill … 2008, twentysomething Jill Grunenwald graduated with her master’s degree in library science, ready to start living her dream of becoming a librarian. But the economy had a different idea. As the Great Recession reared its ugly head, jobs were scarce. After some searching, however, Jill was lucky enough to snag one of the few librarian gigs left in her home state of Ohio. The catch? The job was behind bars as the prison librarian at a men’s minimum-security prison. Talk about baptism by fire.
As an untested twentysomething woman, to say that the job was out of Jill’s comfort zone was an understatement. She was forced to adapt on the spot, speedily learning to take the metal detectors, hulking security guards, and colorful inmates in stride. Over the course of a little less than two years, Jill came to see past the bleak surroundings and the orange jumpsuits and recognize the humanity of the men stuck behind bars. They were just like every other library patron—persons who simply wanted to read, to be educated and entertained through the written word. By helping these inmates, Jill simultaneously began to recognize the humanity in everyone and to discover inner strength that she never knew she had.
At turns poignant and hilarious, Reading behind Bars is a perfect read for fans of Orange is the New Black and Shakespeare Saved My Life.
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In her latest memoir, Reading behind Bars, Jill Grunenwald draws her readers into the unique world of a prison librarian in this compelling read.
I appreciated the Portrait of what
Life in prison is like but I didn’t like some
Of the authors attempts at satire, sometimes at the expense of the prisoners. Sometimes the casual, I’m up the challenge of this job spirit seemed forced.
December 2008 was the middle of the Great Depression. The author had just graduated with her Masters in Library Science. She felt fortunate to just get a job in her field. The catch was this library was in a minimum security prison in Ohio. She overcomes a lot of obstacles like searches every day going into and out of work, and dealing with the inmates and other staff. She learns that in spite of their circumstances human beings are basically the same in wanting to read and acquire information.
Fun read for librarians.
Interesting enough to keep me reading. Nothing exceptional about it
I like anything to do with libraries so this sounded pretty interesting and it was. A peak into the prison system!
The intersection of the two different worlds of a shy, well-educated but inexperienced young woman who takes a job as a librarian in a minimal security prison and the restrictive and tense world of the prison make an engrossing read.
Way too many fillers in this book. I wanted much more writing about the interpersonal relationships between the inmates and the librarian and staff. Character development was really poor. I would not recommend this book.
I applaud the author for diving into a topic that isn’t so common-placed and giving the readers a personal visit into prison libraries. Delving into such a topic led to my intrigue, leading me to purchase the book. However, I found my expectations of this book were not met by the author. I was expecting more human connections with the prisoners, more education discussions, and more teamwork with the staff to lead into better positive experiences for the prisoners within the system. At times I felt the book was written with only an internal dialogue of the author, her thoughts, dramatics, idiosyncrasies, and behaviors. The approach at times seemed one-sided with her more negative experiences including write-ups, punitive exchanges, and library conduct structure. Overall, I give the book 3 out of 5 stars. The author has a gift for storytelling. I can not wait to read more of her external dialogues, connections, outward emotions, and giving of herself to focus on others. I believe there is much more to come in the author ‘s future works.
I thought this was a very realistic way to show the human side of prisoners, rather than just as gangsters. Also it was a very in-depth guide to what a librarian’s responsibilities can be on a day to day basis. Creatively written, with humor and warmth.
NOT A BOOK THAT I EXPECTED.
This is a very entertaining and unusual book. Written by a young woman who works as a librarian in a prison. It is non fiction at its best, by a creative writer. The author grows in this demanding job, the first of her career.
I completely connected with a young bookworm who became a librarian… in prison. Her learning curve is steep, her domain is not what she expected, and the pressures are real. I enjoyed her honesty and how she negotiated the challenges.
I had a 30 plus years career in corrections. Other than acknowledging being in a prison setting there is too much descriptive content of a non-corrections nature. After a while I was bored.
As a teacher and someone who also loves libraries, this was very interesting topic to read. I never thought about prison libraries, but I’m glad I got the opportunity to learn about one in my home state.
I found the characters very interesting. I do not think it was well written: split infinitives and some unnecessary course language. But I did learn about a setting that I knew little about.
Had expected to read about programs the author created that encouraged inmates to read but it was more about her experience as a librarian at a minimum security prison. Interesting but a bit self-involved.
Reveals how important the world of literature can be to those who are incarcerated. As we all are discovering while in quarantine…
Interesting and easy read!
I enjoyed reading this book; my daughter is a librarian and I had never thought about prisons having librarians. It was written in a way that you can see the events and hear the stories in the author’s voice. It provoked laughter at times and was informative at the same time.