Told as the story of a typical working day, Hawaiian Sunrise to Sunset gives an inspiring, eye-opening, and sobering view into the life of a man who has dedicated all his resources to making children's lives better. Randall Ng's students run the gamut from gifted to gang members; from at-risk to motivated; from safe in loving families to abused by parents and caregivers.
Randall knows that to make a difference in the lives of these kids, he has to go above and beyond the call of duty, and he has to think outside the box. Randall transcends the typical role of school counselor, as he visits students at home, confronts them and their parents with the truth, finds wildly creative solutions to problems with no easy answer, and steps in as a father figure to children who have never known a reliable and caring authority.
Surprising, shocking, fascinating, and ultimately deeply redemptive, this book shows you what tough love looks like, and what it can accomplish in the lives of children at risk.
My thoughts...
Ng shares his story of working with students in a low income neighborhood school. He faces many types of social issues such as teen pregnancy and gang violence with the students and does his best to help them work through their problems and situations. He does his best to keep the students on the right track when it seems everything around them is negative.
The writing could've been better but overall it's an interesting story of Ng's 30 years as a middle school counselor. He received the 2005 Hawaii State Teacher'a Association's "Friend of Youth" award and an award from the Hawaii State Senate for his counseling department's effore to promote a safe, healthy, and drug free lifestyle in 2002.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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