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Other People's Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy. Victoria Purcell-Gates. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. 242 pp. Hardcover. In this absorbing case study, Purcell-Gates takes us into the world of Jenny and her son Donny, urban Appalachians. Purcell-Gates begins by laying out the sociocultural context that will enable readers to understand the family's struggles. Urban Appalachians are termed an "invisible minority" because their culture is neither recognized nor accepted by mainstream institutions. Although Jenny and Donny live in the city, the focus of their lives remains "down home" in the rural mountain areas where many of their relatives still reside.
Purcell-Gates became involved with the family when Donny was referred to the university-based literacy center, which she then directed. Jenny asked if she could join Donny during lessons in order to improve her own literacy. She had been attending an adult literacy center because she was concerned about the effects of her illiteracy on her two children (Donny and a younger boy named Timmy). Purcell-Gates agreed to work with both Jenny and Donny if she could study their learning to read...