Will My Name Be Shouted Out? is the heart-rending and inspiring story of writer Stephen O'Connor and his junior-high students in New York City. Nearly all the students have lost a relative or friend to violence and drugs. Some of the students have been raped, many have been beaten, some by their own parents. All of them are fearful and anxious, some are angry, far too many already accept the inevitability of their own failure.

Stephen O'Connor's job is to teach these children to write poems, stories, and plays. His challenge is to find the ways in which writing might help them save their lives.

1. Will My Name Be Shouted Out? takes readers on a disturbing, emotionally charged tour of the other America. It shows us schools where the teachers care passionately about their students. At the same time it powerfully and vividly describes the obstacles that stand in the way of even the hardest-working inner-city child, showing us why, for these children, just getting to school is an accomplishment.

With insight and honesty, O'Connor explains how he tried to use writing to teach his students to respond to the barriers in their lives. He describes how he helped his students to write and perform two plays about actual incidents of urban violence involving teenagers. He shows us how he and his students learned to analyze and understand the behavior of different kinds of people, from teenaged gang members to heartbroken parents.

O'Connor honestly describes the frustrations as well as the joys of working with these youngsters and movingly portrays the group of young actors who struggle to master their parts and their emotions, leaning to work together even as many of them face tragedies at home.

Eventually O'Connor's students deliver rousing performances that are testimony to their talent and to the dedication of their teacher. But their triumphs are hard won and fragile. While O'Connor tells a story of hope, he does not spare the hard facts.