Читать книгу Thieves of the Black Sea - Joe O'Neill - Страница 9

SPECIAL THANKS

Last year I had the privilege to visit the Remann Hall Book Club in Tacoma, Washington. This is a program for incarcerated youth to encourage them to read. In spite of initial skepticism by some, the program has been a resounding success with over five hundred participants! As I sat in a bland, soulless room, I was moved to tears when the young men and women were brought into the room in small groups of four, five, or six and watched closely by a prison guard. Wearing innocuous orange jumpsuits, they sat on the floor and waited for me to speak. What I saw were not hardened felons, but young people that should be worrying about prom, learning to drive, making a sports team, or studying for a test. Instead, some of them would be sent to an adult penitentiary for life, their young lives over before they ever had a chance to begin. I was amazed by their intelligent questions and, most of all, by their sense of humor in spite of being locked up and leading amazingly tragic and difficult lives.

This book is dedicated to the youths of Remann Hall and the founders of the book club—Margaret and Craig Ross—who are not state or federal employees, just concerned citizens who wanted to help some kids who sorely needed a little bit of encouragement.

—Joe O’Neill