The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World’s Poorest People Are Educating Themselves

After its release in 2009, The Beautiful Tree drew widespread praise. The book tells the remarkable story of author James Tooley’s travels from Africa to China, and of the children, parents, teachers, and others who showed him how the poor are building their own schools and learning to save themselves. Publishers Weekly declared it “a moving account of how poor parents struggle against great odds to provide a rich educational experience to their children.” Writing in The Claremont Review of Books, John Blundell called it “a masterpiece.”

 In conjunction with the release of the book’s paperback edition, James Tooley will discuss the extraordinary changes in educating the poor that have occurred since The Beautiful Tree was published, as well as his experiences as a cofounder of both Omega Schools, a chain of low-cost private schools in Ghana, and Empathy Learning Systems, an educational service company that runs a chain of inexpensive private schools in Hyderabad, India.

We hope that you will join us to hear James Tooley discuss what’s going right in some of the world’s poorest nations and communities. The entrepreneurial spirit, Tooley makes clear, and the love of parents for their children, can be found in every corner of the globe.