Dennis Shirley, Boston College: " Streetwise for Book Smarts is a completely novel and provocative take on an extremely important topic. Its great strength arises from Celina Su's street-level research style. This book should be read by community organizers, foundation officers, and policy makers as well as political scientists, sociologists, urban anthropologists, and scholars of community organizing." Mark R. Warren, Harvard University: "Celina Su's book sheds new light on the potential for organized parents and young people to create change in the nation's largest school system--and one of our most troubled. In doing so, Su takes a novel approach to studying community organizing. She focuses on the different kinds of cultural toolkits various groups employ and show why they matter for the struggle to achieve more just and equitable education for low-income communities of color. Streetwise for Book Smarts is an important book for the emerging field of scholarship on community organizing--and for organizers alike.

" Jean Anyon, author of Radical Possibilities and Theory and Educational Research: Toward Critical Social Explanation : "This is an extremely useful and important book. Celina Su charts different methods and models used by community organizations working for school reform. She shows how community organizing is changing, and how it succeeds. Streetwise for Book Smarts is an illuminating look into the cultural practices of social change groups applicable nationwide." James Mumm, National Training and Information Center: "Celina Su's Streetwise for Book Smarts delivers a smart and critical look at the cultural toolkits that shape political perspectives, community organizing strategies, political positions and social change in the Bronx. Setting a new standard in the cultural analysis of community organizing with a deep look at race issues and the internal life of her four case studies, Su gives both veterans of the struggle and the Obama generation a roadmap on how to use the best Alinskyite and Freirean tools to forge an effective grassroots movement in America.".