This is the story about a boy who against the odds made it from below the poverty line and into the middle class. Mr. Wong is middle child in a racially and culturally mixed family of seven children. He lived and worked on a California farm prior to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Worker's Movement. Mr. Wong lived through the 1965 Watts Riots. H e was Student Body President during the Chicano Student Walkouts in East Los Angeles. Mr. Wong is also Vietnam Era Veteran. Mr. Wong proudly claims that his greatest achievement is to have seen his student learn English.

Whether the reader is, has been, or will become a middle school teacher, or a middle school student or parent, this book provides a close look at life in middle school: How challenges emerge and obstacles are overcome, as well as how one student turned his life and his school around.

Many middle school students don't see the dangers of not working to their potential. Involuntarily encouraged by social promotion and other factors, they may not reach a turning point until, in some cases, it is too late.

In Turning Point, authors Paul Rallion and Chuck Wong present the reality of many middle school students, some of whom believe that all they have to do is sit pretty in class. Yet, there are other students who show tremendous academic growth. What makes them do well?What's their turning point?