Education and Literature seeks to map the meaning of education in literary texts by different writers around the world. Fernanda Mota Pereira intertwines critical applied linguistics with post-colonial studies, cultural studies and critical pedagogy, to produce this innovative interdisciplinary study. Having experienced the educational process in a double perspective – the university and the high school classroom -, the author has the school as her place of speech. Therefore, the book, as well as education, has the role of reflecting on the racial, social and gender issues that permeate this area. Useful for foreign (not only English) language teachers and students, Education and Literature may be able to politically guide the process of empowerment provided by language learning, through the richness and complexity of the literary texts that the author suggests and explores. The book also analyzes important contemporary works, such as Sapphire’s Push (which inspired the film Precious) and Alice Walker’s The color purple.