Walk in Their Shoes

June 10, 2013
Twenty-one years ago, Ziolkowski, then a student in the financial management program at GE Capital, was being groomed for a promising career, but after a backpacking trip in Nepal showed him how simple generosity could change the lives of the impoverished, he quit the course and founded the nonprofit buildOn, which brings education to inner-city teens, and transforms them into community service leaders in the U.S. and abroad. After struggling to secure funding and organize volunteers, Ziolkowski begins traveling the globe, documenting injustices in apartheid-era South Africa and among the street children of Brazil, while rallying the community to come together and build schools for their children. Along the way, he meets activists, struggling families, and even Mother Teresa, who provide encouragement and share their stories. Whether discussing female genital mutilation in Mali or the circumstances of volunteer students in Detroit, Ziolkowski balances sobering facts with an approachable writing style. His unflinching determination drove him to establish over 500 schools, turning buildOn from a nascent dream into a multimillion-dollar phenomenon. He believed that one person could indeed change the world, and his story may inspire others to do the same. Agent: Todd Shuster, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth.

September 1, 2013
After watching a two-day celebration for a newly built school in Nepal while backpacking through the region in 1989, Ziolkowski was inspired enough to trade a budding financial management career for helping impoverished children. The organization he formed with his brother, Dave, and a family friend was buildOn, which 21 years later has exceeded all their expectations in motivating inner-city teens to revamp their neighborhoods and build schools around the world. Here Ziolkowski tells the full story behind his dream project and the trials he underwent both in his personal life and in convincing everyone from adolescents to school administrators to lend their time and influence to get buildOn off the ground. His challenges have included run-ins with South African militia, surviving bouts of dysentery, and navigating Harlem ghetto life, and throughout it all, his strong Christian faith has kept him afloat. Written with best-selling author Hirsch (Willie Mays, 2010) in down-to-earth prose that puts readers on the scene, Ziolkowski's compelling story will inspire anyone yearning to help stem the tide of poverty and illiteracy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)