Of all the books written on education in the sixties and seventies, The Lives of Children was one of the most significant. When it was first published, Herbert Kohl wrote, "There is no book I know of that shows so well what a free and humane education can be like, nor is there a more eloquent description of its philosophy." John Holt, reviewing the book for The New York Review of Books, wrote, "If anyone felt he had time to read only one book on education, The Lives of Children should be the one."

The Lives of Children is George Dennison's story of The First Street School and how he succeeded in helping kids no one had been able to help.