"I am going to be a great scholar some day," Raman said. "I shall read many, many books. And I shall own the books myself. Shelves and shelves of them. I want to learn many, many things."

"Good," the American lady said. "And what then?"

Raman is a boy of India. His is the first in his village to learn to read. His father is a woodcutter, like his father before him. There is often barely enough money in the family to buy rice for the day. But Raman's father is determined that his son will learn to read. He sends him to school in a nearby village.

Then Raman's father must leave the hill village and go down to the plains to look for work. He cannot support his family by working in the village. Raman must leave school to help make a living for the family.

To earn money Raman gathers hill plants for an American woman, a teacher from a school on the plains. She is preparing a book about the hill flowers of India.

Until he met the American teacher, just learning was enough for Raman. But from her he learns that his schooling bears with it a responsibility far greater than the privileges it offers. He searches his heart to find the answer to the teacher's question, "And what then, Raman?"

Learning for himself is not enough; he must teach others in his village, that they in turn may teach. Through education will come a better life for all. 

From the dust jacket