Lives on the Boundary, written by American scholar Mike Rose, is a 1989 work of non-fiction that explores the challenges and successes associated with literacy at the margins of America’s education system.

Growing up in a home raised by 1st generation, non-native English speaking parents, Rose encountered deep issues with language barriers from an early age.

Elizabeth Auleta's book review [1] of Rose's text was published in 1990 just a year after the original publication of Lives on the Boundary.

Candace Spigelman's ″Discussing Lives on the Boundary in a Basic Writing Class″ [3] explores students vs. the educational system while using Rose's text as an outline.

Website BookRags offers an online lesson plan [6] for integrating Rose's work into the classroom with a focus on high school students grade 7-12.