Teacher : The One Who Made the Difference

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This book was incredibly moving to me. Not only was I a student in highschool at about the same time Edmundson was (he doesn't seem to realize that there were many of us who had a worse time of it--he at least had friends), I now teach too and can only dream that some day one of my students might look back and remember something positive I might have passed along. I often felt reading the book that I was reading a novel, not because I didn't believe the stories (I did, every one of them), but because it was so entertaining. Funny stories, great characters and provocative stuff about education too.

Rating:
Summary: A Little Help From a Teacher
Review: This book, written by Mark Edmundson, looks back on his high school career. He was into reblling against his educators. His days were filled with football, pool and alcohol, until a teacher changes his life forever. Franklin Lears makes Edmundson realize that there is more to life than football. Leaars motivates Edmundson to think beyond football, or to see what reality is all about.

Rating:
Summary: Moving, but plenty of laughs
Review: This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. The story of Emundson's move from a thug to a reader was interesting and moving, too. He likes to theorize about things, which is OK with me. But what I liked most about the book is that it was full of excellent stories. The ones about the Walrus and the gang of high school kids who worked for him were great; I also loved the ones about the Doober and all his escapades in and out of the pool room. The book is intensely funny.

Rating:
Summary: flashes of brilliant writing
Review: This memoir is a mixed bag. Some of the chapters are riveting, such as Chapter 4 where Edmundson paints a vivid and moving portrait of his father, while other chapters ramble disjointedly about getting drunk, football, and classmates who were obviously special to the author at the time but whose charm was not brought fully alive for this reader. It's worth reading but be forewarned, you have to slog through a morass of material more appropriate to a 40th high school reunion reminiscence than a published work of non-fiction to get to the good stuff.