Tonight we are going to see a middle-school performance of my friend Ronn Smith’s stage adaption of Avi’s Nothing But the Truth. I love that book and have always been a sucker for books about teachers–Christy, To Sir, With Love, Dibs: In Search of Self and Up the Down Staircase were the favorites of my youth. In fact, Up the Down Staircase was our senior play in 1974, and, true to form, I played the principal. Robin Smith shares a few of her favorites in this Magazine article from 2008–any updates?
About Roger Sutton
Have you discovered Sam Swope’s I AM A PENCIL ? (too good to miss)
Maida’s Little School by Inex Haynes Irwin–way ahead of its time!
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
I love teacher books, too! Two books by New York Times reporters:
Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and Their High School, by Samuel G. Freedman
Ms. Moffett’s First Year: Becoming a Teacher in America, by Abby Goodnough
I also enjoyed Up the Down Staircase.
Some other favorite teacher books: The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill; The Gawgon and the Boy by Lloyd Alexander; Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan; and Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco.
Good Morning, Miss Dove is a favorite of mine. I disagree with everything about Miss Dove and still love the book.
I’m not sure I’d call it a “teacher book”, per se, but Bridge to Terabithia has some great teacher-student moments.