This is a very different book from almost all the others I have reviewed. The reason is not too difficult to understand: it is about the life of a school teacher who teaches younger students, a mix of whites, blacks and hispanics. That teacher is Christine Zajac. Her characterisation by the author is so realistic and true that you would want to read the book solely for that!

She is everything that a teacher should be, and more besides. She is calm, understanding, loving and disciplinarian at the same time. Driven to despair in some of the classes, she continues to coax, cajole, teach, interact, and love her students as one would their own offspring. While managing the children on the one hand, she also manages the politics of the school and her handling of the trustees' board and the other staff is also a strong plus point for the book.

Would-be teachers. Everyone.

The classroom situations that lighten up the narration, and the kind way in which the teacher moulds the children to the right path.

happy for the teachers of the world who craft the characters of the citizens of tomorrow.

Tracy Kidder.