Nominations for November book of the month
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this book is a story about a young boy called Jack Muir who is going through adolescence. the story is set In western Australia in the late 1950's to early 1960's.
This book isn't the same genre as my usual but i enjoyed it and I'm sure other people who read this type of genre will enjoy it even more.
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- Bowlie
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It's great! It's one of my favorite books of all time!Amrita wrote:The Life of Pi by Yann Martel - have people on this thread already read this? I heard it was good.
- Gannon
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Me too. It is one fantastic read. I loved the "man-eating island". Do not really get what this island is supposed to mean and it is a bizarre twist in the book.Bowlie wrote:It's great! It's one of my favorite books of all time!Amrita wrote:The Life of Pi by Yann Martel - have people on this thread already read this? I heard it was good.
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I am the author of -
Accidental Lessons - A Memoir of a Rookie Teacher and a Life Renewed, (Strategic Publishing, 2009)
This book received favorable publicity and reviews since its release this past spring, including the Chicago Tribune, Sun Times, WGN Radio (Chicago), KDKA Radio/TV (Pittsburgh), Bookreview and others.
My publisher (AEG Publishing/Strategic) and I are offering the author's participation in your online book club event. Please feel free to contact the author directly at the email listed below.
Best,
David W. Berner
davidwberner@gmail
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Accidental Lessons - A Memoir of a Rookie Teacher and a Life Renewed
By David W. Berner
Blurb from Bookreview -
By BookReview (Madison, WI United States) -
You'll be hard pressed to find anyone these days that can't identify with David W. Berner on some level. His memoir, "Accidental Lessons", begins with his first day at Cowherd Middle School (and yeah, I looked it up. It's there; Cow Herd.) But Berner isn't a student. He's a teacher, and he's just hit hard economic times (sound familiar?). After his reporting gig falls through and the Dot-com bubble bursts he suddenly finds himself at the mercy of a legion of rough inner city street kids. Berner doesn't sugarcoat the situation. It's bad. But what "Accidental Lessons" proves is that it's when situations are at their most dire that we find out exactly what we're made of, and that even kids who seem bad, when given the chance, are often good.
It's remarkable to hear about Berner's double-sided experience with both teaching and learning in the classroom. Like anyone on their first day at school, Berner does what he sees the other teachers doing, and as he gets settled into the life of a middle school teacher, he begins to learn things about himself that he never did while reporting on golf over the internet. The heart of "Accidental Lessons" is perfectly summated in its title. These are the lessons that come with loss; loss of a father, loss of a marriage, loss of a career. Berner discovers that the kids he's teaching know a thing or two about loss, maybe even a thing or two more than him. This is, as they say, the school of "Hard Knocks", and David W. Berner brings his reporter's pen to the school desk. He gives you a front row seat.
It wouldn't do justice to Berner's memoir to say that the stories he tells about his interactions with the students at Cowherd Middle School are a roller coaster ride. They are, but this is the kind of roller coaster that you never quite feel safe riding. Cowherd is a school that funnels in society's cruel outcasts. "Accidental Lessons" will toss you like a cork at sea, throw you heavy against its steel straps, and when it's done you'll never be quite the same. This is the kind of book you tell your friends about as if, just by reading it, you had lived it. It's the kind of ride that you feel in your legs long after you've gotten off, and are waiting in line to ride again.
- cameron333
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