“Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year”
By Esme Raji Codell
Foreword by Katherine Paterson
Afterword by Jim Trelease
Algonquin Paperbacks 262 pages, $12.95
This winsome little book, a diary of Codell’s year teaching at an unidentified Chicago public school, was published a decade ago. This anniversary addition with new bells and whistles — a guide for teachers — is a charming embrace of kids and schools. A dreamy idealist, she writes: “I came to recognize that children’s literature is our country’s best hope for equalizing education, because a great book in the hands of a rich child is the same great book in the hands of a poor child.” Theoretically, she’s right, but what about the problem of inequitable access to books and education, as well as woeful reading and comprehension skills for poor children? Madame Esme, as she encourages students to call her, is an author of a children’s book and runs PlanetEsme.com, a very useful Web site. As the school year goes on, think of teachers as she does — as “Designers of Possibility.”