Thank You, Teacher: Grateful Students Tell the Stories of the Teachers Who Changed Their Lives - Hardcover

"Great teachers make all the difference in one's journey to self-realization. I would never have become the writer I am, such as I am, without their incalculable encouragement. So this tribute to the noble, underacknowledged importance of the teaching profession cannot be recommended more heartily."
-- Alex Shoumatoff, editor of DispatchesFromTheVanishingWorld.com and contributor to Vanity Fair and the New Yorker

From the Book

"Like those of most good teachers, her most important lessons didn't come from a book. She taught me how to be a human being, to have dignity, and that it was never appropriate to whine or complain."
-- Maya Angelou

"It all could have been different for me and would have been, if not for whatever it is that makes an older person -- busy person, tired person, finite person -- turn toward a young person and say, in whatever way is needed, 'Of course you can. Why not? Give it a try.'"
-- George Saunders

"When I was a child of nine, I met the first great person in my life. I would forever use her as the needle of my moral compass, of my never-ending passion to learn, and of my work ethic. That person was my teacher."
-- Gene Simmons

"His tangents -- the fascinating ruminations between the lines of the assigned texts, the stuff we'd never find in a book -- kept our interest in a way that no prospectus could. We left his classroom not merely with notebooks full of jottings but with hearts excited and inspired."
-- Jerry Spinelli

"Teaching is an act of faith. Life too. You do the best you know how. And you hope that it makes a difference. And when you get that opportunity, you thank the people who made a difference in your life. This is where the meaning comes from."
-- Jess Walter

"To this day I remember her kindness, her patience, and the enthusiasm that she mustered each and every day."
-- Daisy Martinez

In 1993, when actor Tom Hanks received arguably the highest honor in his profession a Best Actor Oscar he thanked his high school drama teacher. Many can also name a teacher who gave them not only good instruction but also confidence and drive. Coauthor Holly Holbert heard her teacher husband, Bruce Holbert, wonder if he was doing his students any good, this in the face of teachers being blamed for a variety of social and economic woes. So she sent letters to hundreds of people she’d never met and had no reason to believe would respond asking about teachers who mattered to them. She was overwhelmed by answers. Eighty some of these up-close-and-personal stories are featured here. These are delightfully diverse (from acclaimed writer George Saunders to PBS chef May Ann Esposito), wise, and witty testaments to the teachers who do what they do everyday without expecting recognition, but who so richly deserve it.