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6 Books that Make Great Teacher Gifts
Everyone remembers their favorite teacher—the one who loved and encouraged all her kids, from freaks and geeks to all-stars and underachievers. Mine was Mrs. McDermott, in the third grade. Long before “No Child Left Behind” was a government program, it was her mission, her mantra, and her way of life. Blind to scabby knees, spotty skin, and other imperfections, Mrs. McD always saw her students’ Inner Beauty—and she never had a teacher’s pet, except the class gerbil.
During the holidays, let’s say thanks to these champions of childhood—not with another coffee mug or fruit basket, but with a book that says, “Teach, You Get a Gold Star.”
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F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers, by Richard Benson
Teacher, the joke’s on you in this laugh-out-loud collection of epic fails from the test room. (Q: What is the highest frequency sound a human can register? A: Mariah Carey. Q: Write a sentence with a double negative. A: Mike is ugly, and he smells.) F is for funny in this book, which sparked a whole series, including F for Effort, F in Science, and, of course, F This Test.
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The New Yorker Book of Teacher Cartoons, by Robert Mankoff
Two dogs stare into their dinner bowls. One says to the other, “Oh no. More homework!” This wry compilation from the cartoon editor of The New Yorker is sometimes witty, often silly, and always good for a laugh. Great for sharing around the staff room, along with its companion volume, School Days.
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What Teachers Make, by Taylor Mali
When a lawyer ridiculed a teacher for his meager salary, the teacher responded with a poem, What Teachers Make. It soon went viral. In the book that followed, that teacher, Mali, reminds us what teachers make: They make so-so students try harder. They make indifferent students rise to the challenge. For kids who struggle, they “make a C-plus feel like a Congressional medal of honor.” They make a difference. This book has a bracing, unsentimental tone that’s truly uplifting.
Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman
Kaufman’s bestseller never gets old. First published in 1964, it’s the hilarious account of an English teacher’s first year in a tough, urban high school. Up the Down Staircase is presented as a collection of homework assignments, absentee notes, assorted essays, anonymous doodles, and of course, stodgy bureaucratic circulars. Miss Barrett’s homeroom includes a lineup straight out of Central Casting: there’s the cheer captain, the class politician, the teenage tart, the Defiant One, and a silent majority of wallflowers and Sweat Hogs, all pulled from Kaufman’s actual experience at the head of the class. The author is at her best when she’s skewering the hidebound administrators who choke the public school system, and turn every problem, great or small, into a memo. This timeless classic will make teachers laugh, cry, and just say, “Amen.”
Teacher Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes, by Patrick Regan
This daily desktop calendar serves up equal helpings of inspiration and entertainment, with wisdom from the great minds (Einstein, Churchill, Bart Simpson), as well as students, parents, and of course, those unsung heroes, the teachers themselves. Sample thought for the day: “Education makes you earn more. But not many schoolteachers can prove it.”
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Thank You, by Sandy Gingras
This gentle, pocket-sized book thanks teachers for “extra credit and second chances,” for “coming in early and staying after,” and for their enduring influence, which often is life-changing. Warning: Filled with sincere, but never treacly, sentiment, Thank You is likely to cause a lump in the throat.