OCTOBER 2018 - AudioFile
Tesoriero narrates her story of a year in the life of Andy Bramante, a science teacher at Greenwich (Connecticut) High School whose skills have guided many students to major scientific breakthroughs and awards, as well as entry to prestigious colleges. The author’s narration can be a bit choppy. She oscillates between a disinterested progression through the facts and emotive projection, particularly when vocalizing quotes from the many students whose journeys she shared. While her timbre is nasally, her overall delivery is clear—but often comes across as more focused on saying individual words and sentences correctly than on giving much thought to their meaning and weight. L.E. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/09/2018
Journalist Tesoriero embedded in one exceptional Connecticut classroom during the 2016–2017 school year for this inspiring account of how a high school science teacher mentors and motivates his prize-winning pupils. Andy Bramante, a corporate scientist turned public school teacher, teaches Greenwich High School’s science research class, where his students have been cleaning up awards on the science fair circuit for years. In writing about the curriculum and students’ projects, Tesoriero excels at making the science accessible, whether discussing experiments with PDE4 inhibitors or the importance of carbon capture. Sometimes, however, she strains to do the same with the students’ lives, such as with descriptions like “the primero popular girl-boy posse” or poking fun at a student’s use of a made-up word. But Tesoriero keeps Bramante at the emotional center of it all, following him as he opens the lab during winter break, frets over a student who loses focus, and balances celebrating the winners and commiserating with the losers at science fairs. The students’ kindnesses, worries, feuds, and projects are likewise sketched so lovingly that readers cannot help rooting for them. With its winning mix of human-interest and scientific innovation, this book will appeal to general readers and fans of pop science alike. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
A complex portrait of the ups and downs of teaching in a culture that undervalues what teaching delivers.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Captivating . . . Journalist Tesoriero left her job at CBS News to embed herself in Bramante’s classroom for the academic year, and she does this so successfully, a reader forgets she is even there. Her skill at drawing out not only Bramante but also the personal lives, hopes and concerns of these students is impressive. Clearly, she created a level of trust that enabled her to tell their stories so honestly and compellingly. . . . It is a fascinating glimpse of a teaching environment that most public school teachers will never know.”—The Washington Post
“Schools matter. The teachers inside those schools matter. The Class shows us what amazing things can happen when those two things come together. . . . [The Class is] more than a story of Andy Bramante and his students. It’s also a roadmap to improving our educational systems and the unimaginable bounties waiting if we do.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Tesoriero’s account should serve as a reminder of what our schools can be, everywhere in America. . . . The [students’] stories are both heartbreaking and inspiring. In the end, one cannot help but root for all of these talented teenagers. ”—Bookreporter
“[An] inspiring account of how a high school science teacher mentors and motivates his prize-winning pupils . . . The students’ kindnesses, worries, feuds, and projects are . . . sketched so lovingly that readers cannot help rooting for them. With its winning mix of human-interest and scientific innovation, this book will appeal to general readers and fans of pop science alike.”—Publishers Weekly
“Tesoriero, a former TV news producer and newspaper reporter, captures with humor and empathy the lives and dreams of an extraordinary group of students. . . . Tesoriero makes a strong case for the importance of science and inspirational teachers. . . . Recommended for readers of Alexandra Robbins’s works, The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids and The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.”—Library Journal
“A riveting look at a year in the life of an inspiring teacher and how he is helping kids create amazing and award-winning science projects. With the turn of every page, we see the joys of discovery and the immense satisfaction this brings to Andy Bramante, who made a life choice that transforms his students’ lives every day.”—Walter Isaacson, author of the New York Times bestseller Steve Jobs
“In The Class, a devoted teacher and his driven students provide something like a perfect picture of what it means to be human: striving with a noble purpose, failing with resilience, and always finding humor and humanity even in the face of tremendous pressure. Both teacher and students will surely teach you many things, but perhaps more important than the lessons is the sheer wonder inhabiting these pages. In its light you will be transported to a place and time of life when the simple desire to reach for the undiscovered can lead to remarkable achievements. This book is a remarkable achievement.”—Jeff Hobbs, author of the New York Times bestseller The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
“Heather Won Tesoriero’s breezy, even whimsical voice coupled with her off-the-charts emotional intelligence and stunning powers of observation launches The Class into one of its own.”—Jonathan LaPook, M.D., chief medical correspondent, CBS News
OCTOBER 2018 - AudioFile
Tesoriero narrates her story of a year in the life of Andy Bramante, a science teacher at Greenwich (Connecticut) High School whose skills have guided many students to major scientific breakthroughs and awards, as well as entry to prestigious colleges. The author’s narration can be a bit choppy. She oscillates between a disinterested progression through the facts and emotive projection, particularly when vocalizing quotes from the many students whose journeys she shared. While her timbre is nasally, her overall delivery is clear—but often comes across as more focused on saying individual words and sentences correctly than on giving much thought to their meaning and weight. L.E. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-06-18
A year in the lives and experiments of one exceptional high school science class.Andy Bramante isn't just a science teacher; he's the head of the renowned honors science research lab at Greenwich High School in Connecticut, a school that has "no curriculum, tests, textbooks, or lectures." Bramante's students don't just win science fairs. Among other impressive accomplishments, they discover how to treat Lyme disease and then get full scholarships to MIT, Yale, and other prestigious colleges. So it's no wonder that Tesoriero, an Emmy-winning former producer at CBS and reporter at Newsweek, Time, and the Wall Street Journal, latched on to him as a subject. His accolades alone scream "amazing feature story." But what gets lost in the author's exhaustive storytelling is any sense of plot; the book would have made a much better documentary. Still, the story has lots to recommend it. Dividing the narrative by season and then into chapters starring a handful of students, Tesoriero meticulously documents not just the students who make up Bramante's course, but also their incredibly advanced projects: There's Olivia, who created a low-cost Ebola test; Romano, the reformed jock working on an antibiotic-laced liquid bandage; and the astoundingly bright William Yin, a senior who developed a new test for arterial plaque buildup that could predict Alzheimer's disease. No doubt these are remarkable individuals (a glance at the list of awards at the back of the book will confirm that) with impressive stories, but by chopping the book up by character and filling each chapter with science jargon, the author slows the narrative momentum. Halfway through Spring, readers may find themselves flipping back to Fall to figure out which kid is which. However, the book will prove worthwhile for those interested in innovative approaches to education. Bramante, unlike so many exceptional teachers, gets the attention he rightly deserves.Mr. Wizard meets Sweet Valley High in a fly-on-the-wall look at some of the future scientists of America.
