Educating Esmé

This diary (here abridged) of first-year teacher EsmÄ Codell, "Madame EsmÄ," as she cutely insists upon being called, is creditably read by Codell herself. Not all her listeners, particularly educators, will be as heartily pleased with her teaching as she is in this self-serving account. To be sure, Madame EsmÄ has energy, commitment, creativity (qualities that come through clearly in the narration, too), but her attitudes about her older, stodgier colleagues and, especially, her inept principal border on the mean-spirited. In sum, a book better heard than read (because shorter), but still missable. T. H. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

June 28, 1999
Portions of Codell's diary of her experiences as a first-year teacher in a Chicago inner-city elementary school were first aired on WBEZ radio, in that city, as part of its Life Stories series. Subsequently rounded out into a book, the material still comes across like it's meant to be read aloud. Codell's voice carries the enthusiasm that--as a 24-year-old hardcore idealist--she brought to her difficult job. Hired for a brand-new school, she tells how she let her "na vet " work to her own advantage. She invented ways to engage her troubled, sometimes hostile students, relying on jerry-rigged visual aids, group craft projects, role-reversing skits and the like. Villains appear as well, such as her evil principal, Mr. Turner, a "homophobic, backward idiot." Codell throws herself into the reading, imitating her kids' voices, sounding truly exasperated at each obstacle she faces. Based on the 1999 Algonquin hardcover.