First Year - J. O. Salls

First Year

by J. O. Salls

It is Robert Baker’s first year of teaching. It is a school year that jars the tranquility of the fictional town of Blue Lake. It is a year in which escalating enrollment, overwhelmed personnel, and a difficult school board threaten to rip a revered school system apart. In one school year, Robert Baker’s life intertwines with and affects the lives of his students, his colleagues, and even their families. It is a school year in which loyalties are questioned. It is a year in which compassion, hope, and the courage to take action matter more than ever. In one school year, lives can be altered forever.

BIOGRAPHY

Like his parents, J.O. Salls pursued a career in education. He taught English in Wisconsin and Minnesota high schools for 19 years. For another 19 years he taught in Hawaii in classrooms ranging from middle school through community college. His wife taught elementary school for 34 years. They continue to strongly support public education, its teachers and students.

His life-long association with schools brings genuine warmth, affection and a passion for public education to his writing, along with insights into how schools and their inhabitants cope and sometimes prosper between moments of despair and pure exhilaration.

A native of Minnesota, father of two, grandfather of 13, teacher of thousands, John lives with his wife Lila on the shores of Big Stone Lake in Ortonville, MN.

WEBSITE
www.josalls.com
PURCHASE
Amazon.com

PUBLISHER
Birch Grove Publishing

Laurie Purdie Salas-Stampede

Stampede! Poems to Celebrate
the Wild Side of School

by Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated by Steven Salerno

Clarion Books

ISBN 9780618914883

These 18 funny and imaginative poems observe students in their natural habitat and reveal their unusual behavior, crazy communication, and very healthy appetites. Whether they’re in the classroom, on the playground, or in the cafeteria, school brings out the animal in all of them. And if you look carefully as you turn the pages, you may even glimpse some of the wild side in yourself!

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Purdie Salas is the author of more than 50 books for kids and teens, including STAMPEDE! POEMS ABOUT THE WILD SIDE OF SCHOOL and SHRINKING DAYS, FROSTY NIGHTS: POEMS ABOUT FALL. She loves to introduce kids to poetry and help them find poems they can relate to, no matter what their age, mood, and personality. She has also written many nonfiction books. See more about Laura and her work at http://www.laurasalas.com/.

WEBSITES
http://www.laurasalas.com/
http://www.stampedebook.com/
http://stampede.ning.com/

BLOG
http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/

For a list of other books, visit Laura's website at http://www.laurasalas.com/