The Class by Heather Won Tesoriero

THE CLASS by Heather Won Tesoriero describes the events of a year spent observing a high school science research class taught by Andy Bramante in Greenwich, Connecticut. Tesoriero has chosen the rather long subtitle: “A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America” and after reading parts of this book, that honestly does not feel like hyperbole.  Bramante, like many teachers, is having a huge (and often under-appreciated) impact on the students in his class.  Likewise, their impressive experiments and thought processes will indeed change the world.  Aside from individual anecdotes and stories shared in chapters labeled Sophie, William, Ethan, and so forth, the multi-page list of the awards they won in 2016-2017 and the list of colleges they are attending all support Tesoriero’s contentions about their intelligence and likelihood of future contributions.

Tesoriero’s credentials as an Emmy-winning former producer at CBS and reporter at Newsweek, Time, and the Wall Street Journal are impressive and THE CLASS is very well-written and engaging. However, the part which gives me pause with regards to purchasing it for a school library is the emphasis on “the Most Inventive Classroom in America.”  Tesoriero herself notes that Bramante’s students “dominated the science fair circuit in unprecedented numbers” and makes reference to working in the lab until midnight.  Clearly, they are not a representative bunch and where is the balance in their lives? I would hesitate to hand this book to one of my students (even though they, too, are very accomplished and privileged), especially at a time when parents and educators are all trying to help teenagers cope appropriately with anxiety (see recent New York Times opinion piece, for example) and high expectations. In this book, even Andy Bramante shows signs of burnout despite his many connections and resources. My other concern is that Tesoriero writes about both male and female students here, but in one section I read she chose to emphasize a story about prom-proposals and what a girl was wearing to the prom.  What message is that sending about women’s roles, especially with respect to science where they tend to be underrepresented?

Do look for THE CLASS if you are interested in stories about innovative science experiments like those that could develop a low-cost Ebola test or create an antibiotic-laced liquid bandage or gauge arterial plaque buildup or study how to help cure Lyme disease. You will be encouraged and impressed – just like all of those high school science fair judges!

NEW INFO: LOCAL Author Talk: Monday, September 24, 2018 -- 2 events

12:00 PM - Loyola University Chicago School of Law; 25 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL 60611 RSVP HERE

7:00 PM - New Trier High School, Northfield Campus, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd., Northfield, IL 60093

Brass by Xhenet Aliu

BRASS by Xhenet Aliu is a new novel that I originally thought might work for Junior Theme because it deals with the American Dream. It’s the parallel stories of a mother and daughter: Elsie, a young girl desperate to leave Waterbury, Connecticut in the mid-1990s, but who ends up pregnant; and Luljeta who seventeen years later is searching for the father she never knew. After a look at a preview copy of BRASS, however, I feel like the language, some scenes, and structure (multiple narrators) is intended for more mature readers. Booklist said, “Advanced YA readers will relish the pouncing wit and sexual candor of young Elsie and Luljeta, as well as their nearly hopeless battles to boost themselves into a better world.” That’s very apt; as a debut effort, I found BRASS to be extremely clever (“… my mother slumping over the assembly line at the Peter Paul Mounds and Almond Joy factory down the street in Naugatuck, where she sometimes felt like a nut but more often she felt like a highball.”), but overly concerned with describing the sexual lives of the characters. BRASS received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal.