This is the story of a teacher trying to navigate her first year teaching in an inner city school. She is constantly berated by administration and pressured to forsake her students’ needs in order to provide “check the box” instructional techniques and receiving no support or help. As a former teacher, I can relate.I loved Carolyn’s heart and the teaching storyline. Her personal life, on the other hand, was ridiculous. Her social skills, whether arguing with her best friends, callous breakup wit...

I LOVED this book. The beginning was a bit emotional for me, for a variety of reasons, involving an incident with a gun at a school. As the parent of school aged children, this issue always hits close to home, and I was an education major in college, and had a student bring a gun to school. Reading a book about a teacher in an underprivileged school, similar to the one I did my student teaching in, made the book quite personal for me. I loved how the author wove in the details of how many studen...

This reminded me of the movie "Lean on Me" with Morgan Freeman. Only Carolyn has to deal with a principal that is determined to make her quit. With so many school shootings this book really shed light on what teachers feel. The way that the author opened the book was dramatic, and she finished it up with a great love story. Carolyn is a character that I could relate to. She constantly had bad luck, and was unsure of her choices. She had great character development and by the end if the book, she...

I just love this book! While it does have romance, it is the first year of teaching that really drew me in. Most teachers go into the profession wanting to make a big difference. It is not as easy as it looks, and there is definitely not enough pay. The first year is the hardest no matter where you are, but to be in a struggling school like Carolyn is even harder. Kathleen Shoop brings this struggle to life, not to mention showing that teaching takes over one's life. Most teachers spend hours an...

This one has been slow-going for me. I really liked the premise for the story, but I'm getting stuck in some of the parts of the story, and having a hard time following the plot in some areas. The relationship with Jeep is probably what is really slowing me down, it seems a little implausible, and hurriedly put together. I love the parts about her teaching in the classroom.I just finished and the book really came together for me in the second half and I really ended up enjoying it quite a lot, s...

When I started reading this book I readied myself for something light and fluffy, but it surprised me around every corner. The internal dialogue was interesting, funny, wry, ironic. But throughout Carolyn's journey of doubt and self-discovery one knows that she is growing all the time, that she is getting closer to understanding exactly who she is. Her love of teaching, and of children, shines through everything.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Well done to Kathleen Shoop.

“Learning and Love 101…”In this latest work of Ms. Shoop, we are introduced to Carolyn Jenkins, who has taken a position at a school on the D.C/Maryland border, which is world’s apart from her teaching experience in Pittsburgh, Pa. She now has a class comprised of half fifth graders and half sixth graders. Just because their age denotes the class to which they are assigned, does not mean they are academically prepared for its challenges. Carolyn’s class is a wild mix of personalities, from the g...

She's Got Books on Her MindCarolyn has been teaching for two months and her dream of changing lives is crumpling beneath her. Her boss Mr. Klein breathes down her neck while her students constantly fight with one another. She starts wondering if becoming a teacher was a mistake. Compared to her best friends she is failing royally. Not only is her work life in shambles but her personal life too. She realizes that what her longtime boyfriend Alex wants she doesn't. She's known this for a while now...

It's her first year of teaching and things just aren't going well for Carolyn Jenkins. With a class full of kids who can barely read their own name and a principal who is out to get her, Carolyn is struggling. Also stuck in a relationship that should have ended long ago, Carolyn needs to make some changes. Then she meets a mysterious man and things really start to get crazy. Their relationship is filled with ups and downs, and things between her and her friends are becoming strained as well. Car...

From the first, I was attracted to the main character, Carolyn Jenkins. She’s in her mid-20s, smart (and smart-alecky!), hard-working, and as we soon learn, idealistic. All good characteristics for a new teacher. Unfortunately, like many new teachers, she has landed in a tough situation: a challenged school with a ridiculous administration. As Carolyn navigates her new career, new life and new love, we laugh and cry along with her. The book is well-written, with good dramatic tension. I was pull...