Teacher Of The Year — Edward Scott Ibur

Edward Scott Ibur uses brazen and cutting satire to relay the story of a middle school teacher clinging to his career and dignity during a year spent in professional purgatory. Seventh grade English teacher, Scott Eisenberg, bears the brunt of his principal's wrath through lousy evaluations and personal humiliation after a handful of his students fail the critical year-end state assessment (No Child Left Behind). Given the option of termination or probation, the teacher agrees to work with three interventionists (shadows): an acrophobic Nepalese Sherpa, an inflexible retired army general and a streetwise hip-hop DJ who lays down the novel's diverse musical soundtrack featuring more than 100 songs. Eisenberg recounts nine months spent with these unlikely saviors both in and out of the classroom. Similar to the stylings of Thank You for Smoking, Catch 22 and Lucky Jim -- Teacher of the Year is a character-driven novel about a teacher ensnared by The No Child Left Behind Law and the ramifications of standardized testing.