My Favourite Teachers

Beck & Robin Feiner

ABC Books, 2022

32pp., hbk., RRP $A19.99

9780733342332

When we hear the word ‘teacher’ we automatically think of those amazing people who work in the classrooms of our schools working with our kids to help them understand the world around them, how it works and where they can or might fit into it.  We might even value them and the work they do a bit more since the pandemic forced many parents to take on the job of teaching the formal stuff at home.

But as well as those dedicated to the profession, our children have many teachers in their lives – parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers, neighbours and friends. This book is a celebration of ALL the teachers in children’s lives.  Each double page spread introduces a student and who their favourite teacher at school is, and also one from their community.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, while its solid block colour illustrations are eye-catching, the choice of both the font style and colour (white on pale pages is never easy) could make it tricky for some of its target audience to read and this too, could spark interesting discussions about how important  presentation is to readability. When students are formatting their own presentations, there is a tendency to pick the brightest colours, the most intricate fonts and use every piece of app whizzbangery there is, often resulting in eye candy that hurts and distracts the eyes from the essential message of the text.  Thus, learning how to present tasks visually to obtain maximum attention to the message is an essential skill.  

The book itself begs to be a model for students to add their own pages, offering them an opportunity to look at not only the diversity of what they learn, but also those who teach them.