Book Review: "Learn Me Good" by John Pearson

Learn Me Good by John Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon Book Description

Jack Woodson was a thermal design engineer for four years until he was laid off from his job. Now, as a teacher, he faces new challenges. Conference calls have been replaced with parent conferences. Product testing has given way to standardized testing. Instead of business cards, Jack now passes out report cards. The only thing that hasn't changed noticeably is the maturity level of the people surrounding him all day. Learn Me Good is a hilarious first-person account, inspired by real life experiences. Through a series of emails to Fred Bommerson, his buddy who still works at Heat Pumps Unlimited, Jack chronicles a year-in-the-life of a brand new teacher. With subject lines such as "Irritable Vowel Syndrome," "In math class, no one can hear you scream," and "I love the smell of Lysol in the morning," Jack writes each email with a dash of sarcasm and plenty of irreverent wit.


Engineer turned 3rd grade math and science teacher shares his first year in his new role with with the reader through one-sided emails sent to a former colleague at his old company. Every single email had me laughing from his clever subject lines to his unique monikers he has created for himself to sign off each of his emails. A great read for teachers, trainers, managers, parents or anyone who has ever dealt with people, young or old, who made you stop, scratch your head, and wonder "What the heck?" or "Did that just really happen?" It is a short read that is hard to put down once you get started. Sort of like Lay's potato chips where you can't eat just one, I kept saying I would read just one more email and then I would go to bed. In the Kindle version there is a preview of the author's sequel that was released in 2011, Learn Me Gooder and it appears to be just as hilarious.