Reviewed by Kathleen
Grace
Teachers aren’t
always classroom teachers is what this unconventional picture book makes a
point of telling its readers. There are other people in our lives – family, neighbours,
and friends -- who teach us all kinds of interesting stuff. Unlike most picture
books for young readers, the text in this book appears in paragraphs as it
addresses all the different kinds of teachers. Here’s an example on one page: ‘I’m
Lior. My favourite teacher is Mr Collins. He encourages me to love art even
more than I already do. Whenever I create a painting, he calls it a masterpiece…
even the little one of my sister that everyone else said looked like a wonky
giraffe.’
Not all the teachers
(and students) featured are white: quite a few are brown skinned (think Aboriginal
and Indian). This includes Ms Rossi whose class joked ‘swallowed a
calculator when she was a kid and it’s still working inside her.’ Grandpa
is also teaching maths: he’s opened a savings account for his granddaughter who
is making money from recycling bottles and cans. Vince, a neighbour, teaches
Poppy how to organise a neighbourhood action group with a petition to get the
council to improve the local park.
The Feiner
authors have covered many bases when it comes to teachers. There’s even a
community elder who teaches Jesse how to cook with fresh native ingredients.
The scattered illustrations appear against colourful backgrounds, and as well as people, they
include items relevant to the story. Some of the text is in white font and
could be larger to make reading more accessible. A classroom teacher might like to use My
Favourite Teachers as a springboard for discussion about how students (including
adults) learn about the world around them. The fly page at the front of the
book even has a ‘certificate’ which allows the reader to fill in their
favourite teacher to whom they’ve dedicated the book.
