In ten personal narrative essays, Mr. Cassity brings humor and soul to the literary world of his classroom, spanning nearly forty years of his teaching. The author focuses on many works of literature he has introduced to his students, elementary through college, and shares with his readers the surprising and unexpected responses he encountered. Mr. Cassity shunned the use of basal texts and worksheets, using instead trade publications, novels, short stories, drama, and poetry--centered around daily writing, dialogue, and integrated reading activities. The result is a continuing classroom drama of student voices, of a teacher struggling along hilariously with his learners, of a visual history of students mapping out their own growing literary landscapes. This book is for the general reader and the educational professional alike; the world Mr. Cassity describes is a milieu that transcends the school or college, helping us to discover how our culture is moved inevitably by the power of stories.