Writers and Their Teachers, edited by Dale Salwak, brings together 20 essays by writers discussing their most influential teachers, in the broadest sense of the term.

This is an excellent book for anyone who likes to read something relatively short before bed that leans heavily toward the positive. From warm remembrances to interesting anecdotes, these essays show just how important the right person can be at the right time in someone's life. In this case, teachers/mentors.

This can, for an active reader, be a wonderful source of ways to reach your own students, not just writing students. Admittedly this is not designed for that purpose, but one hopes that anyone teaching creative writing is creative and active enough in their reading to find the core of each of these essays and translate most of them into actions that might have a positive affect on their students. Unless, of course, the "teacher" needs a step-by-step regimen, which pretty much means she/he may well be employed as a teacher but she/he is not an educator.

Recommended for those wanting memoirish essays about mentorship for pleasure reading as well as those looking for tidbits for being a more effective writer or educator. Though finding those tidbits does require being a creative and active reader and not a passive reader that needs one's hand held.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )