Part I: Pages 1 through 20
* Esme Codell, at age 24, has begun work at a new public school under Mr. Turner.
* For now, Codell must tolerate mundane administrative tasks instead of teaching.
* Mr. Turner is vain and insufferable, and Codell frequently butts heads with him.
* Codell's proposal for a "Fairy Tale Festival" is met with derision from the administrative bureaucracy.
* Codell's teaching mentor was Ismene Siteles, a stern but supportive teacher who recently died.
Part I: Pages 20 through 45
* Codell begins her first day as a fifth-grade teacher at the new school.
* The large majority of her students are black, with five Mexicans, one Pakistani, and one Philippina.
* Codell institutes several innovative teaching methods, like making a "Trouble Basket" for kids to put their troubles in, and calling Math "Puzzling" so kids aren't intimidated by the subject.
* A Columbus comic book is stolen, but is soon anonymously returned.
* Codell is horrified...
This section contains 895 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page)