Top Ten Tuesday (TTT) brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.

Welcome to another Tuesday! This week it’s Back to School…

Back To School Freebie — anything “back to school” related like 10 favorite books I read in school, books I think should be required reading, Required Reading For All Fantasy Fans, required reading for every college freshman, Books to Pair With Classics or Books To Complement A History Lesson, books that would be on my classroom shelf if I were a teacher.

I decided to go off the chart a bit with my freebie this week and chose…

Top Ten Teachers

In retrospect, this list was much harder to come up with than I anticipated. Many books I can think of feature a boarding school or high school aspect, but the teachers don’t seem to play much of a role.

Let’s see if I can ace this exam…

Mr. Stessman, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Ok, I admit it. Mr. Stessman may or may not be the greatest teacher in the world, but he’s pretty much the only teacher we spend time with in this wonderful, beautiful book by Ms. Rowell. Which I just finished listening to Monday afternoon while running errands, and I found myself crying in the car. It was beautiful. I loved it. So I had to have Eleanor & Park in my list this week.

Mrs. Gorf, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. I remember loving this super goofy book about an elementary school that was accidentally built thirty stories tall. Mrs. Gorf is, of course, a terrible teacher, but her fate in Chapter One is an awesome way to start the book.

Professor Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K.Rowling. It’s hard to narrow this one down to just one professor, there are so many wonderful teachers at Hogwarts. I was going to pick McGonagall, but I really just adore Lupin. The students respond to him and he made Defense Against the Dark Arts not only practical, but fun.

Maisie Dobbs, A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear. Maisie goes undercover for the Secret Service posing as a lecturer in a private college and ends up investigating a murder while she’s there.

Jake Epping, 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Jake is an English teacher who travels back in time to save JFK from being assassinated. But the rabbit hole takes him back in time to 1958, so he ends up taking a job as a teacher in Texas while waiting for that fateful day. This is by far my favorite Stephen King book. Excellent story telling.

Seen the Show, but Haven’t Read the Book…yet

In making this list, I’ve realized there are a lot of teachers I know from TV or film, but I haven’t (yet) read the book. So I’m popping those in here too.

Laura Ingalls, These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read a few books in the Little House series when I was a kid, but I don’t think I made it this far.

Ezra Fitz, Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. If loving Ezra Fitz is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I have always rooted for Ezra and Aria on PLL. (Although it was easier to be on Team Ezra knowing that the actress is actually in her 20’s, and not a junior in high school. Because in reality? Not cool, Mr. Fitz. Not cool.)

John Keating, Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum. Honestly, Robin Williams portrayal is so perfect, I will probably never read this book. (And in looking at the book cover image I realized this book is just an adaption of the screenplay. But I love Mr. Keating so much I’m leaving it in here.) Oh captain, my captain!

…And Two Excellent Films.

These are just movies. I admit it. BUT they are based on real people, so I’m sure there are biographies out there somewhere. I’m having trouble coming up with ten items this week, and both of these teachers keep popping into my head.

Jaime Escalante, Stand and Deliver. A fantastic film about a math teacher who has faith in and pushes his at-risk students to learn calculus.

Principal Joe Clark, Lean on Me. Another fantastic film about a principal fighting to improve an inner city school. Morgan Freeman is outstanding.

Okay, I had to cheat a little to come up with ten, and threw two movies in there. But if you haven’t seen those two films, you should. Beautifully told stories (based on real people) that reflect just how important and amazing teachers are.

What book featuring a fabulous teacher did I miss this week? What was YOUR TTT school theme? I can’t wait to see your choice – link up in the comments below.