Scary if this is based on real facts. Humorous account of a teacher for super high income families making low wages deciding to increase her income by tutoring students. It really turned into doing their homework but making obscene amounts of money. Anna goes from barely being able to pay her bills to becoming "shopaholic" at the best stores. She meets teachers who live the tutor life and a man who does not. Then she becomes aware of her role in all of this as a teacher. ( )

One star, and yet I read (most of) it. "In the tradition of the Nanny Diaries," says the back of this ARC. Oh, right ... another one-star book I read. In the sub-genre of Upper East Side Prep School Kids Who Cheat, I prefer Glamorous Disasters by Eliot Schrefer. ( )

Everyone close to Anna seems to think it's a bad idea for her to become a teacher. Her parents and best friend all warn her that she won't do well on a teacher's salary. Teaching is her dream and Anna wants to get her students excited about learning. She thinks she'll be the cool teacher, someone who can both teach and be loved by her students as well.

She goes to work at a very prestigious Upper East Side school. She learns very quickly that any time she asks the students to do any real work at all that their parents will call to complain.

The students come from very wealthy families, families that invest money in the school. So, she's given reminders from her bosses that she's not to question the parents' wishes.

One day, something happens that causes Anna to snap. She feels that she can't inspire the kids to learn with their parents constantly questioning her motives.
When a very lucrative deal is offered to her of tutoring, she has to consider.
She's being offered hundreds of dollars an hour to tutor kids from other schools.

It's very easy for her to make a ton of money tutoring, which sometimes crosses the line between teaching and doing the actual work.

I liked the way Anna's morals were questioned. She would never have pictured herself doing this. It's the opposite of what she wants to do. It goes against everything she stands for.
But when she seems to keep getting rewarded for making the wrong choices, she has to question whether she can really have the job she dreamed of even if she does everything right.


( )

I was both happy and sad that this is her FIRST novel---but hopefully Lakhani will continue to write MORE--she IS working on another novel! I read an interview with her and this book, even with all of the amusing descriptions, has some unfortunate truth in it as to what has happened to the education of today's young people. She really showed more than one side of the profession of "teacher." ( )

I have to rank this book right along with Spinelli's Stargirl. Both are stories of middle school students where the lead character comes from a homeschooling environment. The public school students learn and grow from their experiences with the lead characters, but so do the lead characters. There are fun things that happen along the way, too. I like this book because I think adolescents get a nice perspective on conformity v being yourself, and above all being a good person. ( )