"The Essential 55: An Award-winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child" Ron Clark teaches school. He has 55 rules of "engagement" for anything from good manners (Don't take the largest piece of pie, Always say Thank-You, Make Eye Contact) to rules of responsibility and deportment (Enter the field trip building silently, Do not talk in the movies, unwrap your candy before the film to keep from disturbing others.) These rules teach his students to be polite and attentive, to understand if they don't hand in assignments, there will be consequences (even if the assignment is just a little blue card they have to return to him the next day.) But Ron is no martinet--he has weird rules (No Doritos, just because...and a funny story to make the rule amusing.) His War of the Onions against a sadly jealous fellow teacher is both hysterically funny and touching. Ron Clark shows the world that kids anywhere can learn to be well-brought up and polite, that manners and rules help them succeed. He makes the very important point that a teacher is an important influence since he or she is with those kids for more time during the day than the parents. This book is fun to read and is a great story. It is also a MUST-READ for any school teacher who wants to excel with their students and give them something of tremendous value to carry them through the rest of their lives with honor and grace--good manners and good behavior.