Review: Enjoyable tale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2014
Second Chances by Cleo A. Lampos reminds me a bit of the movie Dangerous Minds in that a young teacher joins the teaching staff in a rough school district hoping to make a difference in the lives of the students that she teaches. In this case, that young teacher is Zoey Pappas and she has taken a 5th grade teaching position at Diamond Project School in Chicago Illinois.  Her goal since childhood has been to teach in a school just like the Diamond Project School as a result of watching the movie… you guessed it, Dangerous Minds.  Zoey is like all new teachers, especially those from a small town with no urban experience, a little nave to the plights of the poverty stricken family.  That doesn’t stop her from trying everything to help her students.Another great aspect of this book is the relationship that develops between Zoey and hunky and well liked local cop Gavin Corrigan.  He helps her get safely to the school on her first day after she gets lost and then teaches DARE in her classroom.  They even share a spiritual side which is ever present in this book.  This is a great book for an afternoon read.