Richard Papen had never been to New England before his nineteenth year. Then he arrived at Hampden College and quickly became seduced by the sweet, dark rhythms of campus life -- in particular by an elite group of five students, Greek scholars, worldly, self-assured, and at first glance, highly unapproachable.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A special 25th anniversary edition of the beloved book that has changed millions of lives with the story of an unforgettable friendship, the timeless wisdom of older generations, and healing lessons on loss and grief—featuring a new afterword by the author
 
“A wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul.”—Los Angeles Times
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When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control. Nicholas Allen has plenty of ideas. Who can forget the time he turned his third-grade classroom into a tropical island, or the times he fooled his teacher by chirping like a blackbird? But now Nick's in fifth grade, and it looks like his days as a troublemaker...

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt.

After leaving her disatrous marriage behind, Shelley Browning goes back to college to get her degree and comes face-to-face with an unforgettable man from her past. Grant Chapman had briefly taught her in high school ten years earlier. There teacher and student had shared a single, scorching, unplanned kiss that still haunts Shelley's dreams. Now, as irresistable as ever, Grant has just returned to teaching after a stint as a congressional aide in...

Several students relate their experiences helping Mr. Terupt move the old classroom to the sixth grade annex during the summer vacation.

"From the award-winning novelist, a compact narrative that turns on the death of a vivid and particular woman, and becomes the occasion for a man's deeper examination of love, friendship, and biography. This beautiful, spare novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch. Neil, the narrator, takes her class on Culture and Civilization, taught not for undergraduates...

Rival teenage apprentice sorcerers, Rook and Sun, must team up to save their teachers or risk losing their magic forever. Edison Rooker isn't sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn't have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn't even have magic. But he does have a plan--to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother...

Enduring privation when Japan declares war on England, a teacher at a British missionary school in China is sent to a distant internment camp, where she provides support and instruction to incarcerated children taken from their parents. China, December 1941. Elspeth Kent left England for a teaching post at a missionary school in northern China. Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School, protected by her British status. When...

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.