Jayne has just graduated from college with a very liberal arts degree.  After searching for what she calls "Eng-lightenment"--working on a fish line in Alaska and trying in vain to find her voice and identify as a writer--she gives up and returns home to Dayton, Ohio.  Here, she comes to discover that her mother, once a high profile, uber-driven CEO of her own company, has changed career paths and become a kindergarten teacher.  Though she is the favorite teacher of all of her students, Jayne's ... more »

Jayne has just graduated from college with a very liberal arts degree.  After searching for what she calls "Eng-lightenment"--working on a fish line in Alaska and trying in vain to find her voice and identify as a writer--she gives up and returns home to Dayton, Ohio.  Here, she comes to discover that her mother, once a high profile, uber-driven CEO of her own company, has changed career paths and become a kindergarten teacher.  Though she is the favorite teacher of all of her students, Jayne's mom has changed.  She is obsessed with making outfits for her two teeny dogs, reads children's books for fun, and much to Jayne's annoyance, has taken to using her "teacher" voice with her daughter and other adults.

Unable to deal with this "new" mother, Jayne moves away to--reluctantly--take a job teaching special education students at a very different type of school.  She faces many challenges as a teacher of autistic teens, but soon Jayne begins to realize that her students have as much to teach her as she does them.  When Jayne's favorite student, Peter, reports to her daily, sharing details of his mother's slow and declining battle with breast cancer, Jayne's world suddenly becomes smaller.  Through Peter, Jayne learns to come to terms with her own identity as a teacher, and ultimately, as her mother's daughter.  Less