KIRKUS REVIEW

When author Blomstrand was appointed the principal of a California elementary school, she understandably found her duties daunting given that she hadn’t served as a vice principal and was now in charge of more than 700 students and 60 teachers and staff members. Blomstrand writes lucidly of the personal dimension of her work and what she sees as the “heart of education”…. Some of the stories are remarkably dramatic…. Blomstrand supplies a unique perspective on elementary education with impressive clarity and common sense.”

ONLINE BOOK CLUB REVIEW

Meet the Principal: My Journey Beyond the Curriculum, by Jane Blomstrand, is a collection of stories unveiling the author’s experiences as a principal of an elementary school. In an interesting way, the book shows her relationship with her students, teachers, and parents of students, as she tried to create a good learning environment. It tells about how she and her staff worked together to support the students in order to improve their academic performance. In summary, it reveals her day-to-day responsibilities, challenges, and accomplishments.

This book is enlightening. The stories in it are well written and intriguing. They are easy to read and straightforward. Though they are quite short, their plots are solid and engaging, consisting of memorable events. Having a good balance of narrative and dialogues, they unveil how Jane was involved in difficult decision-making, as she handled situations concerning bullying, students’ negative behavior, absenteeism, parenting lapses, and so forth. Also, they show how she provided support for her struggling students and those who needed extra challenge. Education is essential for success; I enjoyed reading the book, and I’m glad that Jane made it available to enlighten readers about the world of an elementary school. Nonetheless, if you don’t like books about school activities, you may want to skip it.

Being a nonfictional book, I commend the author for the way she gave life to the characters in it. She described all of them very well, providing enough background and physical details about them. The characters are intriguing and relatable. Regarding profanity, there are no vulgar words in the book. However, there are a few conversations which originally included profane words, but, for discretion, the author just wrote the first letters of the words and then added dashes.

In addition, consisting of 312 pages, Meet the Principal: My Journey Beyond the Curriculum tells about how the author created a culture which increased student achievement, by building positive relationships through open dialogue and collaboration. It comprises an inspiring quote at the end of each chapter. Again, the author provides a glossary, at the end of the book, to explain the educational terminology in the stories.

In conclusion, I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars. I couldn’t rate it lower because it comprises enjoyable and eye-opening stories. It was professionally edited, though I noticed a lot of missing commas, which I saw as stylistic. I recommend it to educators and parents of elementary students.

READERS’ FAVORITE BOOK REVIEW

Meet the Principal: My Journey Beyond the Curriculum by Jane Blomstrand is a wonderful book that gives glimpses into the lives of principals and speaks about her experiences with students, parents, and teachers attempting to create a winning educational environment. Her experiences and stories while being a principal will be of great interest to all those who want to become school administrators. The stories are funny, sad, touching, and tell readers what happens at a school beyond its curriculum. The book has love and passion, and apart from being informative and educational, is also an eye opener to understanding the challenges faced by a principal. Jane Blomstrand’s stories and experiences give good insights into the life of a principal and what happens in an educational environment. She is honest and open about her experiences and her caring approach to children and her co-workers reveals her genuine interest in the welfare of her students. Reading the book is also a good way to understand the behind-the-scenes activities of a principal and to realize how difficult it is at times for them to rise above the challenges and make sure they have people with the right type of skills to do the job. Meet the Principal is a good book for all teachers and those dealing with school administration as the author shows the connection between the students and their families, teachers, and the curriculum in an engaging light. Reading this book is also a good way to understand the impact of a leader on the school and the people within that educational environment.

"Jane’s books are filled with wisdom we all can learn from."

know why something happened before punishing someone. You might punish the wrong person.

"Inspiring and fun to read"

Jane compares life as a principal to a baseball manager who is juggling many balls in the air with dealing with players, fans, press, owners, etc. Her chapters are labeled accordingly with “First Inning, Second Inning, etc.” as she started and finished her career as an elementary principal. She also ended the chapters with an inspiring quote that fitted the underlying message of the chapter. It is the perfect book to read for bedtime story time as most chapters are a story in itself.

"Multi-versatile for different viewpoints."

Ms. Blomstrand’s delightfully revealing book on what goes on behind the scenes for busy school administrators is worth the time to read. Her background as a veteran educator weaves seamlessly the myriad of experiences she has encountered and the wisdom she presents in each of her episodes as she navigates answers to the dilemmas she finds waiting at her principal’s desk. Parents, teachers and soon-to-be administrators will gain a deeper respect for the wide-ranging engagement a school principal’s role includes. Healthy doses of humanity, humor and common sense are evident in Ms. Blomstrand’s book. Each chapter will end with a smile on your face. Guaranteed!
T. McShane