September is here, which means the autumn term is in full swing and we couldn’t think of a better time to pull together some of the wonderful reviews and media features that have surrounded the publication of Ryan Wilson‘s brilliantly funny and touching memoir of life as a secondary school teacher, Let That Be A Lesson, which was published by Chatto & Windus on 19th August.

You may have read excerpts from Ryan’s memoir in the Mail on Sunday, or perhaps caught him chatting with Vanessa Feltz about the joys of teaching on BBC Radio London and giving sage advice to radio presenter Sarah Walker on BBC Radio Berkshire on her son’s first week of secondary school. If you were lucky, you might have tuned into London Live to hear Ryan in conversation with James Dickman about his teaching experience, or taken time out to read his interview with The Times about his passion for the profession and his decision to leave.

We’ve been delighted to see the book resonate with so many people, and see all the wonderful reviews coming in. We’ve pulled together some of our favourites below:

‘A frank, funny and long overdue ode to teachers and teaching’
Adam Kay

‘An ode to teaching: hilarious, touching and so terrifyingly true’
Lucy Kellaway

‘If you want to know what the world of schools and classrooms is really like, this is your book. An unputdownable account of Ryan Wilson’s teaching years that describes the absolute reality of teaching in UK schools including the good parts, the bad and all that is ugly. I was captivated by Wilson’s honesty and vulnerability and loved reading and exploring every minute of this familiar world’
Andria Zafirakou, 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner

‘A delightfully frank and funny book – with a very serious message’
Jacqueline Wilson 

‘A hilarious love letter to teaching – and to teenagers. It throws open the doors to the staff room and our ears to the gossip inside’
Christie Watson

‘Laugh out loud funny – every teacher who reads it will cringe with empathy’
Laura McInerney

‘This entertaining memoir of 10 eventful years at the chalkface further illuminates the debt of gratitude we owe teachers, as Wilson brings a generation of brilliant, mischievous, horny, rowdy, disinterested and disruptive teenagers to life. But it’s also about the lessons his pupils taught Wilson: how to be patient and resilient, how to live authentically, and how to value every day.’
The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice

‘A rollicking tour of the joy and havoc of modern education. Ryan Wilson was clearly a brilliant teacher who seems to have experienced every catastrophe a school could throw at him. Appropriately for a book about schools, I learnt a hell of a lot from this. Full of passion warmth, wit, wisdom… and even some Latin. Not just funny and constantly surprising — but touching, poignant and personal too’
Jeremy Vine

‘Funny, sensitive and clever’
Victoria Derbyshire