One of my friends mentioned that my book might not just be Book of the Spring and Summer, but of the Fall, too, given the rhythm of the school year. I smiled at the thought because, within that time period from March to April, I had completed edits to the book, finished my Math for America application, and turned in my National Board Certification papers. Little did I know that reviews from Publishers’ Weekly, The Nation, and others would still roll in, lauding the work of a full-time public middle school math teacher.

Then Diane Ravitch and David B. Cohen dropped their reviews today.

The power in both of these is, even though I’ve known them for years now, they came at my texts from backgrounds that aren’t akin to mine and they still found a way to walk in my size 13s for a couple of hundred pages. First, read this from Dr. Ravitch:

Jose Luis Vilson gives his readers a heavy dose of honesty, self-reflection, and insight. He cares passionately about his students. He fights for them (and occasionally spars with them). He loves his work. How many people can say, as Vilson, does, that they love what they do? That is what the detractors of teachers never understand; it is a joy that they will not experience. Vilson shares his joy and his experience.

The second from David B. Cohen, a California teacher current on sabbatical to write about the best practices happening in the Golden State:

But near the end of the book, José brings the narrative back to something more elemental, essential, foundational to everything else we wrestle with in the public sphere, as he writes movingly about the calling, the feeling of being a teacher: “Teaching has given me no choice but to activate my best inner qualities and to accept and embrace that I will never stop being a student myself. I love that every day there’s a new set of problems for me to solve. Even as I’m teaching my kids math, I’m learning along with them” (214).

I would hope, and expect, that This Is Not a Test will activate the best qualities in anyone who reads with curiosity and empathy.

After taking the time to read both of them today, I’m happy that people of all backgrounds read the book for the piece it was, not simply holding hands and Kumbaya (not to be confused with Kwanzaa) around a book that confronts race and class in education head-on.

Even the white people who pretend to not “see race” have to respect that.

photo c/o David Cohen, 2011