The "big round table" in the author's childhood home was the place to eat and talk, the place where her parents engaged in after-dinner chess matches, the place where her father made simple repairs to, e.g., radios, lamps, etc. But in the author's memory it is, best of all, the place where her father told imaginative and engaging "tall tales" presented in a style characterized by humorous digressions, a warm confidentiality and a nonsensical logic that dared one not to believe what would seem to be unbelievable. In "Fish, Fog, Frogs (and other stories)" during a visit to her childhood home (and the "big round table"), the author encourages her father to share his stories with her children (his two grandchildren). With only a little urging, he begins with the tale of his pet (crime-fighting) fish. He feigns a hesitancy to continue but before the family leaves the table, Jennifer and Jonathan have heard six of his most famous tales. Though the reading level is for 4th-6th grades, the stories and setting make this a book for all ages, encouraging families to leave their "big flat screen TVs" and find their own version of a "big round table" where they can identify the stars and supporting cast of their own family legends, keeping alive memories of people and experiences that have helped to shape who they are.

This book examines a policy that is one of the most powerful levers to improve teaching quality and advance teaching as a profession. Jennifer Goldstein presents the story of Rosemont, an urban district in California that created ""professional accountability"" with peer assistance and review (PAR), an alternative approach to teacher evaluation in which expert teachers evaluate their teacher peers. It challenges a number of long-held beliefs and practices in education-- adversarial labor relations, ""being nice,"" hierarchy, isolation, and negligence--to achieve very different teacher evaluation outcomes. This timely and accessible volume: Chronicles a rare case of a teacher union and school district partnering to improve teacher quality and teacher evaluation. Presents the most detailed study of PAR implementation, including its processes, challenges, and outcomes. Summarizes the state of PAR implementation across the country in an afterword by Susan Moore Johnson.