Learnt (Duval County Book) - Hardcover

With engrossing scenes, smart prose, and addictive characters, Baldwin's debut novel about life in a classroom more than makes the grade. Learnt, the first of his "classroom dramas," is not another teacher memoir about overcoming hard experiences in a tough school; it's fiction. Gripping, illuminating, powerful fiction. Set in Duval County, he tells the story of first-year English teacher Tony Avery, abused student Kenny Houston, and the infamous Lincoln High, a school that's every teacher's last choice of employment.

Character development is superb. Baldwin has a style that grows on you, and he submerges readers into two very different lives, entrancing us with the plights of some of the most engaging, most memorable characters ever to enter a classroom. We follow along with Tony and Kenny's personal struggles, eventually witnessing how their individual hardships influence life at Lincoln High. With a generous dose of plot twists and surprises, and portraying a fresh, bold dialect, Learnt packs the wallop of a talented, innovative writer who has only begun to write.

Edward M. Baldwin is a former high school English teacher and literacy coordinator who now seeks to make a difference with his writing. A graduate of the University of North Florida, he started "Learnt," the first novel of his Duval County books, during his junior year at UNF. It took three years to complete. However, he wrote "Victims of Shakespeare" (his second Duval County novel) in half that time, quickly followed by "Teacher Deficit Disorder." He's currently writing "Gun Point Average," his fourth Duval County novel. Having an arsenal of "classroom dramas" to complete, he aspires to become the John Grisham of education--America's Education Novelist. He lives in Jacksonville with his wife and three children. For more information on the author, or to read draft pages of future books, visit him online at: EdwardMBaldwin.com.