From the very first week of Tim Clancy's 25-year career as a high school English teacher, he began to notice and collect funny and strange moments he discovered in his students' writing, such as: "The word 'witch' has become a household word, like 'spatula,'" and "Wherever excitement is, there will always be romance. Trust me." He would occasionally share them with his classes, who enjoyed them as much as he did, and so this book was born. Best in Class collects nearly 200 of the most entertaining of these moments culled from real student writing and complements them with dozens of playful illustrations to create a sympathetically hilarious book for anyone who has muddled their way through the wilderness of a school writing assignment.

Tim Clancy taught high school English in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for more than 25 years.

Johnny Sampson is a Chicago-based cartoonist and illustrator. His clients include Mad magazine, National Lampoon, Mother Jones, and the New York Times.