Books with author William Jay Smith

A hotel owner in Germany who chases his guests with a Tazer. A drunk official in Nepal who blockades all highway traffic. A former Soviet musician who thinks a sledgehammer is an appropriate way to slaughter a cow. Derek Smith’s memoir has some mishaps and adventures, sure — but that’s not the main draw. It’s Nick. Nick is the book’s Jiminy Crickett, an unfiltered voice to counteract what is always a dangerous scenario: an English teacher addressing an audience. Nick interrupts the rambling anecdotes, redirects the long-winded asides, and calls into question the life lessons Mr. Smith insists that we’re learning all along the way. So laugh at his naivete in college. Be unsurprised by his inexperience. Shake your head when he lectures about the role of education and how he majored in it. Find some intrigue with his immersion into not one but two Peace Corps countries. And find joy or disdain knowing that he’ll retell the story of how he fell in love with his wife. Feel something or nothing — but know that, regardless of the tale, there will be Nick, forever trying to make the stories more tolerable. Because everybody needs someone that calls you out every now and then. Especially teachers.

Danny, Irene, Joe and Professor bullfinch launch themselves on an amazing journey--in time. They land in the year 1763 and one of the first people they meet is Benjamin Frankly! The Professor plans to return soon to the future, but when he throws the switch, the time machine won't start! While he and Mr. Franklin try to repair it, Danny and his friends explore the colonial town--and Joe is kidnapped by an angry innkeeper who mistakes him for a runaway. Danny and Irene rescue him, but the innkeeper is hot on their trail as they race back to the Professor and Mr. franklin. Will the time machine work now? Or are they stranded in the past forever?

For nine-year-old Billy, becoming a superhero is not going to be easy.Becoming a Superhero takes readers (8 - 12) back to World War 11 and its aftermath, as they look inside the life of Billy Smith, a 10-year-old living in a Pennsylvania coal mining town. Billy decides he wants to become an American superhero, yet the choices he makes often have disastrous consequences.The story is a tale of morals and values. A first-person narrative of a young boy, caught between the innocence of childhood and the responsibilities of growing up. Each page is like having Grandpa tell stories of what life was like growing up "in the olden days."The story is semi-autobiographical, based on published poems of my childhood. I am currently a college instructor teaching psychology and education courses at Ocean County College in New Jersey.

Are you the kind of person who enjoys reading personal memoirs from another century? What was common in everyday life? What social and political views did people share? What was foreign travel like? How was Thanksgiving Day celebrated?In this volume, the author "walks and talks" and you are transformed back to the late 1800's into his everyday world...going hunting, visiting local merchants and friends,his views on education, Thanksgiving Day and much more. He also shares his insights about travel to Mexico and its customs and people.An enjoyable and easy read.