Who knew you could be moved in 6 words? This was a very accurate view on a really rough year. What a great concept for a book.

I recall reading Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak a few years ago. While I did not review it, I do recall going through a roller-coaster of emotions as I read it.

Just like that one, this book is sure to evoke a multitude of emotions from its readers. It is a poignant, tugging-at-heartstrings that makes you smile. It is sweet and truthful, filled with humor and hope, and wisdom beyond the years. Though this book focuses on the pandemic as viewed by students, teachers, and parents, it will strike a chord with you. No matter who we are, or where we live, everyone has gone through the pandemic now; so everyone will find a lot to relate in this book.

Each six-word memoir had me fall in love with humanity, with the power of words, and made me hopeful for us. I also loved the included longer essays (a few of them) which talk about ‘Lessons Learned’ and the interspersed visual six word-memoirs with artwork by students.

We can chose to devour it in just a little time, and yet, we can spend endless hours dipping back into its pages, and pondering over our own six-words for, just about anything.

The SixWordMemoirs website offers resources for teachers to use in the classroom (ideal for homeschools too), and so much more as well.

Random Selection of Six-Word Memoirs
If I had to pick my favorites, I would simply have to share the whole book. Instead, I randomly picked a few across the pages:

Exercise in futility; P.E. on Zoom. – Elsie Thompson, 14
Mask Pivot: Smile With Your Eyes
Social distancing myself from the fridge. – Maria Leopoldo
Traded homegrown avocados for toilet paper. – JL Nuss
My heart misses a MILLION people. – Lucette Cortese, 5

Disclaimer: Thanks to Netgalley for the digital review copy of the book. These are my honest opinions of the book.

A book of "American Haiku" poems in the frame of 6-word stories. This book centers around student (with some teachers and parents) during COVID. It's amazing how 6 words can make you laugh, cry and be left speechless.

This is a great snapshot in time during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns where students learned via computer screens and not with teachers in person, with friends all around, with schedules full of activities. Where teachers had to suddenly shift plans and learn how to teach all over again.

A quick read and a good way to remember that tough time that we are still trying to recover from.

Thanks to NetGalley for the access for an honest review.

I didn't love or hate this one. It was just okay. I loved the concept. Thought many of the six word memoirs were really good and made me think, but many of them just felt really flat. I thought I would enjoy this more to be honest, so I was a bit disappointed that I didn't.

This was a fascinating memoir of sorts from the perspective of students, teachers, and parents during such a trying year for all of us. I was a parent to students during the pandemic, but my experience was unique and unlike those in these stories.

I appreciated the ability to find so many different views in such an uplifting way. This was such a trial of a year for all of us, and reading what others endured truly helped me feel connected with humanity. It was a beautiful anthology.

Wow, as a teacher this book really hit home. It encapsulated the good, the bad and they ugly of all that is teaching during a pandemic. From young children to parents to educators it really doesn't matter the age in 6 words so much can be conveyed. Without looking at ages I would not have always been able to tell which came from which ages.

I also enjoyed the little interludes of personal stories of growth and learning from the pandemic. The mini essays interspersed throughout broke up the 6 word memoirs which I feel helped to keep them more meaningful.

I would really love to try this concept of six-word memoirs with my seniors to see what they can come up with reflecting on their educational careers.

The art-work was another amazing aspect of the book. I would love to own this one in a physical copy to revisit and have in my classroom as a reminder of the year(s) we will never forget.

Emotional. Thought-provoking. Real-life lived by us all and seen through the eyes of our children.
And, I love the concept for a creative project in a classroom. Kudos!

I absolutely love six word memoirs and a pandemic one?! Count me in. It's brilliant. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll finally feel like something good came out of 2020.

This was a unique. A fun way to think about and remember the oddness of the last few years and the pandemic they brought with them.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advance copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest review and opinion. The title describes the last 2+ years of our lives. Loved this! Such a great keepsake for future generations to see what the education field lived through.

This seems like a great way for students to process their feelings on what has been a very trying time in our society. I like that it also teaches students that poetry is approachable and something that they can access and create. I appreciate anything new avenue to give students a voice. This work is exceptional in that all levels of readers can access and grow from it.

The idea of this book sounded so good and I so badly wanted to like it! However, the book felt redundant and lost its charm about a third of the way through. I didn't really connect with anyone's stories, so the parts where we gained more insight into specific voices wasn't particularly interesting. Overall, I might still recommend this to fellow teachers because I do think it will make you at least chuckle.

Having never read any other Six-Word Memoir books before, I cannot recommend A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year enough!

Working in, but on the outside, of the education field, I hear a lot of stories from Educators and Students. A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year features six word memoirs from students, parents and educators around the country. Some of them were heat-breaking while others were hilarious. All of them were relatable and really brought into perspective the struggles that we all have faced during this Pandemic. I highly recommend giving this book a read!

It was cute at first, but after a while felt gimmicky and repetitive. This is a good book for a dentist's waiting room - something to casually page through and skim while your mind is worrying about the crown you're there to get.

I lost interest. DNF at 55%. 1.5 Stars.

It's hard to believe that it has been two years since the pandemic started 💔 My kids were in Kindergarten and 4th grade when their schools shut down in March 2020 and they did remote schooling for over a year. This collection of Six Word Memoirs written by teachers, students and parents definitely hit home for me.

This book is the 10th book in the Six Word Memoir series. It contains hundreds of Six Word Memoirs about the year we stayed home as well as short essays about the experiences of teaching and learning remotely. Every entry is amazing, some made me laugh, some made me cry, some took my breathe away.

"Six feet never felt so far"
--Ava Russ, 15

This book is a quick read but well worth your time. And it inspired me to write my own Six Word Memoir.

"Two years...a blink, a lifetime"

Thank you to Netgalley and Six-Word Memoirs for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great short read, I found myself laughing and agreeing with a lot of the six-word stories in this book. I also loved the longer stories that were dispersed between the short quotes, they were well written and helped me realise just people in schools went through in the pandemic, something i had no interaction or dealings with.

This was a great little read, I think anyone would get a giggle out of this book and enjoy it and I'm glad that I sat down and read through it.

Despite the global traumatic experience, beyond the ongoing issues and obstacles already taking place, many families and communities came together in the months that followed to bring each other support. This edition of six-word memoirs provides in-depth context to the everyday experiences and the struggles of students, parents, and teachers as they adapted to a confusing new world.

I teach, my preschoolers watch TV.
More on that later...

A Terrible Horrible No Good Year
Six Word Memoirs
By Teachers, Students, and Parents
Edited by Larry Smith
Described as "America's hiaku" teachers, students, and parents described their remote learning experience in 6 brief words. I enjoyed reading these but this books real value lies in the the possibility of your own creation. I'm already thinking of how I can teach my students how to write in this simple style!

...I remember teaching remotely to be a "never enough" scenario. Everyday I tried to give quality instruction to struggling readers virtually, with my just barely 4 and 2 year old in the background. It was all I could do to squeeze feeding and potty training in between zoom sessions. I knew I was asking for way more independence than a 3 and 2 year old should have to give. I felt inadequate in every way but especially as a Mom. So that's the story behind my 6 word memoir.

I teach, my preschoolers watch TV...

Thank you #netgalley and @six.word.memoirs for this book in exchange for an honest review!

All of us have had a “terrible, horrible, no good” couple of years. In the emotional upheaval of these last two years (and running), the highest impact has no doubt been felt in the field of education. Everyone knows how the medical fraternity have been the heroes of the pandemic, but a very close second have been teachers. From personal connections to two-way communications to friendly interactions, everything was suddenly partitioned with a screen and teachers had to figure out almost overnight how to teach through Zoom.

Six Word Memoirs are known on Twitter for their six word “American haiku”. In this collection, they bring together various six word one-liners from various members connected to education – students, teachers, principals, special trainers, administrators, and so on. In addition, there are also essays by various professionals on how they adapted their teaching sessions to the online mode. While I liked the one-liners, what won my heart was the essays. They truly reflected how much of unheralded efforts the teaching community has invested over the years of the pandemic.

Most people will of course opt for this book because of the six word memoirs. So here’s a little bit more about them. They comes from a variety of age groups, right from 3 years plus. They cover a variety of moods: joy, despondency, anxiety, hope… Some of them are outright funny while others will make you feel a strong empathy. The only issue is that you can’t read this in one go. This is a book to be savoured slowly else it gets repetitive too soon.

Some of the pages contain illustrated six word memoirs where talents artist students not just compose their six-word sentence but also sketched a matching image for it. These are brilliant.

3.5 stars from me.

In six words,
Read but not in one go.

My thanks to Six-Word Memoirs and NetGalley for the ARC of “A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I loved this quick read! My daughter is too young to be in school, so all of the perspectives from teachers, parents and students were enlightening. There are a lot of feelings in this book, somehow contained in six little words. I also really enjoyed the longer essays, as they were really well written and just well said. If you're looking for something concerning the pandemic that's quick and funny at times but serious at others, I definitely recommend this one.