Put a Wet Paper Towel On It is written by Lee and Adam Parkinson, two brothers who host the podcast Two Mr. Ps in a Pod(Cast), a light-hearted look at teaching in UK primary schools. This book had an unusual writing style that was conversational in nature with the two authors talking and joking with one another on the pages – almost as if you were reading a transcript of one of their podcast episodes. While the writing style wasn’t quite my cup of tea, this book was still filled with interesting, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes about life as a primary school teacher.

The book was divided up into chapters, each covering a different topic after introductions from both authors about their respective journeys into teaching. Some of these include Classroom Crazes, School Performances, PE, Dinner Times, and Parents. Many of these sections are eye-opening and serve as reminders about just how much work goes into a typical school day even outside of teaching. I also especially liked the two early chapters that chronicled each of the authors’ journeys into teaching.

One of the chapters that really stood out, however, came at the end with the bluntly titled: “Everything Wrong with Education (in the UK)”. Here, Lee lays into the terrible and often toxic environment that teaching has become via mismanagement, poor government policies, over-regulation, misguided attempts at improving wellbeing, and much more that has led to the field having truly abysmal recruitment and even worse retention rates. It’s a chapter that is brutally honest and will leave you with a strong desire to help enact change.

I did find Put a Wet Paper Towel On It to be a little jumbled as it jumped from topic to topic, and not always entirely clear about who was speaking to me at any moment, but I still enjoyed the book and am planning to check out the podcast too.

An absolute cracker of a book. So funny with the classic Mr P spin on things. I adore the community he has built up and, as a fellow teacher, a lot of what he wrote really rings through. Thank you for the arc.

As a retired secondary teacher I loved the idea of reading about the primary school environment. The book had many funny moments but on the whole I did not like the authors approach as I found it too cynical in many places and certainly lots of bashing the government and its various organisations for everything bad. Having said that I have to admit that he was right in what was written but I felt the approach taken was not in keeping with the book description.
I also did not like the brotherly comments and supercilious statements by the author in many places.

Put a Wet Paper Towel On It by Lee and Adam Parkinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️

As soon as I saw the title I knew I had to read this book! As an ex primary school teacher it was so relatable (and yes I was that teacher who was always late for assembly and had to have a runner sent for me! 😆)

The chapters are separated into different aspects of primary school life such as school trips, classroom crazes and performances.

There are lots of laugh out loud moments as well as some deeper discussions about the issues surrounding education in the UK. I left teaching about 4 years ago after 12 years and I must admit I’ve never looked back! However this book was a brilliant reminder of all the things I did once love about the job, namely the children and all the wonderful and dedicated staff.

My only criticism would be that personally I didn’t really enjoy the banter between the brothers.

Would recommend to anyone who works or worked in a primary school as well as any parents who’d like a bit more of an insight into what teaching your little darlings is really like! 😆

Thank you to @netgally for the digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Put A Wet Paper Towel on it!!!

This will give you a good laugh.

As I've always said with kids you need a sense of humour..

Your hands free to cover your mouth when you can't suppress that grin and have to do the fake cough, or in some cases coughing fit.

There is never a dull moment with their assumptions, insights, sense of humour, both in vocalisations and actions.

Such innocent fun is absolutely amazing.

As a teaching assistant I found the book very funny and so many things in the book are like a typical day for me. Welk written with humour throughout. Really enjoyed it.

3⭐️ Ever wanted a different perspective on teaching and teaching assistants ? Well , this if for you . This is a humorous account of what your child never told you when they arrive home from school or what top secret information they divulged in front of the entire class . This is written by “Two Mr P’s in a Pod(cast )“ a firm favourite education podcast .
The narrative was a little jumbled in places as the two brothers spoke at the same time

Perhaps might be more entertaining on audio ?

Thanks to #Netgallery for an ARC

Sadly didn't get through this. The tone of the foreword put me off entirely, I felt the author came across as smarmy and unlikeable.

A. It like listening to the hyper friend you have talk about their day, job or life. There is lots of interesting comment but the chatty cotyle and over friendly ‘aren’t I great’ rubbed me up the wrong way. Mr P is clearly great and does an amazing job however the book seemed packed with false modesty. Perhaps one to read in bite size chunks.

I had so much hope and joy for this book, the way it was described made me think it would be a light-hearted, easy read. It fell flat and felt much like a PR or advert for the author's podcast. The authors mentioned it far too many times and the content of the book didn't actually meet the description being given.

To be honest it wasn’t my type of book but I thought I’d give it a go. Was well written and I am sure lots of people would enjoy it more than I did. But still well written.

This book had me howling throughout. A great, comedy insight into what goes on behind the closed doors of a classroom and a real eye opener as to what the poor teachers have to go through and put up with on a daily basis, that people on the outside don’t consider. I’ll certainly be going easy on the teachers at my daughter’s school from now on!

As the mum of a 5 year old, it’s great to read the chaos that goes on and see a few recognisable truths about the kids, parents and teachers. I don’t think drop off will be the same again now I’ve read this.

This is an interesting and humours book looking at primary school teaching and some funny stories involved

I'm a teacher. Mainly a secondary level one, although I do have primary-age children so the school world explored by brothers Lee and Adam Parkinson in this book is not entirely alien to me. I had also seen posts by Mr P on Twitter but hadn't made the connection with this book - the @ICT_MrP account is (I think) run by Lee.

This book is an entertaining jaunt through life as a teacher. It covers all the parts of the school year that are part and parcel of teaching life - the parents' evenings, the school play, assemblies...plus the primary school belief that a wet paper towel can cure all ills. Headache - wet paper towel. Bruised knee - wet paper towel. Major arterial bleeding - wet paper towel. True.

As a parent of this age group and previous teacher of Years 5 and 6, a lot of this was extremely relatable and funny. There were some brilliant stories that made me laugh out loud - I especially loved the assembly for the child moving to Australia...

However, I actually think that the book might be more engaging for parents or those outside the school system - I did like the funny stories, but a lot of the analysis of the state of education is slightly wasted on fellow teachers. We hear you and agree with you - but it undermines the humour somewhat to be living it!

The format of the book was also a little bit puzzling on Kindle. The two Mr Ps each 'speak' in a different font, but this isn't always clear on a Kindle. I'd probably suggest that this book would be more easily enjoyed in print form.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who wants a sneaky peek into the world of primary schools. It is funny (because it is true!) but possibly more enjoyable to those who aren't in schools every day themselves as this limits the impact a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high expectations for this book but sadly it didn’t live up to them. I just didn’t find it interesting or amusing.

This is an interesting book about the current state of education. As a former teacher I am surprised at how little things seem to have changed since I left a number of years ago. I found the detail of how schools currently function of interest, the increased focus on targets and constant monitoring was saddening . Although I was not aware of the podcasts I can see how they paved the way for the book.

This was Interesting and amusing at times! Great anecdotes about Primary teaching and the challenges. I found the style a little repetitive at times but overall a good read.

An in sight into the workings and machinations inside a primary school . I found it to be funny in parts but not sure that the formula of the two Mr Ps with different typefaces worked for me.

Sorry, was looking forward to this and I know I'm the exception, but I just didn't enjoy this. It was just a lot of clichés.
The only part I really found interesting was the analysis of what is wrong in Education.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book is from two brothers, who are in the teaching profession, and both have a podcast focusing on life in the classroom, and funny stories that come with being a teacher. I’m not familiar with the podcast, but the title on this book alone was what drew me in.
This book features chapters about school life, and anecdotes from kids, and staff. It mentions a few times about how understaffed, under appreciated, and under funded the profession is. As a primary parent, I’m fully aware of that, so I did feel that was a bit unnecessary. We read from both perspectives in a conversation style, and that was confusing at times, so I would say that this book is best as an audio.

Overall, I did enjoy it, and it did have some funny stories.