Recognition of teachers has been a focus of the Diamond Jubilee Year of the National Council of Teachers of English (1985-86), which honors the outstanding teachers of some of the nation's leaders in this collection of testimonials about the influence these teachers have had on their lives. Contributors to the collection are Margaret Walker Alexander, Rudolfo A. Anaya, Edward Asner, William Attwood, Louis Auchincloss, Erma Bombeck, Wayne Booth, Ernest L. Boyer, Gwendolyn Brooks, Art Buchwald, Barney Bush, Jimmy Carter, Henry G. Cisneros, Lucille Clifton, Pat Conroy, Norman Cousins, Peter De Vries, Richard Eberhart, Mary Hatwood Futrell, Nikki Giovanni, William Goldman, Eloise Greenfield, Joy Harjo, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, Kristin Hunter, Karla Kuskin, Nancy Larrick, Madeline L'Engle, James A. McPherson, Naomi Long Madgett, Haki R. Madhubuti, Bernard Malamud, Sharon Bell Mathis, N. Scott Momaday, Willie Morris, Edwin Newman, Richard M. Nixon, Louis Nizer, Felipe De Ortego Y Gasca, Simon J. Ortiz, Norman Vincent Peale, Walker Percy, Alvin F. Poussaint, Gloria Randle Scott, John B. Slaughter, William Stafford, Alvin Toffler, Darwin Turner, Montana H. R. Walking Bull, Robert Penn Warren, Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., Herman Wouk, and Jane Yolen. (EL)