The Emperor's New Clothes

Carl Sommer was born in 1933 . He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, and at age 40, he became a New York City public high school teacher. Sommer attended Oswego State University, City College of New York, and New York University, before becoming an assistant dean of boys in a high school with 3,600 pupils where he counseled students and parents.

His has worked as a substitute teacher at every grade level in twenty-seven different schools in all of the boroughs of New York City. Identifying the problems and needs of America’s students, he proceeded to craft solutions. His exhaustive ten-year study, including a one-year leave of absence from teaching, led to his first book published in 1986, Schools in Crisis: Training for Success or Failure? Sommer then turned to publishing, and while he still felt there was a need for resolutions to the problems within education, he felt that he could help that by helping the children. So he began to write children's books.

Sommer created the award-winning Another Sommer-Time Story series of children’s books which impart values and principles of success to younger children; Reading Success, an adult phonics literature-based reading program; Reading Adventure, a children phonics literature-based reading program; and Number Success, a complete practical mathematics series from addition to trigonometry which will consist of 47 teaching videos. The Another Sommer-Time Story Series has been selected as finalist in the Teachers' Choice Awards given by Learning Magazine.

The Ugly Caterpillar received the Benjamin Franklin Award for being the best children's picture book, and Mayor For A Day received Today's Librarian award for best children's picture book. His concern for character in American and schools led him to write his most recent book, Character Under Attack. Sommer himself has been nominated for the prestigious International Writer of the Year for 2003 Award by the International Biographical