Writer & Author of The Walk on Layton
Jo Ann is a writer and former English teacher who calls Scott Township, Pennsylvania home. She spent many years teaching at Lakeland High School, then had the chance to teach in China as the first fluent English teacher at a public high school of over 3,000 students—an experience she loved so much that she returned six times to serve at an orphanage. Her writing is rooted in faith and in the idea of "the Walk": how we choose to live our lives. She shares stories on her blog, On Layton: The View from My Front Porch, named after the road she lives on in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She likes to say that if you keep your eyes open, the world is full of stories worth telling.
Fifty-two short stories about life, family, and experiences in the United States and China—named after Layton Road, where Jo Ann lives. Each story ends with a little encouragement for your own Walk, and the book is meant to be enjoyed one story per week over the course of a year. Released December 2024.
Published · ISBN 9798218547158
Get it on AmazonStories, reflections, and the occasional conversation from the porch—the same place the book began. Jo Ann has been writing On Layton: The View from My Front Porch for years, sharing the view from her front porch and the road beyond. Welcome.
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In 2001–2002 Jo Ann was the first American teacher at the Fuzhou Foreign Languages School, China. She taught spoken English to classes of 50–60 and directed a play for the school's first Foreign Language Festival; she was known as Miss Jones. She has returned six times since, including to serve at an orphanage, and former students have visited her on Layton.
See the PhotosJo Ann Walczak is an American writer and retired English teacher from Scott Township in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She taught junior high English and high school journalism for thirty years in the Lakeland School District, then taught for a year in Fuzhou, China. She is the author of The Walk on Layton: 52 Modern Parables for Your Journey and writes the blog On Layton: The View from My Front Porch.
The Walk on Layton: 52 Modern Parables for Your Journey is a collection of fifty-two short nonfiction stories about family, travel, history, and faith. Each one draws a modern parable from an everyday moment—a garden, a family dinner, a camping trip—or from further afield, including Tibet and a Chinese high school. The book is named after Layton Road, where Jo Ann Walczak lives, and is meant to be read one story per week over the course of a year.
The Walk on Layton: 52 Modern Parables for Your Journey is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. It was published on December 10, 2024, and its ISBN-13 is 9798218547158.
On Layton: The View from My Front Porch is Jo Ann Walczak’s blog, named after Layton Road in Northeastern Pennsylvania where she lives. She has written it for years, sharing stories and reflections from her front porch and the road beyond. The blog is where the material that became The Walk on Layton first began.
Jo Ann Walczak taught spoken English at the Fuzhou Foreign Languages School in Fuzhou, China, during the 2001–2002 school year, as the school’s first native English-speaking American teacher. Her students knew her as Miss Jones. She taught classes of 50 to 60 students and directed an O. Henry play for the school’s first Foreign Language Festival. She has returned to China six times since, including to serve at an orphanage.
In Jo Ann Walczak’s writing, “the Walk” means how a person chooses to live day to day—the ordinary road walked alongside God rather than any single destination. The phrase gives the book both its title and its structure: fifty-two stories, one for each week of a year’s walking.
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