“Don’t you realize what a junkyard really is… it is a place full of wondrous possibilities! What some see as bent and broken throwaways are actually amazing things waiting to be made into something new. Something unexpected. Something surprising.”
The Junkyard Wonders by Patrica Polacco is the stirring and most worthy followup to Thank You, Mr. Falker.
This is the fourth review of Polacco’s autobiographical books. In each one, I mention that Polacco has lived a very storied life. A life marked by suffering and hardship, but one also seasoned with stories and good people who cared fiercely for her. All of her life, Polacco loved stories and longed to read. But by the time she was fourteen, she was resigned to the fact that she was “dumb” and that somehow she lacked something in her brain necessary for decoding books.
Polacco was miserable. Until Mr. Falker changes all of that for her. In this sequel, Polacco begs her father to let her live with him this school year so she can start fresh. In a school where no one knows that she just learned to read last year. Ultimately her parents decide to let her stay in Michigan for her ninth grade year. She is elated, until the first day of school when she finds out she isn’t in a normal class. And that this fresh start means being grouped with the “junkyard” kids.
In Room 206, short, stout, and brusque Mrs. Peterson with friendly eyes greets her class with “the definition of genius.” And then, after that, she takes a deep breath, slams the book shut and says, “Welcome to the junkyard.”
At recess, Trisha asks her classmate, Thom, why they are called the junkyard.
“Because we are… didn’t you notice… odd. Like stuff in a junkyard.”
The kids in 206 are different. And, at first, Trisha is mortified and depressed that despite her best efforts to have a fresh start where she can finally be normal, she has landed in the junkyard. But, Mrs. Peterson is an extremely compelling force of nature. She has a great passion for cultivating the individual genius of each of her pupils and groups them into tribes that will bring out the best in them.
Throughout the year, the kids in 206 do things differently. They become best friends, have adventures together, and make each other better. Things are still hard on the playground where other kids are mean, but they have a tribe who has their backs.
One day, however, they confess to Mrs. Peterson that they feel like the throwaways that the bullies say they are. Mrs. Peterson takes them on a field trip to the actual junkyard and assigns them the task of finding the junk with the best potential to become something amazing. And what they create is incredible.
Jody Beach has a rare growth disorder. He towers over everyone and just keeps growing. One day that year, he doesn’t wake up. His heart couldn’t keep up with his growth and the Junkyard Wonders grieve his death. The kids decide to name their junkyard plane in his honor.
At the very end of the book we find out that Thom went on to become the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre Company in New York. Ravanne became a textile designer for the fashion industry in Paris. Gibbie became a NASA engineer. And, of course, Trisha became a children’s book author and illustrator. When Polacco saw Gibbie in Houston a few years ago, he told her that he stowed a picture of their tribe on the lunar module on Apollo 11. The Junkyard Wonders really did realize their genius!
Fiction could not be more interesting than this excellent true story.