“But, little one, don’t you understand, you don’t see letters or numbers the way other people do. And you’ve gotten through school all this time, and fooled many, many good teachers!” He smiled at her. “That took cunning, and smartness, and such, such bravery.” Then he stood up and finished washing the board. “We’re going to change all that, girl. You’re going to read - I promise you that.” - Thank you, Mr. Falker
In my review of Patrica Polacco’s The Art of Miss Chew, I mentioned 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. She was miserable.
Shortly after her grandparents died, her mother got a teaching job in California. She, her mom, and her brother drove for five days across the country to the West Coast. The little girl did not want to move, but if she had to, she was going to cling to the hope that the teachers at her new school would not find out how “dumb” she was.
But, reading was agony, and she just couldn’t do it. Mr. Falker, however, was not like other teachers. When her classmates snickered and teased her, he shot them down with a stern caution. Whenever he walked behind her and saw what she was drawing, he leaned in and told her how brilliant she was.
But, it was not enough. One student would not leave Patrica alone and teased her mercilessly when Mr. Falker was not around. And so, Patrica learned how to hide during recess.
One day, Mr. Falker discovered her in hiding and found out about the boy. He and the principal handled Eric and told Patrica not to worry anymore about him. But Patrica would not tell them why Eric had been harassing her.
Mr. Falker sensed that there was more to the story. One day, he asked her to stay after class and made a game out of cleaning the blackboards. He would call out letters and numbers and ask her to write them on the board with her wet sponge. Patrica knew that she wasn’t doing it right and tried to flee the classroom. Mr. Falker caught her by the arm and said the words that changed her life: “You’re going to read - I promise you that.”
Working with a reading teacher and Mr. Falker, Patrica did learn to read. And, many many years later, she saw Mr. Falker at a wedding and got to tell him that the little girl who couldn’t read had become a children’s author, because of his care and attention.
This book is absolutely marvelous. But, you probably already knew that.