8 and Up
Ally has been smart
enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school,
she’s able to hide her inability to read by creating yet disruptive
distraction. She’s too scared to ask for help; after all how can you cure dumb?
However, her newest
teacher Mr. Daniels sees the smart, creative kid underneath the troublemaker.
With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is
nothing to be ashamed of.
Ally soon discovers
that there’s more to her – and to everyone – than a label, and that great minds
don’t always think alike.
This
is the type of book that teachers should be giving out to read. Not ‘Island of
the Blue Dolphins’ or ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. I’m not saying those aren’t good
books (Except 'Island of the Blue Dolphins'. That book scared me half to death
as a child) but they’re kind of out of date and we don’t really relate to the
characters. Ally is a character that anyone who has ever thought that something
was wrong with them can relate too.
This
poor girl thinks she’s too dumb to read and she’s too scared to even ask for
help. I know I was scared to ask for help as a child. A majority of my teachers
weren’t very nice and/or not willing to help. I had a guidance counselor who
was nice to me but that was about it. If you’re lucky enough to have a teacher
who actually cares, good for you.
My
biggest question is how no one, not the teachers or her parents, realized she
couldn’t read until she was in sixth grade. Then again I didn’t start getting
help with my autism until sixth grade and that was only after I had a little
scene. People really need to pay more attention.
I’m
happy that teachers now a days are being taught how to handle children with
learning differences. Anyone who thinks that there’s only one way to teach a
child is an idiot.
Everyone
is smart in different ways. Anyone who thinks there is only one type of smart
is an idiot. Ally might have trouble readying but she’s an amazing artist. I
love her ideas for drawings they are so creative. She sees her more imaginative
thoughts like movies in her head and she sees them so clearly and gets lost in
them. My thoughts are in picture form too but it’s like looking though a cloudy
piece of glass, I can kind of see stuff but not really.
This
book shows that we all have our weaknesses but we all have our strengths. Don’t
let your weaknesses bring you down. Fight through them and come out on top.
What an insightful review. You are so right, that teachers need to be able to work with all kinds of children. I definitely want Julianne to read this book because she has had teachers that didn't understand her style of learning too.
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