Tug at My Heartstrings, Why Don't You

After a day at training, I wasn't sure I would be able to get through a book, but low and behold, I did. And I'm glad I did. This was a seriously cute book.

The Year of Miss Agnes is about a small village in Alaska that runs through school teachers faster than they change their socks. Since the school was started, they haven't had the same teacher twice. This year, however, Miss Agnes shows up. On the first day of school, she throws out the grade book and hides away all their textbooks. She takes them on a journey through learning that can only be described as magical, and opens their eyes to a whole new kind of world. Former reluctant students suddenly have a love of learning.

The story is told through the eyes of Frederika, Fred for short. Her older sister, Bokko, is deaf, but gets invited to the school to learn as well. It is there that she learns sign language and can finally communicate with others for the first time. This, of course, had the linguist in my wondering about how fluent she can be with language if she's never learned it and she's twelve, but this is a book for kids, so who cares.

What makes this book so wonderful is the sense of wonder and hope it gives. These kids have no knowledge of the outside world, but then this one woman comes along and opens their eyes. As the narrator says: "Now I wanted to go everywhere. And before, I never knew there was an everywhere." It's why we teach.

I've had this book for a couple of years, purchased as part of a book-buying spree to beef up my classroom library. Occasionally, kids will pick it up, but they never seem to finish it. Now I know how to pull them through the initial dullness they might experience to where the classroom excitement in the book really gets going. The class in this book is one any kid would like to be a part of, so most kids would like to read this book. It's leveled at a Q, but I would have some concerns for ELL's understanding some of the more specialized language. I don't think it interferes with meaning too much, so they should be able to hang.

I kind of want to do this book as a read aloud in January. Everybody's pretty tired and cranky around that time, a sort of in-between time where we know MCAS is coming soon, but not soon enough. This book could be just the thing to inspire students (and the teacher) to dive back into their work with a new sense of vigor.

It's amazing what little treasures I find in my own library. :)