Book Title: "Thank You, Mr. Falker"
Author/Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Publisher: Philomel Books, Copyright 2001
Number of pages: 40
Genre: Autobiographical Story
All Trisha dreams about doing is learning. She watches her older siblings go off to school over the years, and she just cannot wait to go herself. However, when she gets there things do not go quite as she planned. Little Trisha struggles learning to read, and is faced with bullies each day at school. School is absolutely miserable for her until she meets her new teacher, Mr. Falker. Like many teachers, Mr. Falker believes in Trisha and forms a very special relationship with her as a student, enabling her to see that school may not be so miserable after all.
Patricia Polacco's illustrations are amazing. It seems as though she is using pens and pencils for this story, which give it a childlike feel. She also does a great job at matching the colors she uses to the tone and emotions that she is trying to convey. When Trisha begins to feel as though she's in a dark place, Polacco makes sure to use darker colors (i.e. the black background).
Grade level: 2
Content Area: ELA (Reading Standards for Literature)
Standard: 3) Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. [RL.2.3]
For this particular book, I would want to do a read aloud with my students followed with a class discussion. I would want to hear their feelings about the story, talk about different disabilities (including Dyslexia), and discuss with them how important it is to overcome in life. After the discussion, I would love for them to write in their writing journals about Trisha. I might give them a prompt such as, "Trisha faces many challenges throughout the story. Describe those challenges to me and then tell me how Trisha reacts to those challenges."
I love love love this book!! It is a great way to talk about learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
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