Thank You, Mr. Falker
Reviewed by Sara Masarik
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. 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.

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Thank You, Mr. Falker
An autobiographical tribute to Polacco’s fifth-grade teacher, the first adult to recognize her learning disability and to help her learn to read.

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