Book cover image:
Book Summary: Trisha
grew up in a home that promoted reading, so she loved books. When it came time
for her to read, however, she struggled for years. She became more interested
in drawing because of her lack of success in reading, but she was teased and
bullied for years for her inability to read. It wasn’t until Mr. Falker became
her new teacher that change began to take place for Trisha. Not only did he
praise her intelligence and artwork, but he reprimanded her bullies. He soon
discovered that Trisha did not see letters and words the way other students
did, so he began to teach her how to read in a different way. Full of
empowerment at learning how to read, the author admits that she was actually
Trisha, and that Mr. Falker is her hero.
APA Reference of Book:
Polacco, P. (1998). Thank you, Mr. Falker. New York, NY: Philomel
Books.
Impressions: It
is incredible how the reader can go through the entire book thinking that it is
fictional but then find out on the last page that the story is actually a
memoir of Patricia Polacco’s struggle to read. As an English and reading
teacher, this book is very powerful to me. So many people associate reading
with intelligence, but some students may have disabilities that prevent them
from reading or learning in the same way as all the other students. Mr. Falker
was a special teacher who understood this fact and was able to not only
determine that Polacco had dyslexia, but he was able to work with her and
another reading teacher closely to help her learn how to read. I was trained in
teaching reading to dyslexic students, and as I worked with them, they began to
read better every day! Their fluency and comprehension increased a vast amount
by the end of the year, and I was so proud. This is a great book for teaching
students that they are not dumb just because they have a learning disability
and for teaching educators to always look for any method possible to reach
every individual student.
Professional Review:
Rochman, H. (1998). Thank you, mr. Falker. The Booklist, 94(17),
1522.
Ages 5-9. Like many of Polacco's picture-book stories, this
one is autobiographical. Who would believe that this gifted storyteller had
started off with a serious learning disability? From kindergarten on, Trisha
gets attention because she can draw; but she hides the fact that she can't read--all
she sees on the page are "wiggling shapes" --until her fifth-grade
teacher discovers Trisha's problem, gets her special help, and sets her free.
"That little girl was me," Polacco says in a final note. As always
she tells the story with intense emotion: no understatement here; reading is
"torture." The big line-and-watercolor illustrations are bright with
color and theatrical gesture, expressing the child's happiness with her
grandparents in a family of readers, her fear and loneliness in the classroom
("she hated hated hated school"), her anguish when the kids jeer at
her in the schoolyard, and her joy when finally she reads the words on the page
("she was happy, so very happy"). Trisha isn't idealized: we see her
messy and desperate, poring over her books. This will encourage the child who
feels like a failure and the teacher who cares.
Library Uses: This is a great book to teach students about diverse
learners. Present a book talk and discussion about the ways that each students
learn. Students will determine their own learning styles and methods and
connect how they learn to what Trisha goes through in the story.
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