Thank You, Mr. Falker

By Patricia Polacco

A picture book

 Reviewed by Diana Foster

I read this story at the beginning of every school year to my fifth grade students and  get teary-eyed every time!

This is the story of Trisha, a student with Dyslexia.  The story begins as Trisha is entering kindergarten eager to learn how to read.  She comes from a family who values books.   “Honey is sweet and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book.”

Trisha soon learns that reading is difficult for her.  She makes her way through fourth grade, feeling increasingly stupid.  Students tease her, and she quietly learns how to hide her disability and blend in.  It isn’t until she enters fifth grade with Mr. Falker that a teacher recognizes her disability and helps her learn how to read.

At the end of the story, we learn that Trish is Patricia Polacco and this is an autobiographical account of her reading disability.  It is an inspiring story for struggling reading students to see how this well-known author overcame a reading disability and became a writer. It also teaches empathy to other students and is a conversation starter for a discussion about how we all learn differently.