How I See The Alphabet War
by guest author Liz, Grade 12
The book The Alphabet War is a children's book by Diane Burton Robb and illustrated by Gail Piazza. The book is about dyslexia, and the theme is believing you can't read or spell and then realizing you actually can.
Adam is a little boy with a big imagination who discovers that he can't read and realizes that he also can't pretend he can. The principal and his parents get together to figure out a way to help him. They decide to test him and find out in 3rd grade that he has dyslexia. His 4th grade teacher Mr. Chase is the first teacher who believes in him. Adam believes he is stupid and doesn't know anything because he doesn't know how to read. Mr. Chase teaches Adam that he is actually smart even though he didn't believe the person who did his testing. Then he start doing the things that he can do well, like make a skateboard that can "whip anybody racing down Third Street Hill." He tries and works his hardest at things that are hard and believes that he can do it.
The book is a good lesson to have children realize that you have to start believing in yourself. Once you realize you can do it, you can almost do anything. It relates to me because I have dyslexia. When I was little, I also thought that it was good enough to pretend and not really worry about doing anything. I understood the feeling when Adam was getting tested, the feeling like a bug under a microscope. The books shows realistically how kids would feel and would react to these different abilities. At one part, he kicked a kid who made fun of him. I know I have felt that way when someone has made fun of me because of my learning disability that I have to deal with and can not change.
I thought the book was all right. I would recommend it to some people. I think kids that aren't dyslexic but think things are really hard should read this book to show them that things can be worse. Kids who have dyslexia and feel like they can't do anything should also read it. I would recommend it to Elementary teachers so they can really realize what it is like. Then they can help the kids so the issues are resolved when they are little. Little kids should be able to understand what dyslexia is and get through it rather than waiting until a certain age. It will be way harder if they wait. Kids should ease in to what they are about to learn so they don't need to do so many things at once, especially with their learning disability, and this book is a good place to start.
Adam is a little boy with a big imagination who discovers that he can't read and realizes that he also can't pretend he can. The principal and his parents get together to figure out a way to help him. They decide to test him and find out in 3rd grade that he has dyslexia. His 4th grade teacher Mr. Chase is the first teacher who believes in him. Adam believes he is stupid and doesn't know anything because he doesn't know how to read. Mr. Chase teaches Adam that he is actually smart even though he didn't believe the person who did his testing. Then he start doing the things that he can do well, like make a skateboard that can "whip anybody racing down Third Street Hill." He tries and works his hardest at things that are hard and believes that he can do it.
The book is a good lesson to have children realize that you have to start believing in yourself. Once you realize you can do it, you can almost do anything. It relates to me because I have dyslexia. When I was little, I also thought that it was good enough to pretend and not really worry about doing anything. I understood the feeling when Adam was getting tested, the feeling like a bug under a microscope. The books shows realistically how kids would feel and would react to these different abilities. At one part, he kicked a kid who made fun of him. I know I have felt that way when someone has made fun of me because of my learning disability that I have to deal with and can not change.
I thought the book was all right. I would recommend it to some people. I think kids that aren't dyslexic but think things are really hard should read this book to show them that things can be worse. Kids who have dyslexia and feel like they can't do anything should also read it. I would recommend it to Elementary teachers so they can really realize what it is like. Then they can help the kids so the issues are resolved when they are little. Little kids should be able to understand what dyslexia is and get through it rather than waiting until a certain age. It will be way harder if they wait. Kids should ease in to what they are about to learn so they don't need to do so many things at once, especially with their learning disability, and this book is a good place to start.
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