Hudson Hates School

Gr 2—3—Hudson likes "painting pictures and building models and baking cakes," but he does not like school. The worst thing about it is spelling. His teacher gives a test and his classmates laugh when he calls out his low score. Miss French makes him stay in at playtime to practice his spelling. At the end of the day, Hudson's mother meets him at the school gate and tries to comfort him as he declares, "I....am never going back to school...ever again!" Miss French calls his mother and the following Monday, Mr. Shapland takes Hudson to the study room to give him some special tests. To his surprise, Hudson soon begins to have fun as he looks at pictures and makes patterns with funny blocks. Mr. Shapland explains that the boy has a "learning difficulty called dyslexia." Hudson begins lessons with other children who also have dyslexia and soon he starts to like school. Quirky ink, watercolor and pencil illustrations fill each spread, and the large dialogue balloons are designed to increase readability. Bordered by a tan frame resembling striped wallpaper, the subtly shaded pictures feature interesting patterns and textures. An explanatory note and a short list of dyslexia resources appear at the end of the book. Additional titles on the topic include Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr. Falker (Philomel, 1998) or Diane Burton Robb's The Alphabet War: A Story About Dyslexia (Albert Whitman, 2004).—Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA