Sahara Special

by Esme Raji Codell

Book Review

Publishers Weekly :

Terms of Use:

In her first book for children, the author of Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year shows a keen understanding of classroom dynamics, a finely tuned ear for preadolescent voices and a lively, original wit. Her feisty narrator, Sahara Jones, does none of her schoolwork even though she loves to read and writes in secret she's been traumatized by her father's abandonment. Her classmates call her Sahara Special because she has to work with the special-needs teacher out in the hall along with the disruptive Darrell Sikes. When Sahara's mother objects to the arrangement, Sahara is held back to repeat the fifth grade; Sahara is thrilled to transfer from the land of special dumb to the realm of normal dumb. Her new fifth-grade teacher, Madame Poitier, better known as Miss Pointy, is dedicated but irreverent, and not easily categorized (She was pale, but I couldn't tell for sure if she was white or Asian or Puerto Rican, or maybe light-skinned black, observes the narrator. Miss Pointy wins her students' trust and manages to instill in them hope and confidence; while the outcome can be predicted, Miss Pointy's methods (and Sahara's responses) are full of surprises. Presenting memorable characters in spirited scenes, this novel will surely be empowering for reluctant learners and thought-provoking and gratifying for everyone. Ages 8-12.

distributed by Syndetics Solutions, LLC.:

Book Review
:

School Library Journal :

Terms of Use:

Gr 3-6-In this delightful first novel, readers meet Sahara Jones in the school hallway, where she's been pulled out of class for sessions with the Special Needs teacher. It seems that Sahara's official school file is filled with her letters to her father, who had left the family, instead of her completed assignments. Sahara is a secretive writer; she fills her journal at home, then rips out the pages and stuffs them on the public library shelves behind the 940s for someone to discover someday. At her mother's insistence, the girl is taken out of the Special Needs program but is forced to repeat fifth grade. Enter a new teacher, Madame Poitier, who encourages her class to do, to write, to be, as never before. Sahara is sweeter than Harriet the Spy, as needy and engaging as Ramona, and is sure to be a character whom children will want to read about and get to know. Codell's take on fifth graders, teachers, Special Needs students, and mothers is very funny, and underneath the humor glows real warmth and love. A special novel that readers will not be able to put down.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley Public Library, Telford, PA

distributed by Syndetics Solutions, LLC.:

Book Review
: BookList :

Terms of Use:

Gr. 4-6. Codell, author of an award-winning adult nonfiction book, Educating Esme (1999), about teaching in an inner-city Chicago school, brings her experience to bear in this debut novel. Sahara is a quiet, self-conscious kid, who misses her absentee father and can't seem to fit in at school. When her poor school performance and letters to Dad she's hidden in her desk come to light, she's put in Special Needs, an experience so dreadful that her mother pulls her out for another crack at fifth grade. As it turns out, her new teacher is just what she needs to build confidence and set her on a path to becoming a writer. It's meant to be Sahara's story, but it's her teacher, “Ms. Pointy,” who takes over. Pointy's audacious, yet caring, demeanor and her undisguised disdain of educational bureaucracy will be a revelation to kids, who will see narrator Sahara as a sympathetic, but pale, second stringer. Codell works in wonderful metaphors and important life lessons, but that's not always enough to carry the peripatetic goings on, which come across as two parts message and one part story. An upbeat and certainly well-intentioned novel, but flawed.

StephanieZvirin.

distributed by Syndetics Solutions, LLC.: