  | Aaron Slater, illustrator (Questioneers) Author: Beaty, Andrea | |
| Price: $23.28 | ||
Summary:
Aaron Slater loves listening to stories and dreams of one day writing them himself. But when it comes to reading, the letters just look like squiggles to him, and it soon becomes clear he struggles more than his peers. When his teacher asks each child in the class to write a story, Aaron can't get a single word down. He is sure his dream of being a storyteller is out of reach . . . until inspiration strikes, and Aaron finds a way to spin a tale in a way that is uniquely his.
| Illustrator: | Roberts, David |
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: LG Reading Level: 4.10 Points: .5 Quiz: 513531 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (11/01/21)
Booklist (01/01/22)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 01/01/2022 This fifth entry in the Questioneers series (Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, 2019) departs from the STEM and career focus of its predecessors to highlight neurodivergent Aaron, who loves hearing stories and drawing pictures but can’t make sense of written words. Depicted in the illustrations as a brown-skinned lad growing up with two moms, Aaron is crushed as he struggles to read. His efforts to hide the issue (identified in the afterword as dyslexia) by blending in fail when a new second-grade teacher asks everyone to write a true story. Suddenly he visualizes a flower—a magical flower—and launches into an epic original yarn. He comes to realize that “His art leads the way / and helps him discover what he wants to say.” The connection between telling stories and drawing them may seem tenuous both to budding artists and to audiences with reading and writing difficulties but no attendant artistic gifts; still, celebrating differences is an ever-worthy theme. Even better, an endnote states that the rhymed narrative is printed in a dyslexic-friendly font. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.
