7-9)Ī guide to better behavior-at home, on the playground, in class, and in the library. Generously illustrated with vignettes and larger scenes, this cheery, well-knit narrative proves that an old dog can learn new tricks, and learn them surpassingly well. ‘I’ll be back next year.’ And I walked right out of school.”), recalls holidays, and explains his indignation when the plot of Disney’s “Snow White” doesn’t match the story he knows. We learn to read next year, in first grade.’ ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Oh, we don’t learn how to read in kindergarten. Meanwhile, he also introduces family, friends, and neighbors, adds Nana Fall River to his already well-known Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, remembers his first day of school (“ ‘ When do we learn to read?’ I asked. Writing in an authentically childlike voice, he describes watching the new house his father was building go up despite a succession of disasters, from a brush fire to the hurricane of 1938. The legions of fans who over the years have enjoyed dePaola’s autobiographical picture books will welcome this longer gathering of reminiscences. (Braille alphabet, French pronunciation guide, author’s note, Q-and-A, print and web resources) Kulikov’s engrossing mixed-media illustrations interpose soft pastels with spreads of chalky blue line on ink-black pages, dramatically conveying Louis’ isolation and single-minded intensity.Īn inspiring look at a child inventor whose drive and intelligence changed the world-for the blind and sighted alike. Louis both masters the code and alters it- brilliantly, at age 15-after years of painstaking work. When a French army code is introduced to the students, its punched paper symbols are too complex for most. With sentences covering a half-page, whole books contain precious little. Louis endures harsh conditions there, eager to read the library’s promised special books. “With Maman, I played dominoes, counting the dots with my fingertips.” Louis attends school, “listening and memorizing,” strongly motivated to read and write “on own, like everyone else.” Louis, just 10, persuades his family to send him to the Royal School for the Blind in Paris after a local noblewoman secures his place. “I sat by the window, training my ears to do what my eyes could not.” Braille’s family helps him adapt, crafting a wooden cane and tactile alphabet letters. Bryant follows an earlier biography for middle graders with this story, narrated by Louis, imagining life events from birth to age 15.Īn accident in his father’s workshop damages Louis’ eye, and an ensuing infection that spreads to the other completely blinds him by age 5.

Six dots by jen bryant