Robb, Diane Burton. The Alphabet War. Morton Grove: Albert Whitman & Company, 2004.
The Alphabet War is the story of a young boy named Adam who struggles with Dyslexia. The book starts out with Adam sitting on his mother’s lap listening to her read to him. However, when he begins school, he realizes that he no longer likes reading. He has difficulty identifying letters and putting them together to form words. In third grade, Adam gets tested for a learning disability. He is then diagnosed with Dyslexia, and he gets help from Mrs. Wood. She encourages him and helps him to gain confidence in himself. In the end, although Adam still struggles with reading, he sits down, picks up a book about pirates, and says, “I can do this.”
Diane Burton Robb realistically depicts the struggles and emotions that often come along with Dyslexia. The frustrations that young children with a learning disability often feel are not sugar coated. The lengthy text describes his emotions clearly, and the illustrator, Gail Piazza, did a beautiful job of depicting the sad, frustrated, exasperated, and happy looks on Adam’s face throughout the book. The illustrations are created with pastels and are extremely realistic looking.
The Alphabet War is the story of a young boy named Adam who struggles with Dyslexia. The book starts out with Adam sitting on his mother’s lap listening to her read to him. However, when he begins school, he realizes that he no longer likes reading. He has difficulty identifying letters and putting them together to form words. In third grade, Adam gets tested for a learning disability. He is then diagnosed with Dyslexia, and he gets help from Mrs. Wood. She encourages him and helps him to gain confidence in himself. In the end, although Adam still struggles with reading, he sits down, picks up a book about pirates, and says, “I can do this.”
Diane Burton Robb realistically depicts the struggles and emotions that often come along with Dyslexia. The frustrations that young children with a learning disability often feel are not sugar coated. The lengthy text describes his emotions clearly, and the illustrator, Gail Piazza, did a beautiful job of depicting the sad, frustrated, exasperated, and happy looks on Adam’s face throughout the book. The illustrations are created with pastels and are extremely realistic looking.
This book could give any child struggling in school great hope that they can learn. The one concern I had with this book was the fact that it was completely centered around Dyslexia. It did not show any part of Adam’s life that wasn’t affected by Dyslexia. However, overall, I think that this is a great book to have in a classroom library. It has the ability to help children understand the trials and tribulations that go along with a learning disability.
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