My Name is Brain Brian
Jeanne Betancourt, Jeanne Betrancourt. Scholastic, $14.95 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-590-44921-2
Brian dreads entering sixth grade, knowing his learning experiences will be fraught with the confusion and frustration of years past. But on opening day, his teacher recognizes his problem--tipped off by the boy's reversing letters when writing his name--and conducts a battery of tests. Results indicate that, despite a keen intellect, Brian has dyslexia. A meeting with Brian's (heretofore unaware) parents leads to a support program at home and at school. Betancourt ( More Than Meets the Eye ) ``brings her own experience with dyslexia to Brian's story,'' though it seems unlikely that a child in a modern-day urban environment would reach sixth grade without having been diagnosed. (The boy's father and grandfather are similarly afflicted.) A superfluous subplot concerns the point system Brian and his friends devise for clowning in school; lengthy passages about Canada geese further slow the pace. Despite rather undistinguished writing, struggling students may relate to this protagonist's difficulties. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 03/02/1992
Genre: Children's
Prebound-Sewn - 144 pages - 978-0-7857-5472-5