By the time I have reached page 8 of Flipping Forward Twisting Backward by Alma Fullerton, I knew which grandson would receive this book for his birthday. Claire shares his problem of letters in words that float, blur, and get all mixed up, but she also shares his advantage of having places in life to excel.
Written as a verse novel, it fit nicely with my reading it during April’s poetry month. Claire describes her gymnastics coach:
She never asks
what we perfected
because all we
need to know
is how we
improved.
Owen’s swim coach works on the same principle. The big question at meets is not order of finish but “Did you better your own time?” He texted me from his last meet that he had bested his 50-meter time by one second – a big deal!
Claire has hidden her dyslexia from almost everyone until fifth grade when an alert vice-principal figures out why Claire shows up in her office so often after making some kind of disruption. Just in case you think the principal in the story is too understanding to be true, she could have been modeled after Mrs. Morgan. In the twelve years I worked under her leadership, she was unfailing supportive of her staff, but children came first. She dug deep to find the underlying problem when a kid managed to get sent to her office.
At home, Claire deals with an absent and distant father who holds distracted screen time with her and a mother who is in denial of her disability. She finds help from her older sister, a friend, and her coach until she figures out how to stand up for herself in getting the help she needs.
This is a book that will be enjoyed, not only by those dealing with dyslexia, but for those who know someone who is. It tells in a beautifully written story about the dyslexic paradox of extremely intelligent and talented people who have a twist in their brains that makes reading difficult. Also, the beautiful verse was a good way to celebrate poetry month!