Deborah Hopkinson

Dear Teacher, When­ev­er I had some­thing to tell you, I tugged on your shirt and whis­pered in your ear. This time I’m writ­ing a letter.

So begins this heart­felt pic­ture book about a girl who prefers run­ning and jump­ing to lis­ten­ing and learning—and the teacher who gen­tly inspires her. From stomp­ing through creeks on a field trip to pre­tend­ing to choke when called upon to read aloud, this book’s young hero­ine would be a chal­lenge to any teacher. But this teacher isn’t just any teacher. By lis­ten­ing care­ful­ly and know­ing just the right thing to say, she quick­ly learns that the girl’s unruly behav­ior is due to her strug­gles with read­ing. And at the very end, we learn what this for­mer stu­dent is now: a teacher herself.

From award win­ning author Deb­o­rah Hop­kin­son and acclaimed illus­tra­tor Nan­cy Car­pen­ter, this pic­ture book is made to be trea­sured by both those who teach and those who learn.