Hooway For Wodney Wat ~ Helen Lester (1999, Scholastic Inc.)

Summary: This story is about Rodney Rat. His is a young rodent that has trouble saying his r sounds. The kids at school make fun of him day in and day out. A new student came, Camilla, and was bigger, meaner and smarter than everyone else in the class.

One day Rodney was picked to be the leader of Simon Says and his class had to follow what he said. Well, the other kids in his class were used to the way he talked and understood what he said. Camilla did not. Eventually, Rodney said to "go rest" but Camilla heard "go west". West she went and never came back. Rodney was the hero.

My Review: I think this book sends a good message to children that have speech difficulties. I also think it explains to kids that they shouldn't pick on students that have a speech difficulty. It is a difficult book to read. It is hard to see myself wanting to use this book to teach about speech difficulties only because it makes fun of the student at first.

About the Author: Lester has written over 20 children's books. She travels across the country visiting classrooms. Earlier in her career, Lester taught second grade which is where she gets a lot of her ideas for the books. She did illustrate one of her books, Author: A True Story, which explains why she works with an illustrator. Lester lives in Pawling New York after living in several major cities. She has another book due out in the Spring of 2012 called All For Me and None For All. 

Genre: Non-fiction, Speech Impairments 
Theme / Skill: Being accepting of each other's differences 
Age Level: 7-10

Pre-reading: I would have the students look at the title. I would ask them if they notice anything different about the words. Students may say that the it sounds funny then I would explain that Rodney Rat has a difficult time saying his r sounds and this story is told how he talks. 

Post-reading: While reading and after reading I would ask students if they think the students in Rodney's class were being nice to him. I would ask if they think the students were nice to Rodney at the end of the story. I would have them write a journal entry, like they were in Rodney's class and tell me what they think some nicer things would be to do for Rodney to make him feel accepted.