Tuesday, December 1, 2020

I Talk Like A River

 


Book: I Talk Like A River
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation :   Good Quotes :  References

Basic Information:

Author: Jordan Scott
Edition: Hardback
Publisher: Neal Porter Books
ISBN: 0823445593 (ISBN13: 9780823445592)
Start Date: December 1, 2020
Read Date: December 1, 2020
40 pages
Genre: Children, Stuttering
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 5 out of 5

Synopsis :
This book is based upon the author’s experience as a stutterer. The story is simple-he describes how he cannot get sounds out of his mouth. It is an embarrassment in class. He tries to recede into his own world. His father is a compassionate man and takes him on mini-outings where he does not need to speak. On one of these outings, his father compares his speech to the river they are by-constantly swirling, moving, churning and bubbling. This frees him to be able to express himself.

There is an author’s note explaining about the pressure to be fluent. He realizes that stutterers do stutter in different ways and wants his readers to understand that they are not defective because they stutter.


Cast of Characters:
Child
Father


Expectations:
  • Recommendation: NPR Books
  • When: November 28, 2020 
  • How come do I want to read this book: A book about a boy who is a stutterer. I am one and I want to see how Jordan Scott portrays him. NPR’s review sounds very promising. 
  • What do I think I will get out of it? A sense of empathy.

Thoughts:
I wonder how I would have reacted to this book when I was young, particularly when I was in grade school. Times were different then and the emphasis was on correcting the issue so that the stutterer could live a life without that embarrassment.

I Talk Like A River tries to get beyond the embarrassment and create an understanding of acceptance of the person. I think Scott and Smith create a place where the stutterer can be themselves by making the turmoil the stutterer experience similar to the chaos of a river. I found myself  being strangely empathetic with my 6 year old self.

While I reading this book, I was wondering how badly scarred I have been with the stuttering experience. Also what strengths I developed because of it. Either way, i do not ponder this often nor do I feel less because of it. I enjoy who I am.


Evaluation:

 I Talk Like A River is a quiet children’s book. While about a stutterer, it is also about knowing that you are OK. Scott puts us into a child’s shoes who stutters and makes us understand what it is like to be this child. Smith’s drawings has enough definiteness to give image while being vague enough to allow an imagination to place us into where the child is.

Even more important, Scott also brings along his father who compares the child’s talking to a river, like the chaos of a river cascading down. This enables the child to own his stuttering and be verbal when he needs to.

As a life long stutterer who was only able to become fluent in college, I wish I had seen this book when I was in grade school. I think it is a book which will show a child that they are OK.


Good Quotes:
  • First Line: I wake up with the sounds of words each morning all around me.
  • Last Line: And I talk like a river.

References:



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