Spaceman

Gary suffers from learning problems and does not fit in well among others at school because he can never keep up with the rest, but when he is transferred to a special school, his new teacher shows him that he is unique, not different.

Grade 4-6. Gary, a fifth grader, has multiple learning problems. He is nicknamed "spaceman" because he copes with peer taunts and scholastic pressures by emptying his mind and "spacing out." His divorced parents don't think he needs extra help, but the school authorities decide to switch him to a full-time special education classroom. There, in an unconventional teaching environment, he begins to blossom. He makes friends with Jesse, who is always running away, and with Amanda, who is training a puppy to be a guide dog. Through Gary's "newcomer" eyes, readers get an inside view of a special education classroom conducted by a gifted and talented teacher. Mrs. Block pinpoints Gary's learning difficulties and begins to provide ways to help him learn. This novel would make an interesting classroom read-aloud to encourage discussion and promote empathy towards those who have different learning styles.?Janet M. Bair, Trumbull Library, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gary is a student with learning disabilities who is tormented by his classmates and berated by an unsympathetic teacher. He lives with his timid mother and dreads visits with his fitness-crazed father and stepmother. To escape from his problems he frequently spaces out, shutting out the world around him. When he is placed in a special class, the gifted teacher and understanding classmates help him deal with his problems. Cutler (Rats!, 1996, etc.) gets Gary's symptoms right and everything else wrong, as if she plucked his problems out of a textbook, with no understanding of the underlying pathology. Readers will believe Gary's behavior is the result of his conscious choices, rather than beyond his control. The one-dimensional characterizations of the secondary players (pushover mother, hard-driving and insensitive father, mean teacher, tough but gifted special-ed teacher, nasty ``normal'' classmates, kind and understanding special-ed students), combined with pat solutions, miraculous changes in characters, and negligent school practices, add up to a disservice to learning-disabled children and almost no real story. (Fiction. 9-13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 4^-6. Gary Harris has had trouble learning all his life, and every year he falls further behind. Now in fifth grade, he finds he simply can't keep up anymore. Angry, frustrated, and an outcast, he deals with his problems by spacing out. Then he is sent to a special school, where, under the guidance of a remarkable teacher, he begins to make slow, steady progress. Youngsters with disabilities will strongly identify with Gary's struggles to fit into an unkind world. Cutler seems to present a good case against mainstreaming, but it may be a rigid system that doesn't allow for special learning styles that she sees as the problem. That is just one of the intriguing issues raised by this compelling story, which will help increase awareness and empathy for the learning disabled. Lauren Peterson