Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell

Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell was published in 2003 and is a good book for middle grade students. Sarhara is a student who because of personal trauma in her life is not doing well in school, so she has been placed in special education. She refuses to do any work at all. She doesn't want her work to end up in her file in the office, so she does nothing.

Her mother pulls her out of special education and Sahara is placed in a classroom with a teacher who is able to reach out to Sahara and help her.

I loved the parts with the stickers - Sahara longing for a sticker but trying to pretend it didn't matter to her. I loved the advice the teacher gave to Sahara, like: If you hear a good word that belongs to someone else, write it down somewhere so it belongs to you, too (85).

I enjoyed the friendships in this story and the character development. Every child needs a teacher like Miss Pointy.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you.