Jamie: A Literacy Story

By Diane Parker

It is remarkable how people's lives intertwine. People move in and out of our world, affecting us as we affect them, and we often don't know it until we look back on what has happened. What amazes me is the exquisite timing of these moves, which help shape our growth and the course of our lives.

When I think of the people I've known and the events I've experienced, I often wonder, What if? What if I had not been at a certain place at a certain time? What if I had met this person earlier or later, or under different circumstances? It's the same when I think of Jamie Panui. I wonder how things might have been if we had met a few years earlier, and I marvel that things happened as they did.

This is the quiet beginning to a story that will show you the power of literacy and its role in enriching a child's life. It is a human story, and you will find much in the narrative that moves you. The implications will encourage you to reflect on your own teaching practice and on your ideas of what literacy means for all learners.

Jamie, a child with spinal muscular atrophy, was Diane Parker's student from kindergarten through second grade. In those three years Jamie's school experiences and her family's growing involvement with her learning supported the developing literacy that helped her cope with her increasingly critical handicap.

There are many participants here; their voices and perspectives are represented in Jamie's own writings and especially in the unique parent-child reading journal that contributed so much to her social and academic growth. The story goes on to relate the unanticipated turn of events in Jamie's third grade year, and how her literacy enabled her to deal with those events and to influence others as well.

Jamie brings you inside a classroom in which reflective teaching practice unquestionably empowered both the teacher and the students. Jamie's story touches on a host of critical educational issues--parent involvement, inclusion, assessment, curriculum reform, equity and justice for all learners. It will not be forgotten.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157110058X
• ISBN13: 9781571100580
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 9 years and under
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 4

Customer Reviews

A LITTLE CHILD DID LEAD THEM

Jamie, a plucky kindergartener with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) is clearly the teacher in her kindergarten class. Bright and beautiful, this little girl knows how to compute math problems and can read. She imparts her academic knowledge to her classmates and they, in turn, share some of the more usual aspects of kindergarten life with Jamie. Physically unable to compete, she encourages her peers to join her in more cerebral activities. This is a lovely story of how a little child shall lead. This delightful little girl captivates the reader from the start. She is so adorable, so verbally precocious and so interesting that one loves her immediately. Her death at age 8 in 1994 was a major loss. Although most reviewers/readers did not know Jamie personally, her death was truly a painful loss.

Great for parents/teachers of disabled kids

This is the true story of a young Hawaiian girl with type 2 Spinal Muscular Atrophy, told by her kindergarten through second grade teacher. It isn't really about her disablity - SMA - it's the story of Jamie's education. Jamie becomes fascinated with reading and creative writing, and teaches many of her mainstream classmates to appreciate books. In spite of her disability, she becomes a leader and mentor to her friends. Jamie dies at the age of 8 in 1994, due to recurrent bouts of pneumonia after spinal surgery.This book is not particularly accurate from a medical point of view (e.g. "Jamie hd spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy," page 3) but it might be a very useful resource to have available for your young child's teacher. Since Jamie is physically weak and academically strong, reading this story may give a teacher some idea of what to expect of a child with SMA. There are also many excerpts from Jamie's writings included which clearly communicate her feelings and thoughts. (I am the parent of a child with the same disease.)