Sahara Jones has a True Ambition: she is going to be a writer. In the meantime, she's repeating fifth grade, having kept her abilities a secret from all her teachers since her father moved out two years ago. Her new teacher calls herself Madame Poitier. The kids call her Miss Pointy, and she is not like any teacher Sahara has ever met. Miss Pointy smiles on the first day of school, asks her students to keep personal journals, and tells them that "boring" is a swear word. For the first time, Sahara confides in a teacher. "I am a writer," she pens in her journal. And Miss Pointy writes back, "I believe you." But a writer writes, and Sahara is doing nothing in class. Wise Miss Pointy gradually helps Sahara get over her fear of participating.
If you've read Esmé Codell's stunning book for adults, Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year (Algonquin, 1999), you'll recognize the students and the autobiographical portrayal of the quirky, fierce, and loyal teacher who flaunts the rules but gets her kids passionate about learning. Miss Pointy and her kids return in the companion novel, Vive la Paris, about Sahara's African American classmate and pal, Paris McCray, president of the Extreme Readers Club.
Reviewed by JF.
THEMES: DIARIES. SCHOOLS & SCHOOL STORIES. TEACHERS. WRITING.
- Sahara is sweeter than Harriet the Spy, as needy and engaging as Ramona, and is sure to be a character whom children will want to read about and get to know. Codell's take on fifth graders, teachers, Special Needs students, and mothers is very funny, and underneath the humor glows real warmth and love. A special novel that readers will not be able to put down.
- School Library Journal