Ten-year-old Fred loves being a student in the one-room schoolhouse in her remote Alaskan village on the Koyukuk River, where she lives with her grandfather, widowed Mama, and twelve-year-old deaf sister, Bokko. It's October, 1948, and yet another teacher has just quit. Fred's worried when Sam the pilot tells her about the strict new teacher he just flew in: "This one's got a little mileage. You kids are not going to get away with nothin'."

None of the twelve Athabascan schoolchildren have ever encountered a teacher like the remarkable Agnes Sutterfield. She wears pants, plays opera records, and reads Robin Hood aloud to the class, and she helps all her students take pride in learning. When she even manages to convince Fred's skeptical mother to send Bokko to school for the first time, the whole class joins in learning the sign language alphabet.

From the dedication -"In memory of Sylvia Ashton-Warner, and for all unorthodox teachers"- to the inspirational message Miss Agnes promotes-"You have to keep learning all your life."-this is a treasure of a story Fred tells, of the transforming effect a dedicated, innovative teacher has on the lives of her children. You don't have to be a teacher to appreciate the special qualities of someone like Miss Agnes, though this is a book teachers take to heart.
 
Children will quickly pick up all the letters in the sign language alphabet, and will enjoy spelling out words and learning to sign. Have them compare their school lives with the kids in Miss Agnes's class. Ask your kids to define the qualities of a great teacher, based on teachers they have loved. Have them talk about or write about what made these teachers so special. One fourth teacher told me she asked her children to compile two lists: 10 QUALITIES OF A GREAT TEACHER and then 10 QUALITIES OF A GREAT STUDENT, which she posted all around the room.

THEMES: ALASKA. ATHAPASCAN INDIANS. DEAF. HISTORICAL FICTION. INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA. MULTICULTURAL BOOKS. PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES. PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED. SCHOOLS. TEACHERS.