Do Bananas Chew Gum?

Rating:
Summary: i agree with jake
Review: I agree with everything the review below stated about how this book is triumphant and affirming of the main character. Furthermore, it is affirming of all of the main characters. Everyone, from Mrs. Glass, who learns not to sell herself short as a working woman; to Alicia, who learns that although "book smarts" come easy to her, she will have to work hard to develop her "people skills"; to Sam, who learns to value his mathmatical abilities, and stop considering himself as stupid because he has difficulties with reading.

I would like to take issue with the reviewer who criticized the book because Sam claims that his small reading victory is comparable to swimming a great distance. Why is that statement so offensive? In my mind any educational process, if you're really trying to learn and not simply going through the motions, feels exactly like that. I've always been a good student, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have to work hard to learn new things. That feeling of exhaustion and pride that you've really concentrated your efforts to learn something new shouldn't be a source of shame, it should be a source of pride.

Rating:
Summary: From Experience
Review: I first read this book with my father when I was seven. I am now 23 and have re-read it many times. It deals with serious issues in a clever and funny way. I think most kids can relate to this story on some level. Everyone has felt like they are behind, or unable to follow a class. Everyone knows what its like to not fit in. Many people know what it's like to be the new kid in school. I had a lot of problems in school for my first three years. I didn't have a learning dissability, I just had trouble focusing. Consequently, I was often behind in my classwork and felt ashamed and slightly outcast. Finally, my parents realized I needed a more creative type of education and enrolled me in an experimental school. I excelled and proceeded to a brilliant academic career. I think this book suggests, not that students with different learning needs be sent to "special classrooms", but that their problems may result from a failed approach in the classroom. I think different kids, just like adults, need to be stimulated in different ways in order to absorb information. Sam's regular teachers failed to give him the skills and confidence he needed. Sam taking a few out of class tests dosen't mean he will spend time being in a "special" environment. It means he had someone help him in a new and creative way. It also gave him the confidence to believe in himself. This book is a total triumph. He starts out feeling like a friendless loser. By the end of the book Sam has two great friends, is begining to believe that he is smart, starts to see the skills he took for granted such as his math abilities, learns responsibility and that adults trust him. What isn't triumphant about that?

Rating:
Summary: A Lifelong Favorite
Review: I first read this book with my father when I was seven. I am now 23 and have re-read it many times. It deals with serious issues in a clever and funny way. I think most kids can relate to this story on some level. Everyone has felt like they are behind, or unable to follow a class. Everyone knows what its like to not fit in. Many people know what it's like to be the new kid in school. I had a lot of problems in school for my first three years. I didn't have a learning dissability, I just had trouble focusing. Consequently, I was often behind in my classwork and felt ashamed and slightly outcast. Finally, my parents realized I needed a more creative type of education and enrolled me in an experimental school. I excelled and proceeded to a brilliant academic career. I think this book suggests, not that students with different learning needs be sent to "special classrooms", but that their problems may result from a failed approach in the classroom. I think different kids, just like adults, need to be stimulated in different ways in order to absorb information. Sam's regular teachers failed to give him the skills and confidence he needed. Sam taking a few out of class tests dosen't mean he will spend time being in a "special" environment. It means he had someone help him in a new and creative way. It also gave him the confidence to believe in himself. This book is a total triumph. He starts out feeling like a friendless loser. By the end of the book Sam has two great friends, is begining to believe that he is smart, starts to see the skills he took for granted such as his math abilities, learns responsibility and that adults trust him. What isn't triumphant about that?

Rating:
Summary: From Experience
Review: I strongly disagree with the review that states this book is not positive and allows institutions to rationalize the learning disabled. I have dyslexia and have successfully graduated from top undergrad and law schools. This book made me feel less alone at a time when dyslexia was little understood and it also allowed me to see that "stupid" is a relative term defined mainly by the ignorant. We each have different strengths and weaknesses and this book celebrates that while at the same time illustrating that weaknesses may be improved upon with hard work.

Rating:
Summary: This book is an insult and rates NO STAR at all
Review: My son read this book at the beginning of this school year (5th grade). He struggles with reading and spelling. He so totally identified with the main character, Sam, that he labeled himself dumb, stupid and learning disabled. This is not a triumphant story. This is a tragic story. The protagonist does not feel he has overcome or mastered his learning disablity. Instead, he feels worn out and akins his small victory to having swum a great distance, only to realize that he must do it again and again. I believe that there is a political agenda at work here. Masked behind an attitude of sympathy is the deeper message that children should equate special education with learning disablities. Furthermore, it excuses the classroom teacher from having to deal with student difficulties by making it not only okay, but acceptable BY THE STUDENTS to send children from the room to another, "special" teacher. Basically, this leaves the gifted and talented in the main classroom and separates the "normal" from the "not normal". This book is subversive and an insult. It should not be in the classroom. It gives children access to a vocabulary that they cannot possibly fully comprehend (nor, I suspect, does its author). It provides students with tools to label themselves, thereby easing the burden of the school systems. Proponets of this book can only have the political and monetary protection of the institution in mind when promoting it for classroom reading. While seemingly innocent on the surface, a critical reader will see beyond the surface to the deeper meaning and hidden agenda. Of course, fifth graders aren't critical readers, they are victims of school politics.

Rating:
Summary: Fun to read and much more
Review: This book is fun to read because the writing is crisp and fast-paced with funny dialogue, but it is more than that because of its serious subject. The reader does indeed sympathize with the main character who is a very bright boy who feels dumb because of his learning disability. When the main character gets help in the end of the story, the reader shares his joy and sense of triumph. I coordinated an authors' festival in which children's authors were invited to visit seven schools in the Downers Grove area. Jamie Gilson visited several of our schools. Many students read "Do Bananas Chew Gum?" among other titles. The students enjoyed the books and were very excited about meeting Ms. Gilson. I personally spoke to two special education teachers who loved "Do Bananas Chew Gum?" and wanted to purchase whole sets of the book.