THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN- Lyon

Lyon, George Ella. 2010. THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. New York: Antheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-1-4169-5024-0

Summary:
Ginny is a kindergarten student who loves school and loves to read, but she runs into chairs and reads things twice. She doesn’t understand why she sees two of everything knowing “only half of them are real.” It is not until Vision Screening Day that Ginny finds out she has double vision. A trip to the eye doctor lets her know a patch, and new glasses will help her see only one of everything. Ginny gets her patch and becomes the Pirate of Kindergarten. The story is told through not only the words but the illustrations that give us the story from Ginny’s eyes.
Analysis:
THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN is a story of an undiagnosed vision problem of a young child in kindergarten. The story is told through the eyes of Ginny through the illustrations that show what she sees. She saw two of everything but “she knew only half of them were real.” Ginny tried to “tightened her mind,” and close one eye. Ginny found when she “closed one eye, she saw one word.” Ginny “thought everyone saw this way.” There were many challenges presented for Ginny, just going to reading circle was hard. She saw the chairs, but she saw two of each and sometimes she ran into them and children laughed. Other challenges were using scissors –“Scissors were tricky,” and not knowing if she should read it once or twice. Through the words the reader gets an insight to how Ginny is feeling. Sometimes she is “afraid” or “mad.” The story takes place in a school setting and the teacher at times made things more confusing without meaning to. The teacher, Ms. Cleo said, “we read with our eyes, not our noses,” and “we read it just once,” confuses Ginny more and makes her afraid to read. These are examples of how a child with a disability is feeling and this gives the reader more insight to their feelings. As the story progresses Ginny’s vision problem is discovered during the schools Vision Screening Day and after being diagnosed with double vision she earned her patch. She becomes the Kindergarten Pirate and she is able to read, walk without bumping into chairs, write numbers and use scissors.
The illustrations tell the story of what it would be like to see two of everything. A young child will be able to understand how seeing two of everything would cause someone to have more challenges just walking in the classroom and then being able to participate in the school activities such as cutting, reading, and writing. The illustrations show young children that getting help can make things better. Ginny experiences growth in herself.
Review/Awards:
Booklist 05/01/10 Publishers Weekly starred 05/17/10
Horn Book 10/01/10 Schneider Family Book Award 01/01/11
Kirkus Review starred 06/01/10 School Library Journal 06/01/10
Library Media Connection 08/01/10 Wilson's Children 10/01/10
Full-Text Reviews
Booklist (May 1, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 17))
Preschool-Grade 2. Ginny enjoys kindergarten, but she does have some difficulties, and occasionally children laugh when she runs into chairs or reads lines of text twice. Her teacher notices that the child closes one eye to read, but on Vision Screening Day, the school nurse discovers that Ginny has double vision. When the doctor gives her a temporary eye patch, Ginny wears it with style and becomes a “Kindergarten Pirate,” suddenly better at numbers, scissors, and reading and no longer tense from concentrating in order to avoid mistakes. Created with pastels, acrylics, and colored pencils, Avril’s bold and wonderfully vivid mixed-media illustrations sometimes portray the classroom through Ginny’s eyes, with overlapping images of chairs, books, and people, though they usually present an outside perspective. Based on Lyon’s own experience, the sensitively written story radiates empathy and good humor. Even children who have not experienced Ginny’s problem will understand her occasional frustration and find it intriguing that one person can literally see the world differently from another.

Horn Book (July/August, 2010)
Plainspoken text and sunny mixed-media illustrations present the confusing world of a child with double vision. Ginny loves reading circle, but getting there is an obstacle course when there are twice as many chairs and only half of them are real. Reading and math are heroic efforts when every word appears twice on the page and "numbers [hop] around like popcorn." A vision screening finally catches the problem, and Ginny's eye doctor outfits her with glasses and an eye patch ("for a while") to correct her vision: "So Ginny became a Kindergarten Pirate who could do numbers and scissors...and read and read and read." Avril's easygoing pic-tures in cheerful colors simultaneously depict a warm, inviting classroom and the chaos seen through Ginny's eyes. Ginny squints her way through the day, eager to learn and succeed at school, but her efforts and frustration are palpable. Lyon and Avril treat Ginny with the empathy and respect that all earnest kids facing a challenge deserve.

Horn Book starred (Fall 2010)
Plainspoken text and sunny mixed-media illustrations present the confusing world of a child with double vision. Ginny's doctor outfits her with an eye patch ("for a while"): "So Ginny became a Kindergarten Pirate who could...read and read and read." Easygoing pictures in cheerful colors simultaneously depict a warm, inviting classroom and the chaos seen through Ginny's eyes.

Connection:
This is a good book to use with young children when talking about how everyone is unique. The illustrations give a clear understanding of how not seeing things clearly can affect you at school. Vision problems are one of the most common problems we have and it seems to take the longest to diagnose with young children. They do not know how things are supposed to look and this book gives children the language to express vision problems.
Use the book to address how we treat our friends and classmates also. Having students find other ways to react when students stumble or trip over furniture and when reading or cutting may not be just right. Children can role play with small group, ways to encourage or help others that seem to be struggling in class.