Coming Across Jordan

Melanie and Kevin are two 6th-graders at the Harriet Tubman School in Pittsburgh. Melanie, a bright outgoing girl immediately makes friends with a new boy named Kevin. Kevin has a younger brother named Jordan who is in kindergarten. Once Melanie finds out Kevin has a younger brother and who Jordan's teacher is, her investment in the boys grows. Jordan has, as Melanie points out to Kevin, the "best teacher in the world." Melanie had been in that same kindergarten class several years earlier and was so impressed with her teacher that she continued to visit her classroom with the amazing aquarium. She is even named a classroom assistant. Kevin, meanwhile has issues with trying to keep Jordan's behavior in check and coping with a school bully who tries to lure him into doing things that will get him in trouble. After a disastrous event, the boys and Melanie end up working on a "Kids Helping Kids" poster in Jordan's class. This is a truly excellent book with delightful, realistic characters and a heartwarming set of twists and turns. Jordan's teacher really is exemplary and it is her input and influence over her pupils, current and former alike that make this such a compelling story.

"Coming Across Jordan" is a story of how sixth-grader Melanie decides to try to help a special kindergarten student named Jordan and his brother Kevin. She is drawn to both boys as a friend and as a classroom assistant. What worries her is Kevin's friendship with Curtis, a boy whom trouble seems to find. The children become involved in a "Kids Helping Kids" art poster contest and many twists and turns of plot development allow for lots of interest and empathy. The children speak in familiar casual language that adds to their genuine appeal and vivid identities. "Coming Across Jordan" is a book which uses surprise to engrave hope and belief into the young mind. The issues of celebrating differences, both of racial background and differently abled minds, are sensitively explored. Readers of "Coming Across Jordan" will learn something about the definition of a miracle. "Coming Across Jordan" is aimed at a middle school age readership, but it may be appealing to older readers as well.