Will the Real Gertrude Hollings Please Stand Up?

Gertrude Hollings is a fanciful eleven year old - bright, capable, imaginative - and learning disabled. This 1983 book details how Gertie is seen by others when letters and numbers dance across the pages of her assignments, "dumb" according to students and "unmotivated" by teachers. Her parents realize Gertie has dyslexia, and they place her in Bradwin, a loosely structured school where grades aren't important. But even at Bradwin, Gertie stands out as different. Until she meets Jessie, whose brother is dyslexic, Gertie is alone and frustrated. Jessie's friendship is a mixed blessing. Jessie is well meaning but intense. Her goal is to tutor Gertie in her studies as well as in acting the part of Tituba in the school production of the Salem Witch trials. Eventual success is dotted with much desperation along the way. The main action, however, centers on Gertie's three week visit with her cousin Arthur, a genius whose every move is choreographed by his anxious parents. Gertie takes on Arthur as her project, much like Jessie has taken on Gertie, to expose Arthur to imaginative games and the freedom to be a child. This is a very believable, enjoyable book about a smart, learning disabled girl. There can never be too many books with this lifeline of a message for kids suffering from dyslexia or any other learning disability.

Gertrude is fearful of exposure, highly subject to stress, awkward, and teased by all. She seriously attends tutoring classes but sees herself as slow and unmotivated. With most of her work lost in the laundry, she avoids tasks which simply do not fit her mood. In contrast, ultra-perfect and unimaginative Cousin Albert thoroughly believes Gertrude when she carries a "let's pretend" game too far. Gertrude is forced to read more than she ever had, to remember more than she needed to, and to make a constructive decision toward adulthood. A second focus of the book makes a good case for genetic disabilities and the trust in the future that all parents must transmit.