by Janet Ryan

This book is a good read from the first page to the last. Janet has a way of telling a story that makes you feel like you are sitting with her, hearing her words.

She takes you into her world as a child. The drawings, done by Diane Collins, are great. They show the expressions on people's faces. Janet has difficulty at school. She has more difficulty in high school, because by this time she is in a class where no one is learning anything. Then she has difficulty finding work. Her father tries to help by filling out her job application forms, but employers want someone on the job who can read and write, at least a little. She gets laid off again and again.

The next part is very sad. Janet's father and her brother die. Soon after, Janet leaves her mother's house because she cannot get along with her. Janet ends up moving from place to place.

Then Janet moves to the west end. One day, in the laundromat, she sees the phone number of a place called Parkdale Project Read. She goes there and things start to pick up. She finds more there than just learning to read and write. She helps plan literacy events, and speaks out to encourage other people to get involved and to teach the public about literacy. Her last words in the story are an invitation to the reader: "why don't you come to a program and give it a try."

A review by Vivian Stollmeyer, Toronto, Ontario