4 KIDS IN 5E AND 1 CRAZY YEAR

A stimulating class environment that will change their lives is the last thing the four put-upon narrators in 5E expect when they are reassigned, along with a group of their culturally diverse fifth-grade classmates, to a more intimate class with a new teacher, Miss Hill. They feel thrown away, uncomfortable and angry as witnessed in every initial journal account. The four have distinctive backgrounds: single-parent, large, extended Jamaican, hyperactive African-American and raucous nuclear Italian family. What each of the four principle characters want is not clearly voiced in the beginning, but is revealed in introspective thoughts and diary entries, as they learn to process the world and their feelings on paper, and Schwartz goes straight to the heart. These intricately drawn characters experience gradual personal enlightenment through short, thoughtful writing sessions guided by Miss Hill, whose strong ability to learn what her individual students need and then create an environment of attainment is described in the vivid voices of her fifth graders. An inspiration to writing teachers and to those who struggle with life or literacy. (Fiction. 4-6)