Travis Culley

This story resonated with my own experiences in school (I was slightly dyslectic and needed glasses to correct for near-sightedness).

While reading Culley's memoir, I found myself nodding in agreement— he tells of taking a psychological test in which he reads an inkblot: he gives a boy's interpretation, a girl's interpretation, and finally he gives his own interpretation. Suddenly, it hit me, this narrator was telling the truth, maybe he actually lived through these experiences.

This is a great little book, I liked it and recommend it.
Carto… (lisätietoja)

I received a copy of this book through Early Reviewers. While this book was a fairly interesting read, the title is misleading. It is not a memoir of learning how to read and write. The author never explains how he transformed from illiterate to literate. As an educational consultant, I was eager to glean specific strategies from a young man who overcame illiteracy. I'm afraid none were described in this book. He did share how he was motivated to become literate when he became involved in drama productions and how he saw a purpose in writing when he began writing a journal to work through depression. The author's story of his childhood, a traumatic event and dysfunctional family was very interesting for about half of the book. How a variety of factors led to Mr. Culley faking his way through school without learning to read and write was enlightening. The author's writing style was rather disjointed and made it difficult to read it for an extended amount of time. While I could sympathize with the author because of the difficulties he faced, the story of his family was told so completely from his viewpoint, that I was left wanting to know a more well-rounded view, to find out more of his parents' version of the events. Overall, this book was worth reading but do not expect an a-ha moments.… (lisätietoja)