Author: A True Story

A great biographical story of the author's struggles with a learning disability as a child. Although she was not the best at writing then, she overcomes the trials and becomes an author. For children struggling with a learning disability, this is a great example of how a disability does not define them.

This is a wonderful autobiographical account of a children's book author and illustrator about her struggles with writing. This is a fabulous example and encouragement to children who may be struggling in with their own writing. In a very readable way, Helen describes all the obstacles that she faced as a child and continues to face as a successful writer. Along the way she provides wonderful encouragement and tips for young writers who might be sharing those same struggles.

This book is a MUST in the reading and writing corner of every elementary classroom. Although not technically an early reader book, this needs to be part of every classroom writing center. The book explains that writing is a process and it doesn't just happen, you show more must work hard to write well - even successful authors. The book encourages young readers and writers to write anywhere and anytime about anything and reminds them that not all attempts at writing will be successful. Just a great book. show less

This book is about an author, Helen Lester, who was a "mirror writer" as a child. So Helen was writing in a wrong direction; however, she was able to write from left to right, eventually. Helen also described her struggles as a writer: getting stock, loosing ideas, not being able to come up with a title.... But she overcame it all and became an ELA teacher. And then 10 years later she started writing children's books, which was also very hard and frustrating at first, she was rejected a lot. It is a very inspiring story about perseverance, hard work, believing in yourself, and dealing with not being like everyone else. Helen Lester also illustrated this book and it looks adorable. A great read!

"Author: A True Story" tells the story of Helen Lester's learning disability. When she was younger, Helen would write all of her sentences backwards. It was very difficult for her teachers to read her work. Helen worked very hard and eventually became a published author. She also introduces the idea of a Fizzle Box. Young writers can put all of their ideas into a Fizzle Box and come back to them whenever they please. Her story tells the tale of perseverance and hard work. I liked his story, but found it difficult to figure out what her learning disability was.

While reading this book I could tell that my students seemed both uninterested and confused. However I did like that Helen Lester showed in her book that you should never give up and that with hard work and persistence you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. I also never knew there was such a thing as a mirror writer so it was nice learning something new.

This story is about a girl who struggles with writing her letters and words. Through her life, she figures out ways to let her frustrations out through unique ways such as day dreaming and writing books of her very own. Author was very persistent in the book and throughout her life. She received many rejections on her books in which she wrote. However, she kept on pursuing her love of writing. Even though she still become frustrated a lot when writing, she never gave up! The illustrations in the book gives great meaning and understanding to the words on the page. It shows her frustration with her writing and how she feels with the different looks on her face throughout the book. This is a great motivational story. I really enjoyed show more reading it! show less

Based on a true story, a three- year-old girl loves to write lists for her mother. But, when it came to writing things for school she encountered many problems. She would find it hard writing like most people do; starting with the left of the paper and working your way to the right. She would do the complete opposite and on top of that she wrote each letter in the words backwards. This is called “mirror writing,” it made her writing hard for the teachers to read and they had to hold it up to a mirror to read it. When became an adult she became a teacher and wrote children’s books; in the correct way! It was interesting reading about this kind of disability because it sounds like such an unusual thing to have to me. Think it’s show more cool that she writes backwards because it’s kind of like deciphering a code. It was a nice easy read! show less