Johnathon

by Jo Ann Burroughs

"Johnathon" is a heart-warming story about a neglected, abused, unloved child and an elementary school teacher. The book follows the course of a year in which the teacher has Johnathon in her class. The teacher progresses from a state of utter disbelief at Johnathon's appearance and actions to a feeling of sincere love and caring for the poor little boy. During the course of the year, Johnathon, too, learns to love and to let himself be loved. During the year that is related in the book, Johnathon experiences everything from learning he must bathe on a daily basis to being left at school and told he must find a new family before school dismisses. The teacher, through all of her trials and tribulations with Johnathon, must learn to deal with each and every new situation, maturing and developing throughout the book.

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. I think that anyone going into the education field should read this book. The book really is based on a teacher that has this one kid in her class that had affected her life forever. The author used the creating a character writing craft. She did this very well by beginning the story with a brief introduction of herself and then briefly mentioning the main character. Foe example she writes, I've only missed two days from school in thirty-nine years, four months, fourteen days, and seven hours. One of those days was when my great aunt Maude died and the other was because of...Johnathon. That sentence draws the reader in by making them wonder who is this Johnathon kid what did he do to make this teacher miss school. She also used the language well in developing Johnathon's character by spelling how he said teacher. Johnathon would call her "techr". She uses Johnathon's incorrect language through the entire book to help the reader really understand him and relate to the character through his use of words. I think the author uses this element well because i could not put this book down because i wanted to read more and more about what Johnathon does in the classroom. One of the strategies I would take from this piece to teach writing is her use of conversation between the teacher and the student. Through their conversations you can really see the characters personality and the differences between the two. You can also see when the student begins to have an affect on her because her language with him begins to change and become more affectionate towards him. instead of saying what happened a writer can write out a conversation between characters to express what's going on in the story.

[Andrea Skrivseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you work in education you must read this book!!! Read it if you’re not in education as well!!!

[Concetta Bullard]

A must read for anyone entering the education field.