Yours Turly, Shirley

by Ann M. Martin

Shirley, a fourth-grader with dyslexia, struggles with her feelings of inferiority as she compares herself to her intellectually gifted older brother and newly adopted Vietnamese sister

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Adoption, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Noëlle Alexandria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Back in the 80's, I knew families that had adopted kids from Vietman and Korea. Something every child adopted had in common was that they had to learn English, which didn't happen overnight. Something every girl had in common was clear neglect thanks to cultures valuing girls about as much as a piece of used toilet paper.

In this book, like like in the Babysitters Club book, Kristy and the Mothers Day Surprise, a girl is adopted by mail order. Once again we have an adopted child who has no attachment issues, no other issues stemming from culture shock, and once again, a child who arrive to the US with a good grasp on the English language. Jackie also, despite living in an orphanage where access to education doesn't exist, arrives in the US already so knowledgable about elementary school topics that she's placed into a higher grade class than her age would indicate. I remember reading this book as a kid and asking how she already know English spelling, all the states, multiplication and division, and so on, when she wouldn't have had a chance to learn that in a Vietnamese orphanage.

Jackie's one flaw is treated like a speech impediment. She can't make the L-sound. The way linguistics works is that our brains ignore sounds we don't learn by the age of 5, and lumps new sounds in with what we already know. A simple explanation is how the colors burgundy, wine, and bordeaux, are often lumped in together and called dark red by people not trained to see the difference. Eggshell, ecru, and cream, are often lumped in as off-white. Even side-by-side, some people can't see the difference. Now imagine this for language. We learned the difference in sound when key lunguistic areas of our brains were developing. Cultures that lack the R-sound or L-sound will mentally lump them together. "Flied lice" isn't said to be cute, but because people genuinely can't hear the difference. Before you get smug, go talk to a Russian and find out how many sounds English-native-speakers can't hear!

So, as I said, this linguistic difference is treated like a speech impediment Jackie just needs to practice overcoming. While still trying, Shirley is mean about it. In one memorable scene, the class has a spelling bee, and Shirley gets "elephant." Since Jackie is in the class, Shirley spells it, "ee, err, ee..." to make Jackie feel bad. At the end of he book, just a few chapters later, Jackie miraculously learns to say the L-sound, and uses it flawlessly. Remember this is a girl only in the US a couple months.

I honestly have a hard time believing Ann was a teacher of more than preschool. Back in the 80's, teachers knew this stuff, that adopted kids don't go from orphanages in one country to being perfectly assimilated in another country in a matter of weeks. They HAD to know, since adopting Vietnamese and Korean kids was extremely popular at that time, like a sick fad and these kids are the latest fashion craze. We kids who were in class with the new kids were taught how to be patient and to understand the challenges the kids would face, and always, ALWAYS, the older kids got a tremendous amount of special aid that Jackie didn't have, specifically because they needed all that help to catch up, and schools didn't want to put 8-year-olds in kindergarten.

So how on earth did Ann come to think that the portrayal in this book was acceptable?

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family-friendly read starring a elementary-age main character living with dyslexia. Just one or two dated references (rent a VHS tape, anyone?) are more than outweighed by Shirley's personality and everyday adventures. Features shout-outs to books struggling readers may find more tempting with Shirley's endorsement.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: realistic fiction, kidlit
Disabled character(s): Shirley
Disability type: dyslexia

Notes: her dyslexia doesn’t exactly play hard into the plot, but it does shape her character.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Bzzzz! Shirley Basini's alarm clock went off and Shirley rolled over, grabbed it, and threw it at the wall. Shirley's clock looked like a baseball and you were supposed to throw it at the wall. That was the only way to turn it off.

Premise/plot: Shirley Basini, our protagonist, has dyslexia and is in fourth grade. She knows her diagnosis. Her parents know. Her teacher(s) know. Everyone knows. But knowing isn't exactly the same as understanding. She's been warned that if she doesn't improve throughout the year, she'll be held back to repeat fourth grade. She knows this from day one. Yours Turly, Shirley, is in part, Shirley's experiences in fourth grade--her ongoing struggle to improve academically and learn to manage/cope with her dyslexia.

The novel is also Shirley's new little sister. The family has decided to adopt a child from Vietnam. At first, they think they'll be receiving/adopting a three year old baby boy. As the date to pick him up from the airport draws closer, however, they learn surprise surprise that it will be an eight year old girl. They decide to rename her Jackie.


Jackie is super-smart, super-intuitive, super savvy. She starts the school year in first grade, speed runs learning English (and other subjects presumably?). By the middle of the year, they [the powers that be at school] decide to move her to third grade to be with her peers [children her own age]. Jackie loves, loves, loves to read. And the library is her favorite place.

All isn't perfectly, perfect for Jackie, however. The students--even her own big sister--tease her for pronouncing her "r's" as "l's." Granted, her big sister doesn't do it nearly so often as everyone else. But the one time she does it is in front of a lot of people--at a spelling bee. Besides being teased for talking different/weird, she's teased for being "yellow" or "slope eyes." (These words come straight from the book. I'm just mentioning what the book says). Shirley who was halfway to hating her little sister for being smarter and better, now swoops in to save her. (But does Jackie need saving? Maybe. Maybe not. The two girls take a stand together--and speak up loudly about the teasing.)

Each chapter is a month of the school year.

Ann M. Martin wrote this during the same time she was writing The Babysitter's Club books. This one is not a series book but a standalone.

My thoughts: I am conflicted. I am. It is dated. I don't think if I'd read it as a child I would have questioned the representation of those with learning differences (aka dyslexia) OR being Vietnamese-American. I don't know how realistically or authentically either comes across as...now...or perhaps even then. I don't know that there is ever only one "right" way to depict something. Jackie is a gifted, super-smart, people-pleaser. Shirley is a class clown who makes other students laugh and teachers groan. The book is told from Shirley's point of view exclusively.

I do not have dyslexia. I can't judge if the "skills" and "techniques" being shown in this one were generally helpful or not so much. I use quotes because really the only thing she learns from the resource teacher is that if you love the content of what's in books, you will do anything to keep reading. You will teach yourself the skills needed so that you can find out what happens next. The resource teacher begins by reading aloud book after book after book. She reads aloud a little here or there. Taking on the part of one character in the book and reading that one character's dialogue. Soon, he [the teacher] has her reading books all on her own. She now has a long list of authors whom she loves and adores. She's now eager to read books for fun, to read all the books in series, to keep finding new authors, new series, etc.

As a reader, I loved all the name-dropping. These books, these authors, these series...were the ones I myself was reading at the time. So it was a treat to see this aspect of the book.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the Book From Your Childhood challenge of the 2023 Winter Bingo Challenge. I vividly remember reading this book with my mom when I was younger. I can remember how, for years, we would joke anytime we heard the word "truly". Reading it again brought back memories of all the books we would read together and talk about.

[Emily Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book - there was some outdated language and some cringy statements made (referencing a foreign adoption), but rarely was used without being addressed (i.e., children scolded/punished for using specific language). A good storyline; I would be interested to see how people with dyslexia view the book/plot.

[Liz Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated (some things wouldn’t necessarily take place in 2020) but overall a very good, well written book about family. Dyslexia, adoption are also well woven into the story.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yours Turly, Shirley is the story of Shirley and Jackie. Shirley is learning to cope with her dyslexia and Jackie is trying to fit in as she is newly arrived from Vietnam. Shirley's parents have adopted Jackie and now these very different girls are sisters.

The story would have worked better if Yours Turly, Shirleywere longer. Martin is trying to cover so many tricky subjects in the course of a 150 or so pages and ends up glossing over everything.

Then there is Jackie's country of origin. Had it been published in the early 1980s, it would have fit right in with so many of the children of American soldiers and Vietnamese mothers being adopted into families at the end of the Vietnam war. But by 1988, the war had been over for 15 years and Jackie is 8. It makes me wonder if Martin polished off an manuscript that had been sitting in her closet for a few years.

Although Jackie is described as being from Vietnam, her mannerisms and language mistakes make her sound Japanese. Her "Engrish" unfortunately paints all people from Asia as being the same and interchangeable. While I'm all for the universality of the human experience, I think Martin missed an opportunity to teach a little bit about Vietnamese culture.

On Shirley's side of the story, there's the dyslexia. She's supposedly been diagnosed a number of years ago and yet now that Jackie has appeared she's just starting extra studies with a counselor to learn how to cope. The dyslexia seemed to be a plot device to make the "competition" between Shirley and Jackie more even as Jackie learns to read and write in English. Otherwise, Shirley's dyslexia is about as convincing as Jackie's back story.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was 10 or so and I really enjoyed it and read it several times over. I found it funny and an interesting read. The book allows children to empathise with Shirley and understand how she was feeling while still being able to see how she should have dealt with some of the issues she faces in the book. I think my favourite part of the book as a child was the emphasis it had on different kinds of families. I would definitely recommend it

[Dani Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a naturally intuitive and somewhat gifted child, I had no concept of what it was like to struggle in school (outside of math class) - and thus was not a very compassionate person with classmates who struggled. But this book helped changed that by letting me have a peak at life from the eyes and mind of a peer to whom things did not come naturally. It helped make me more understanding and kind.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I remember really feeling so bad for Shirley and feeling lucky that I didn't have dyslexia. I also felt bad on her behalf when her parents adopted a younger sister for her who did way better in school- ouch!

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember loving this book when it was part of Book Parade. It made me interested in dyslexia and other learning disorders.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old Children's Book. Liked it as a kid, but haven't read it in years.

[Cws]

JEAR3-Mar