Grade: 1-3
The story follows a young boy who is struggling to learn to read and feels frustrated by the words on the page. His teacher encourages him to take a "walk in the words," helping him discover that words are not just symbols on a page, but powerful, dynamic elements that can transport him to new worlds and offer him freedom of expression.

A kid who prefers to draw because he is a slower reader and got overwhelmed as the books got more and more words. And felt embarrassed or bad for being a slow reader. Describing it like he was lost at sea or in the woods until he learned to break the words down and be able to read at his own speed. Becoming more confident even if he didn't know all the words and might have had to skip some words.

This book would be great for any elementary students. This book is about a boy who is a slow reader and has dyslexia. It is a book that goes through him learning how to read at his pace and that reading slow is okay. I would use this book in my classroom to help students understand that reading speed doesn't matter as much in the long run and everyone learns differently.

This book would be good for mid level elementary. It is about a boy who loves to draw but struggles when it comes to reading. He doesn't let the difficulties stop him, instead, he works through learning to read by taking it one step at a time. I would use this book to teach kids about productive struggle and how they can use the skills they already have to learn new ones. ( )

Terrific! "Slow readers savor the story." I particularly liked the spread of the drawings of the horses that show improvement with practice, and the exploration that reading and writing are improvable skills, too. The author's note mentions dyslexia, but I think that anything that challenges a new reader can be addressed with this beautiful and fun book. ( )

Gr 1–3—With a directness similar to Jordan Scott's I Talk Like a River, this story addresses the stigma surrounding
dyslexia. While drawing is like breathing for the boy, he knows he is the slowest reader in his class. Talbott brilliantly
illuminates the feeling of dyslexia through his watercolor and colored pencil illustrations, offering hope to struggling
readers and an avenue of understanding for others.

I really enjoyed Hudson Talbot's text and illustrations to inspire all readers and those who may be disheartened by "slow reading". I remember feeling that pressure in reading groups in grade school. Talbott discovers it is all right to read at your own pace and the savor the words. While now early readers and/or struggling readers have more resources and support than Talbot did in school, the feelings and frustrations may be the same. ( )

Amazing book! It tells the reader that it is okay to not be a prolific reader at the beginning. Learning to read takes time and practice, but you eventually get there. Then when you get there your adventure truly begins.

This book is about the author's own journey with dyslexia and how he came to find his confidence with himself. This book has beautiful illustrations and helps students to see that just because you don't do something just like everyone else or in the same time as everyone else doesn't mean you aren't talented and capable in your own way. ( )

This book is about a child struggling with a reading disability, potentially dyslexia. He doesn’t read very quickly and feels defeated as a result. He eventually grows to feel confident in his slow reading and thrives in his “walk in the words”. Recommended for all elementary grades K-5. ( )

This book would be good for primary and intermediate aged students. This book is an autobiography about the author Hudson Talbott and his struggle with learning to read. The little boy in the books explains that he was always the slowest reader and struggles with the amount of words on the page. This book goes through using a pathway of stones of familiar words to figure out the rest of the words. This book celebrates reading slowly and taking in all parts of a story. This book would be good to talk about reading in general and reading slowly to take in the story. ( )

I loved this book! It is about a little boy learning how to read at his own pace even though he was not as quick as his classmates. This book really highlights that people read, learn, and comprehend at different paces, but this does not make them better or less than others. I think this would be a great book to have in the classroom or for a read-aloud in an early class where students are learning how to recognize words. This book also explains what the boy did to continue reading and how he learned to read more text. Good for 1-4 grade. ( )

Drawing was “like diving into my own world,” Talbott writes in this fast-paced, highly visual autobiographical tale. Reading was terrifying — “too many words coming at me at the same time.” One minute he’s running for his life as books swarm after him like Hitchcock’s birds; the next he’s in a dark wood that’s downright Dante-esque. While tempted to give up, Talbott “loved stories too much to quit.” So he “pictured” a way out: steppingstones. “I jumped over the words I didn’t know, and let the words I knew lead me into the story. After a while, I wasn’t thinking about reading. I just wanted to know what happened next.”

Schneider Family Honor Book

The narrator describes his love for drawing and his love for stories, and how he struggles to read as fast as his classmates in school. Eventually he realizes that he simply needs to go at his own pace; he allows illustrations and.or words he knows to lead him into the story.

The art, as evidenced by the cover, is marvelous, showing words as stepping stones, as dark tangled trees, as an ocean, and more. Some collage is used, a la Oliver Jeffers.

An author's note explains that "dyslexia" is a newer term; when the author/illustrator was a student, he was just called "slow."

See also: Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts ( )

reviewed

Schneider Family Honor book 2022 ( )