'Self-Esteem In Just Call Me Stupid'

Words: 452
Pages: 2

Just Call Me Stupid is a children’s book written by Tom Birdseye in 1993. In this scenario, self-esteem has been misinterpreted and misused in children's lives and education. The main character, Patrick Lowe, is struggling through the fifth grade while he has trouble reading and gets teased about it due to lack of reading fluency. Patrick has low self-esteem while he is dissatisfied with himself and has low achievements. This story, however, is based on Tom Birdseye's experience back in 1988 as he was a guest speaker in an elementary school in Spokane, Washington. To a large extent, even though self-esteem can be mistaken for in children's lives and/or education, that doesn't mean they have no self-esteem at all. As children get older, their self-esteem becomes greater.
“You’re not paying attention. Look at the letters. Listen to the sound. W and H together says wh. You’re a fifth grader, not a first grader” (p 3). Fifth grader, Patrick Lowe, still can’t read. Everyday, classmates bully and tease him, while he’s in the Reading Resource Room of Dewey Elementary School. His impatient/annoyed teacher is fed up with Patrick because as he reads, the words on the page get blurry and he feels like it's strangling him. As a child, his cruel and alcoholic father
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All it takes is a little courage and help from friends. Celina made sure that Patrick doesn’t give up on reading, that he never quits and keeps practicing. As the famous saying goes, “Practice makes Perfect”. You should never give up because if you keep practicing, someday you will meet your goal. As stated from Publishers Weekly, this was “A dramatic and insightful novel” which won a Florida State Young Reader’s Award. This book was also nominated for State Children's Choice Award in eight states, including: Utah, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Florida, Iowa, Maine and