All the children in Class 6A could read and write except Nora!
Nora was quiet, withdrawn, and easily distracted. At break time, she sat alone under the big orange tree to eat her lunch and never played with anybody. There was always an open book in her hands or on her lap, but everyone knew that Nora couldn’t read as well as her classmates. Nora was good at Mathematics and Science but because she couldn’t read, she never topped the class at the end of the term. She had no friends because nobody was kind to her except the class teacher Mr Agbeko.
On Mr Agbeko’s birthday, the class decided to make birthday cards for him. Mr Philips, the Fine Arts’ teacher taught every child how to make a birthday card using cardboard, markers, glue and glitter. Each child wrote a birthday message to Mr Agbeko wishing him well. To make it more fun, Mr Philips suggested that no card should be signed with the child’s name so that Mr Agbeko would guess whose card it was.
Mr Agbeko loved the cards and accepted the difficult challenge of guessing which of his fifteen pupils had wished him well. He missed all his guesses except one. It was Nora’s card which Mr Agbeko read out to the entire class. The class was filled with awe at Nora’s beautiful birthday poem and amazed at how Mr Agbeko knew it was Nora’s poem. Mr Agbeko then pinned the card on the classroom notice board and every pupil rushed to read the card. The birthday card read:
“When the lettas dance
And the wrods sing,
Your calming voice,
Tells me wat to know.
Hapi Betday Mr Agbeko.”
At once the pupils noticed the wrong spellings and even though it was a beautiful poem, a cackle of laughter filled the classroom. Nora felt so sad and cried for the rest of the day. She wished she could read and write like her classmates. She couldn’t understand why the letters danced so much that she couldn’t make out the words.
Nora’s redemption came two weeks later. Some very important visitors came to the school in search of special children. The visitors had some gifts and scholarships for pupils who were different, and unique. All the pupils were excited and eager to show just how special they were. The visitors went around each class testing the children until they got to Class 6A. One of the visitors, Ms Rachael wrote down some questions on the board and gave the children some time to attempt the questions.
As usual, every child in Class 6A scored very high in every subject because they were smart. But Nora couldn’t read or understand the question, so she scored very low. Ms Rachael was immediately drawn to Nora and invited her to take another test. The other children snickered and sneered as Nora struggled to read and spell. But to their surprise, Ms Rachael announced that Nora was the most special child in the whole school. Everyone was shocked and watched as Ms Rachael gave Nora many gifts and a scholarship to Marigold School for Special Children. It was a school for gifted and special children just like Nora. The children in Class 6A couldn’t believe their eyes and ears as Ms Rachael began to sing Nora praises. She explained to the rest of the class that Nora was neither dull nor slow but she had a special gift that helped her see letters and words differently from the rest of them. This special gift was called dyslexia and only special people were born with it.
The entire class was amazed at how different and special she was. They regretted how mean they had been to her and promised to be kind to her for the remainder of her days in Class 6A. They also organized a goodbye party for her and made many goodbye cards with beautiful poems. Nora was so happy that her classmates had come to understand her and was grateful to Ms Rachael for redeeming her in front of the whole school.
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Munachim Yvonne Frank-Dobi is a Nigerian writer who lives in Lagos. Her works have appeared in The Kalahari Review, Brittle Paper, and are forthcoming in Isele Magazine and Elsewhere. When she is not working, she can be found drafting short stories or reading something interesting.
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Read – Frail – A Children’s Literature by Rebecca Eduah – Ghana
