The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

Now Miss Agnes introduces Fred and the other students to the Greek myths, to geography, to European literature, music and science (and I do so much love how Miss Agnes teaches Fred's deaf sister Bokko sign language and how everyone in class learns to sign along with Bokko). Set in 1948 rural Alaska, and told as a first person narrative by ten year old Fred, an Athabaskan schoolgirl who does not much like being called by her given name of Frederika (which kind of tickles my fancy as Frederike is my middle name), The Year of Miss Agnes basically presents how Miss Agnes, an eccentric but lovingly dedicated British teacher, comes to the Alaskan frontier and opens the door to education and the joy of learning not only for Fred and her classmates, but also for many of the local adults (some of whom have always tended to consider school and book leaning as impractical, as useless for those who live off the land, who hunt, fish and forage in the woods). When I read Kirkpatrick Hill's The Year of Miss Agnes early this morning (I could not sleep and the novel was indeed a very fast and delightfully easy read), I felt both uplifted and also inexplicably much frustrated if not actually majorly annoyed (and managed to realise pretty quickly that MOST of my emerging issues and worries with regard to this generally well-written and engaging Middle Grade novel about a special and supportive teacher have to do with the double edged blade of cross-cultural education).

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill