Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece

Patricia Polacco's story, Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece (2014), paints a vivid picture of a brief moment in time for the author herself.

This realistic fiction picture book, it turns out, is an autobiographical account. It tells the story of how young Miss Polacco was painfully shy and unable to read her own writing in front of her class. In order to help her with her fear of public speaking, her English teacher gets her involved with the drama teacher, who, in turn, helps her overcome her fear and perform on stage.

Polacco, who has written and illustrated numerous picture books, is masterful with her full bleed illustrations -- those illustrations that stretch from page edge to page edge. Many of the illustrations that include adults often put the adults in a position of respect or power, meaning the upper half of the picture. Her use of demand to show her absolute shock of having to read in front of people makes you almost nervous for her.

I feel certain that my kindergartners would be able to follow the story line, but I would be doing a story chart with them to help them understand the text more deeply. We do story "windows" on a large white sheet folded in half twice. The students draw out who the characters in one square, the setting in another, the problem in the third and the solution in the fourth.

While the story may be a little more suitable for first-graders, the concept of speaking in front of others, I feel, would be understood by kindergartners.