Hilda's Reviews > The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

Mary decided that flying was a lot like reading: they both made a body feel free as a bird.

This story was beyond interesting and a tad bit sad. Theres triumph but it comes from a lot of suffering so it’s a little bittersweet. Mary always dreamed of learning to read and at 116 years old she finally fulfilled her dream. Mary Walker lived through the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. She persevered and proved that you're never too old to learn.

One of my favorite parts were how well the illustrations connected with the story. Before Mary learned to read the book was full of squiggly lines. No words just squiggly lines and random shapes. After Mary learns to read the squiggly lines turn into words. Words she can finally read. I loved this detail so much. I had my students guess how old she was when she learned to read. When we got to 60 they started to get really excited. They also cheered when they finally guessed correctly. It was really cute to see their excitement.