Jeremiah Learns to Read

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

“Heartwarming” is the term that best describes this tale of an old
man satisfying an old dream by learning his letters along with his
grandchildren in the local rural school.

Jeremiah is the archetypal grandfather: the loving and wise possessor
of a host of skills, he is always working and sharing the products of
his skills. (First- and second-graders will delight in following
Jeremiah’s skilful tasks, from reading to splitting fence-rails, from
cooking buttermilk pancakes to making maple syrup.) Yet, like us all, he
needs to learn new ones. (The idea that adults still need to learn may
be an eye opener for some children.) Through rhythm and repetition, Jo
Ellen Bogart teaches the ongoing nature of both tasks and needs.

Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobson’s full-page illustrations of the
rural setting for Jeremiah’s life are colorful, detailed, and rich in
human interest. Some memorable ones include Jeremiah in a rocker by the
woodstove communing with his dog and a close-up of Jeremiah and his wife
Juliana, who now wants him to teach her to read.

Comic and wise, Jeremiah’s story is highly recommended.