Ms. Bixby is a very interesting book. I am sure as a kid I would have read it through very different eyes than I do now as a adult, with a kid heart. For Topher, Brand and Steve, Ms. Bixby means a lot to them and they want her to know just how much.
So this got me thing that I to have had a few Ms. Bixby’s in my life as I am a bit older, as a matter of fact I just graduated from college, again, and I would love to thank them here as I tell you a bit about them. My first Ms. Bixby was my second grade teacher who inherited me from another school system with many problems, but worked very hard with me, never got mad, upset, or gave up. This was a time before they knew much about ADD and dyslexia and I have been blessed with both. But she did her best to catch me up even though I couldn't even read when I started the second grade. I squeaked through the rest of elementary school and middle school barely and got to high school where I met my next two Ms. Bixby’s. One believe it or not was my freshman English teacher, even though I did horrible the first semester during the language portion, but then we had literature, oh my, I found my favorite thing, books. I was a very slow reader but my teacher was ok with that when she found out I remembered everything, and books were awesome, I got to escape to fishing boats, civil war battles, all kinds of new and exciting places, it was wonderful! My other Ms. Bixby was my biology teacher, even though I know I tried her patience, she pushed me more than ever and I excelled, how did she ever know it was in me, I hated her so much at first but we came to be such good friends that I was her TA my senior year.
My last Ms. Bixby wasn’t a school teacher, but was one of my
best teachers, and is actually a Mr. Bixby.
My job now is computers, I not only have to fix them but I have to
manage the network they are on as well, including servers, email, pretty much
anything you can think of doing with one.
Oh yeah, I also have to manage copiers, phones, security systems, and
environmental systems, and it is just me.
I had never done any of this before, I was a tween librarian, but we had this
company that would come in and help me if I couldn’t do it by myself, and that
first year their guy was here all the time.
I was Navy, he was Army, it became comical the bantering. No matter how often I asked the same question
over and over he never got mad or anything, he was always the calming voice
when everything seemed to be blowing up around me. He always took time to teach me how to do
things for myself, he was my cheerleader telling me, “you can do this, we will
find a way”, and “don’t worry we can fix it”, and I am afraid he had to once or
twice or more. He was always there for
me, but now he is back in school and I don’t even get to say “Hi” anymore. I just hope he knows what an awesome teacher
he is and I hope someday he gets a job that he loves and can find someone else
(maybe a bit easier than me) to teach.
I think I would also be remiss if I did not mention two
other Ms. Bixby’s, and I think they are huge Ms. Bixby’s in LOTS of other
children’s lives because of me, my brother and my brothers from another
mother. That is where my mom and her
friend learned about dyslexia and ADHD and as they spent years teaching
preschool (my mom 40 and her friend 50) they could spot these problems much quicker
and give help and find continuing help for these very young children so they
wouldn’t go through everything we went through, and I would like to think there
are a lot of kids out there today that had it so much easier because of that.
My Ms./Mr. Bixby’s now, are the authors and narrators (and
one blogger who is about 1/3 my age that helped me so much, you know who you
are, ahem Erik) that are so kind as to let this little blogger have a chance
(even though I am still a very slow reader and often miss deadlines) to review
their awesome books, or audiobooks, Oh my gosh you know who you are and you
all mean so much to me, thank you for still being my cheerleaders, and teachers. I just hope that
someday I can pay it back by teaching someone else just as all the Ms./Mr.
Bixby’s taught me with such patience, kindness, compassion, and to be the
awesome cheerleader I had and that meant so much to me when I needed it the
most.
Visit the other stops on the Ms. Bixby's Last Day blog tour:
6/2/2016 Nerdy Book Club
6/3/2016 Next Best Book
6/6/2016 Walden Media Tumblr
6/7/2016 Teach Mentor Texts
6/8/2016 This Kid Reviews Books
6/9/2016 Read, Write, Reflect
6/10/2016 Flashlight Reader
6/13/2016 Julie Falatko
6/14/2016 A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust
6/15/2016 About to Mock
6/16/2016 Kid Lit Frenzy
6/16/2016 The Hiding Spot
6/17/2016 Unleashing Readers
6/20/2016 Yingling Reads, Novel Novice
6/22/2016 Lit Coach Lou, Novel Novice
6/23/2016 Novel Novice
6/24/2016 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers, Novel Novice
6/27/2016 Librarian’s Quest
6/28/2016 Empower.Inspire…Teach
6/29/2016 Bluestocking Thinking
6/30/2016 Mindjacked
7/1/2016 All the Wonders
John David Anderson is the author of many books for young readers, includingSidekicked and The Dungeoneers. A dedicated root beer connoisseur and chocolate fiend, he lives with his wife, two kids, and perpetually whiny cat in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can visit him online at www.johndavidanderson.org.
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