Reviews - The Year of Miss Agnes

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

91 reviews for:

In Fred's (short for Frederika) village in Alaska, teachers don't stay long. It's cold and dark and the big boys don't listen, and everything smells like fish. So when Miss Agnes shows up, Fred knows she won't stay long. But in that year she is there, she teaches them so much, without them even realizing it, that no one can stand to think that she will only be there for one year.

Or will she?

Wonderful MG book. Definitely recommend.

auschick's review

4.0

My kids loved this book. I read it to them as our Read-Aloud this month. It was a quick read and each chapter was fairly short, so they could often get a couple of them in during one reading session. I found the book a bit hard to read aloud since it was written as a 10 year old in that region may have spoken.

allisonwalton's review

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Some people will reference the colonialism aspect of the white teacher going to teach an indigenous population. But this takes place in the 1940s, so I didn't find that an issue. I think this book is aspirational for new teachers. The beauty of meeting intrinsic needs and reaching students with interest-based learning is educational pedagogy at its finest.

kmdahlgran's review

3.0

This wasn't my favorite book, but it was good. I give it 3.5 stars (but that's not an option).

vcalkins's review

4.0

Evan rates this 4.75. We both loved it! Excellent read-aloud, and such a heartwarming story (especially to read as a teacher).

themindfullibrarian's review

5.0

Summary: A young child in a small town in Alaska attends school in a one room school house with a few friends. Every teacher that comes through complains about the smell of fish that the students bring for lunch and leave after one year, or sometimes even less. One day, a new teacher walked in with a different style and different clothes and a different way of thinking. She took these kids lives and turned it upside down by introducing them to sign language, maps, timelines, and learning at their own levels. The students learned to adore Miss Agnes and before they knew it, she was leaving. But, to the surprise of the students, Miss Agnes returns for yet another school year.

Evaluation: I absolutely loved this book! Not only was it so sweet, it was also a wonderful example of what an amazing teacher is like. It inspired me to be a strong teacher that works for the students and not for the tests or the grades or the administration. The students are why we're here, and they need to be our main focus. I think young students would like this book, even though they probably wouldn't get the same things I did out of it.

Teaching: This book could be used to teach about locations and how people live in Alaska at this time period. We could compare and contrast how we live and what our seasons look like in comparison to how Miss Agnes' students live. They could determine which type of school they'd like to attend and what the differences were.

athenamiles's review

5.0

This was a very sweet book that is short--the perfect book to get me back into the read aloud habit with my younger two boys. It takes place in Alaska in 1948 (perfect for a boy who just did a report on Alaska) and was just a charming book about a group of students in a small, one room school house and an amazing teacher.