Will Real Gert Holli [Paperback]

Sheila Greenwald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1985

An eleven-year-old child with a learning disability spends several weeks with an overachieving cousin. They learn a lot about themselves and each other.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Yearling (April 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440495539
• ISBN-13: 978-0440495536
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,633,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Read, November 28, 2005

By 

Library Gaga (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will the Real Gertrude Hollings Please Stand Up? (Paperback)

Gertrude Hollings is a fanciful eleven year old - bright, capable, imaginative - and learning disabled. This 1983 book details how Gertie is seen by others when letters and numbers dance across the pages of her assignments, "dumb" according to students and "unmotivated" by teachers. Her parents realize Gertie has dyslexia, and they place her in Bradwin, a loosely structured school where grades aren't important. But even at Bradwin, Gertie stands out as different. Until she meets Jessie, whose brother is dyslexic, Gertie is alone and frustrated.

Jessie's friendship is a mixed blessing. Jessie is well meaning but intense. Her goal is to tutor Gertie in her studies as well as in acting the part of Tituba in the school production of the Salem Witch trials. Eventual success is dotted with much desperation along the way.

The main action, however, centers on Gertie's three week visit with her cousin Arthur, a genius whose every move is choreographed by his anxious parents. Gertie takes on Arthur as her project, much like Jessie has taken on Gertie, to expose Arthur to imaginative games and the freedom to be a child.

This is a very believable, enjoyable book about a smart, learning disabled girl. There can never be too many books with this lifeline of a message for kids suffering from dyslexia or any other learning disability.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will The Real Gertrude Hollings Please Stand Up?, March 28, 2005

By 

Davida L. Shipkowitz (Northridge, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Will Real Gert Holli (Paperback)

Gertrude is fearful of exposure, highly subject to stress, awkward, and teased by all. She seriously attends tutoring classes but sees herself as slow and unmotivated. With most of her work lost in the laundry, she avoids tasks which simply do not fit her mood. In contrast, ultra-perfect and unimaginative Cousin Albert thoroughly believes Gertrude when she carries a "let's pretend" game too far. Gertrude is forced to read more than she ever had, to remember more than she needed to, and to make a constructive decision toward adulthood. A second focus of the book makes a good case for genetic disabilities and the trust in the future that all parents must transmit.