CELEBRATING TEACHING, DAY FIVE: ANOTHER COOL TEACHER

Operation YES

by Sara Lewis Holmes

Arthur A. Levine Books

on shelves this month

Miss Loupe is a cool teacher (the most recent addition to our list) with a tough job. She is teaching on the Air Force base where she herself went to school when her dad was an instructor pilot. She is going to teach 6th grade, but she's also going to teach theater, "...the art of saying yes."

She is teaching the base commander's son, whose Plan A is to have a good year this year so he can meet the Flying Farmer at the base air show this year. She's teaching kids who have moved from base to base so many times that they are hesitant to become engaged. She's teaching a girl who has (reluctantly) come across the country to live with relatives while her mother is deployed to Iraq. She teaches until her brother who is in the Army Special Forces goes missing in Afghanistan.

But that's when her students come together to say, "YES." They use all she's taught them about theater and art and teamwork, and they hatch a plan to help Miss Loupe, her brother, and ultimately their school and community.

This is a fabulous book that sheds light on a culture that has been ignored in children's literature -- the culture of military families, military bases, military schools. This is a must-read. You will laugh, you will cry, and your heart will fill with gratitude and understanding, in a way that it perhaps has not before, for all those who serve for a greater cause.

Reviews and celebrations of OPERATION YES:

Jama Rattigan's Soup of the Day

Everyday Learning

Shelf Elf

Operation YES website