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Hi, Ms. K., (and J.R.),

I never thought of autism, but there are all sorts of people with varying degrees of unusual who just don’t fit in. The Unteachables were basically a set of oddballs, taken one by one. Only a truly gifted teacher, one whose heart was bigger than his ego, could find a way to meld them into a single group with a single purpose. In the book, it happened by chance, but it did happen, and Mr. Kermit, flawed and damaged as he was, was still in there somewhere.

The class was right to be angry that Mateo fell through the cracks and didn’t get the kind of attention he needed. We can hope that each one of them, as they move on to high school, is taken in hand by their new school. I like to think that Mr. Kermit will see to that. But please remember that, after all, none of them were “unteachable.” They were “unreachable,” rather, until the right teacher hit on the right way to get through to them.

Thanks for reaching out. (There, J.R. Will that do?)         —–Gordon Korman—–