If You’re So Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi?

Do you want to educate your child about Dyslexia? Whether your child has a learning disability or not, this book titled, If You’re So Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi? is an excellent book to help children understand what Dyslexia is and how it can affect a child’s reading and writing abilities. As an educator and advocate for all individuals with learning differences, I think raising awareness of different disabilities and differences can be very beneficial in the classroom or home environment.

If You’re So Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi? is the story of an 8 year old girl named Katie who admires her father, the smartest person she knows. Her father is one of the busiest civil rights lawyers in Chicago. During one evening when Katie is doing her homework, she asks her father if he can help her with the hardest spelling word on her spelling test, Mississippi. He replies “I’m not sure. Go ask your mom.” Katie is astonished by this response and says “How can you Daddy, one of the smartest people I know, not know how to spell Mississippi?” He then explains to his daughter that he has dyslexia and that he struggled to spell words correctly and often got ridiculed by his classmates when he was in school. Her father then explains to Katie that some of greatest scientists, doctors and inventors struggled with symptoms of dyslexia. Katie decides to take this opportunity to go to the library and study all of the great minds that struggled with dyslexia. She learns that these individuals were very intelligent and accomplished exceptional things in all different types of jobs, including doctors, athletes, scientists, teachers, etc. In this book, she learns that a reading disability does not define how intelligent you are and that working hard can help you develop the skills to accomplish exceptional things in your life.

If You’re So Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi? (A Story About Dyslexia) (Adventures of Everyday Geniuses)