Book Review: Wild Things by Sally Rippin

We review Sally Rippin’s Wild Things and connect her story of raising a son with dyslexia and ADHD to what teachers and parents can do differently right now. We talk about misunderstood behavior, early intervention, the science of reading, and why schools have to meet kids where they are. 
• Sally Rippin’s background as a beloved children’s author and why her adult book matters for educators and parents 
• The book’s unique chapter structure using children’s book characters to frame lessons about learning differences 
• Misbehavior as a sign of unmet needs and why kids are often misunderstood at school 
• The pressure to “fix” kids instead of noticing strengths we can encourage 
• Early warning signs, parent denial, and why early dyslexia identification and intervention are essential 
• What dyslexia can look like in reading and comprehension and why decoding can feel like slow hard work 
• The science of reading and the reading wars, including why systematic phonics helps dyslexic students 
• ADHD challenges in school relationships and why educator words and tone matter 
• Helpful resources and technology, including Understood and programs like Nessy 
• A critique of cookie cutter schooling and why we need systems that value different learners 
Join me next time for the episode we're going to do on dyslexia. 
If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin@educatemewell.com.

Resources:
About Sally Rippin | sallyrippin - https://www.sallyrippin.com/

Nessy Reading and Spelling | Nessy - https://www.nessy.com/en-us/nessy-reading-and-spelling

Understood - For learning and thinking differences - https://www.understood.org/

PaperPie. Search - https://www.paperpielearning.com/search?q=sally+rippin

Dyslexia Training Institute – Education Changes Everything - https://www.dyslexiatraininginstitute.org/

Introduction to Structured Literacy and the Orton-Gillingham Approach – University of San Diego - Professional & Continuing Education - https://pce.sandiego.edu/courses/introduction-to-structured-literacy-and-the-orton-gillingham-approach/

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Transcript

Tonya: 00:04 Welcome and Book Review
Welcome to Educate Me Well, the podcast that brings faith and education together. Hi, I'm Tonya, and I'm so glad you're here. Welcome back, friends. On this episode, I would like to do a book review. I haven't done one of those yet with you guys. And I had a book that I had really been wanting to read. And I used to be a PaperPie storymaker or brand partner. And if you don't know anything about PaperPie, it is related to children's books. And so I had bought one of Sally Rippin's books called Wild Things. And it wasn't a children's book, it was a book meant for adults. And so I'd like to do a review on that with you guys this week and tell you all about it. I'm sure you could find that with a PaperPie rep, or you could also buy this book at Amazon, I'm sure. Sally Rippin is a well-known children's author from Australia, and she's written quite a few books. You may have heard of them. One’s Big Dog, Little Dog, Come Over To My House, School of Monsters, which I absolutely love. If you have not seen those, your children would love them. And they're good uh first readers. Also the Billy B. Brown and Hey Jack series, those are also first readers. And I know from our school, we had a bunch of Sally Rippin's books in our private school that I was the principal at, and our kids absolutely loved them. And so I'd encourage you to check those out, and I'll put some links for those in my show notes.

Tonya: 02:05 What Wild Things Is About
So she starts out the book with a foreword and just a note to the reader. This book is about the journey she took with her son, who has, her youngest son, who has dyslexia. And she just wanted to write about the journey and what she learned from it. And she has some great advice in the book, and you would just enjoy reading her story as well, particularly if you are a teacher, or if you are any other kind of educator, or if you're a parent, and particularly parents with children with disabilities. The book is unique in the way that she writes it. She uses a children's book from for at the first of each chapter. She will put the name of the children's book, and it's not hers, it's other authors. Like the first chapter is Max, the king of all wild things, is the character. And the book is Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Syndak. And we all are familiar with that book. And so she uses children's books for each chapter to go into a piece of her son's story and also to bring out a point in each chapter related to educating students with disabilities or something that she has learned from her experience with her son. Very interesting way to write the book. 

Tonya: 03:50 When Behavior Signals A Need
We know from the first chapter, uh, Where the Wild Things Are. We know Max, he is a wild one. He's one of those wild children. And, you know, she brings out a point in in the chapter that, you know, he's a character who he doesn't follow the rules. He gets in trouble. And she makes a point of saying, uh, you know, a character who follows the rules and makes no mischief is boring, and we fall most deeply in love with those who are troubled or flawed. And you know what? That is true of a lot of us. We tend to relate to that character because we all have flaws, we're all human. She said, but when children are like this in the real world, we often respond very differently, and we know that from if you have experience in the education world, you can relate to that. And she makes the point in the chapter also, she said, one of the most important things I have learned from researching this book is how often children can be misunderstood. How "bad" behavior, especially in the classroom, is usually a sign that something else is simmering beneath the surface. And it is our job as the adults who care for these children to try to figure out what is going on for them. As few will have the ability to articulate this for themselves. Then it is our job to teach them how to self-advocate. And I couldn't agree more. It is our responsibility as adults to help kids when they're struggling.

Tonya: 05:11 Strengths Over Fixing Kids
The next chapter, she uses the character Eloise, who is full of spark and gleeful mischief in the book Eloise, A Book For Precocious Grown-ups by Kay Thompson and Hillary Knight. She points out that the New York Times critic Sarah Farrell wrote in a review of a recent biography of Kay Thompson. Today, Eloise would probably be on Ritalin. She said, We like our wild things tamed and manageable, and if they are not, we appear to be desperate to fix them rather than focusing on strengths we can encourage. How many educators have we seen this? We have seen this, haven't we? And sometimes this is a frustration with parents as well, because we love our kids and we want to help them. And sometimes they don't need fixed, they just need to be helped. At the end of this chapter, she says, I was born with a personality and top of brain that schools are made for. Schools for me was an easy fit. It was for me too. And it is for many kids, but many there it is not. She said, Many parents with kids who struggle in school will often be told, oh well, school just isn't for everyone. But she said, But if everyone must go to school, why not? And I thought that was a great question. If all students have to go to school, which they do, it is the school's responsibility to meet them where they're at. It's not easy, but that is the school's responsibility. That's why I'm such a strong advocate for letting parents choose which school that they want to send their child to. Do they want public, do they want private, or do they want homeschool? Great point. 

Tonya: 07:35 Early Dyslexia Clues and Denial
The next chapter uses the character Allie Nickerson, who believes she is dumb. And this book is Fish in a Tree by Linda Malayley Hunt. Sally Rippin makes some points in this chapter about early education and early intervention and early, basically early recognition. And we'll talk about this some more in another podcast episode. I plan on doing an episode on dyslexia, probably next episode. But she talks about in this chapter how it's so important that parents recognize early on things in their child's development that could be taking place. And it's alerts, it's a red alert for you to check things out. There may not be anything wrong, but you should check things out and make sure. She says, I spent much of those few first few years in denia. And that is common with parents who have a child with a disability. That is the first thing that usually happens. I saw it over and over as I went into meetings where we had to talk with parents about we suspected that their child had a disability. And it was pretty common that the first thing that parents, you know, they may not come out and say it directly, but inside their minds they feel in denial. No, that's not what's going on. And a lot of times it really is what's happening. And it's hard for parents, it's hard to recognize that your child has a disability. Sally Rippin says, matters weren't helped by the fact that Sam's father was very resistant to the idea there might be a problem with his son. And you know, that happens often too. Parents may be on two different pages about their child. You know, one may be really involved in the school and with their homework and things that are going on, and the other one may be the father who has to work and he's not really recognizing the things that are going on. And that does happen quite a bit. So that's why most of the time, schools like to have both parents in the meetings. She makes the point also that early intervention for dyslexia students is essential, that the sooner dyslexia is identified, the more chance children will have of getting the support they need. And parents are very busy, so sometimes they overlook what's happening. And she says she did herself, not really realizing. And that happens often. We don't want parents to feel bad about themselves because of that. Life happens; it just happens. She said dyslexics often struggle to make the connection between the sound and the letter symbol and to blend sounds into words. Brain imaging shows that when people with dyslexia read, they use different parts of the brain to non-dyslexics, and this is true, and their brains don't work as efficiently, which is why reading can seem like such slow, hard work. Then, because reading takes more time and focus, the meaning of the word is often lost, and reading comprehension is poor. I saw this over and over when I worked with students with dyslexia. You know, they're struggling so hard to get the sounds and put the word the sounds in the word together that that is absolutely correct. By the time they get to a sentence, they don't even remember what they read. She also brings out in this chapter books by Dr. Marianne Wolf. And I have a book I might do a book review on her later. She said, you know, Marianne Wolf says this difference in brain organization has no reflection whatsoever on the person's intelligence. And you'll find out as we talk about dyslexia further on another episode that most people with dyslexia have normal, high normal to average intelligence. A lot of them are highly intelligent. So, it doesn't have any reflection on their intelligence. English is a complex language, you know? And in order for a child to be able to read, they have to understand spoken language. And so phonics is usually  the best way to go. 

Tonya: 12:10 Science of Reading and Phonics
In her next chapter, she uses the cat, which is a messmaker and rule breaker from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. That's this chapter mainly talks about the research behind the science of reading and the reading "wars", the phonics versus whole word instruction. She does make the point, and I totally agree with her, and we'll talk about this also more in the next episode: that students with dyslexia won't become proficient readers unless they get the right kind of instruction. And I know from teaching students with disabilities how to read that it has to be systemic phonics instruction. That is what works best for them. I've seen it be very successful. Our next chapter is about the character Stanley Yelnats, who turns his fate around. It's in the book we all know by called Holes by Lewis Sachar. I don't know if I'm saying that correctly. I've never heard it pronounced, but I'm familiar with it. Leading to the fact that a lot of students with disabilities appear to be different. Her child also had ADHD, and we know that children with ADHD sometimes struggle with relationships, particularly with teachers and some school peers. And so she said she's talked about high school for her son and how it can be really frustrating and he was not reading well. 

Tonya: 13:55 ADHD, High School, And Respect
And then there are some incidences in that chapter, which I'm not going to go into on air, but if you read the book, some things by adults in the school system that were a disgrace. To me, they were disgusting. I just think they never should happen. Educators should never say some of the things that were said to her and her son, with her son present. And I just don't think it's acceptable at all. We as educators need to be very careful about how we talk about students and how we talk to students. So important. How can you have a good relationship if you don't talk well and be compassionate and kind? I'm not going to go into every single chapter. I'm just going to choose a few more out of the book to give you a little taste of. That way I got to leave some for you to go buy the book yourself and read it. It is a very good book for those who have children that are struggling with dyslexia or ADHD or even with any learning disability. You could relate. The next chapter uses the character Pippi Longstocking, Brave and Wayward Horse Lifter. It's from the Pippi Longstocking trilogy by Astrid Lindgren. And the main focus of the chapter is ADHD. She's telling about how she found out that her son also had ADHD. I did want to bring up one point in this chapter. She said one of the places that she turned to in her effort to understand ADHD better was, and also along with the role of medication, was a website called Understood. And I have used Understood as some of my resources in previous podcasts episodes. So you may want to go back and look at that website. And I'll put it in the resources for this website as well, if I can remember to do that. 

Tonya: 16:00 Technology and Support
Another chapter I wanted to mention was the one on the character Sophie, whose imagination saves the world. And it's the book, The BFG, by Roald Dahl. We're very familiar with Roald Dahl. He wrote quite a few books and had very interesting characters. But she brings out in that chapter I wanted to tell you about. She talks about technology and some resources in there that she used to help her with her son. She talks about Pat Jones that created, she had a son with a disability, and she devised a set of games that she practiced with her son over and over again until he was eventually able to read. And then she invented that program, and it's called Nessy. If you have a child with dyslexia who started to learn to read early on, or you use that program early on, you're familiar with Nessy. She talks about the documentary Our Dyslexic Children that you can find online. That was another good thing that she used. Also talks about how technology can be really life-changing for kids with ADHD and dyslexia. In the back of her book, she has a whole lot of resources that are very useful. And I'll talk to you about that here at the end of the podcast. 

Tonya: 17:25 Fixing The System And Parent
One of the other chapters is the character Polly Praguett, who discovers her power once she leaves school. And this book is by Sally Rippin herself. It's one of the children's series she wrote called the Polly and Buster series. And kids love those as well. But in this chapter, she goes through how the education system is and how it fit her son or didn't fit, and that we could do more to change the system and to help teachers. And she goes into the "factory model" of education, as it has been dubbed by Sir Ken Robinson, knighted for his inventive ideas on education, was created to form docile factory workers willing to obey commands, not independent and uneducational free thinkers. And I've always said this: sometimes public school is like cookie-cutter education. There are many good public schools out there. I taught at one, and they do everything they can to make children learn well, you know. But if a school is trying to put out cookie-cutter children's education, they really need to rethink what they're doing. She said, until we create an education system that values all kinds of learners and all kinds of interests, we will continue to churn out one stream of students who will be considered successes, while the rest of our kids will be left feeling broken and deflated, believing themselves to be failures and often with far-reaching damage to their self-esteem and mental health. How true could that be? Then at the back of her book, she has a section. She says, I've told you about what I did with my son and how he reacted and the things that happened with him. Now I want to tell you things I wish I'd done differently. And that's the name of the chapter is things I wish I'd done differently. And the reason she did that was because she wants to help other parents, not to make some of the same mistakes she felt like she made. And these are some great ideas. Number one, she said, was prepare, get a child school ready. Even before they start school, there are things that we know from infants and children and young kids that need to take place. They learn how to start realizing that reading is a thing, you know, and even some kids learn how to read before they ever start school, you know, just basic reading. And so we can help them along in that area. She has a few more tips in that section. And then the second thing she says to do is identify what to look out for. And those are the developmental delays, things that you can look for, things with certain disabilities you might want to look at, or they are signs, there are signs there that you can look for. And then the third thing she says, I'm not giving you everything that's in the book because that wouldn't be appropriate, but I'm just giving you some basics and you need to go read the book because it's a very good book. The third thing was intervene. The earlier the better, and that is true. We know from dyslexia, they are starting to identify it in kindergarten now, in public school, that there are signs that you can see that look like the child might have dyslexia. If not, they haven't lost anything by the interventions that they receive. They're only helped to be able to be better readers. The fourth thing she talks about is assess, look for learning difficulties. And I just kind of mentioned that there. But she said you might need a small team, and she lists some people there, tells you to keep records. The fifth thing is to educate learning. Everything you can go if your child has a disability or you think they do, go and research like she did and try to educate yourself on the things that they're struggling with. And the sixth thing is support for yourself and your kid. She says it's not going to be easy. Find some good counseling or mentors, role models for your kid and, you know, people that will encourage you and help you and lift you up and show you the way. And the seventh thing is advocate, whether you like it or not. You know, I was one of those parents. I really didn't want to go to the school and have to complain or anything like that. I remember going one time for something I didn't like. And, you know, they pretended to listen to me, but then nothing changed. And so when that happens, sometimes it's hard for you to go, but it is important for you to go advocate for your child because their self-esteem is at stake. And so you want to build up your child, and they want to see you as their advocate. But at the same time, as they get older, like my son in middle school and high school, he didn't have a disability, but he was bullied in middle school. And he did not want me to go to the school and intervene. Eventually, he took care of it himself. But parents need to be there for their children when they need them. Uh, the eight thing she said is accept your kid is different. So if if your child has some learning disability, or maybe even if they're exceptionally brilliant, they're different. And sometimes they act a little different. Just love them and care for them and take care of them. And she gives you some good tips in the chapter, in that part of the chapter as well. 

Tonya: 24:35 Recommendations and What's Next
And then at the end of the book, she also has a section that lists books and other resources that she discovered during the time of her son's education, and then also a section on websites and other resources, films, documentaries, television shows, that type of thing that might be helpful for particularly children with ADHD or dyslexia. And then just generally. So, and I see one of the ones listed is What is Dyslexia by Kelly Sandman-Hurley. I went through the University of San Diego's dyslexia program, and Kelly Sandman-Hurley was the one that taught us. And so, very successful. I highly recommend that. So, what are my thoughts on the book? I love Sally Ripon's children's books. I highly recommend those. And I do recommend this Wild Things, How We Learn to Read and What Can Happen If We Don't. Very good book. I highly recommend it. She is from Australia, so some of the wording on some of the educational things would be a little different than what they would be here in the United States. But that's mild. Thank you for listening this week. Join me next week for the episode we're going to do on dyslexia. Thank you for joining me today on Educate Me Well. I'm grateful you spent this time with me, and I hope the conversation encouraged and equipped you. If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin@educatemewell.com and be sure to keep an eye on educatemewell.com. The website will be up and growing as new episodes are released. Until next time, keep making a difference in the lives of children.