A memorable teacher

October 24, 2012 11:55 AM

I'm looking for the name and author of a story I read in the early 1960s about a family of migrant workers in the US or Canada. They live in their truck. The young daughter is the central character.

She hates having to change schools so frequently, and really wants to do well in school. One Saturday, her teacher comes to the family's camping spot and takes the girl for the day. She takes her into the city where, among other things, they go to an eye doctor who examines the child and gives her a pair of glasses. When they return to the girl's home the parents want to pay the teacher for the glasses. The teacher refuses to let them, and the girl promises that some day she will help out a needy child in a similar manner.

posted by mareli to Education (3 answers total)

This book sounds SO familiar to me that I am now searching for it like crazy. It reminds me of Lois Lenski, but I don't think that it is. I'm still looking though!



Also it's apparently the plot of an episode of the Waltons. "The Emergence" ...Meanwhile, Olivia fills in as a substitute teacher at the school, and buys inexpensive eyeglasses for a boy who badly needed them. November 6, 1975
posted by elsietheeel at 12:40 PM on October 24, 2012

Lois Lenski's Judy's Journey was the first thing that came into my head. The scene with glasses sounds so familiar, but I can't find anything that mentions if it happens in this book, or if that's just a familiar trope to me.
posted by gladly at 1:08 PM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: If I remember correctly it was in a high school or junior high school literature textbook that my grandfather, a high school principal, sent me. The Lenski book looks like it's more for younger kids, but possible. If I can find the story I'm going to use it with my teacher education students.
posted by mareli at 4:16 PM on October 24, 2012