Summary: Elaine views Circle Time as key to building a learning community with her students. When one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Elaine and her circle of students, including the one dying find ways to make that fourth grade a most extraordinary year.

There was more to Elaine Moore than met the eye. She spoke with a soft voice, hardly the take-charge-in-the-classroom voice. She spent Circle Time every day at the beginning of classes, just talking, and listening to children talk about their lives in small town Alaska. Yet her fourth graders listened, and learned more than just the subjects she taught. They learned about each other and to care for each other as well as how to enlarge the circle by caring for others. Kids were encouraged to find ways to turn each day into a celebration.

This is the story of one year in the life of this gifted, caring teacher, and one class of fourth graders, including one of them, Seamus Farrell, with terminal cancer of the brain. Not the best student, he always worked hard, Quiet but spirited, and always caring about his classmates. It was Seamus, who on a field trip, faced with a fork in the trail at which it wasn’t clear which way to go said, “That way, Mrs. Moore!” He’d been absent a lot as Christmas approached with what was thought the flu going around, with headaches and vomiting–and a funny limp that didn’t quite fit the picture. When his mother, training to be a nurse, saw his response to a neurological test, she knew there was trouble. Surgery revealed an inoperable tumor deep inside his brain. Radiation could knock it back and steroids could control the swelling. They gave him six weeks.

Elaine had faced death before, when faced with breast cancer, and had talked with her students honestly at that time. Now she gathered them again and told them the truth, sensitively but honestly, that Seamus was facing a very serious illness and might not return to class. They talked about the possibility of death, which Elaine deferred to discussions with parents. But the Circle cared and wanted to see Seamus. Working with the principal and parents, arrangements were made for three to four students to visit during lunch several times a week, to go over homework assignments, and to do the one thing Seamus needed most, just to be with him and assure him he was still a part of the class. Later, the class makes a quilt with a square representing each child to present to Seamus. One of the most remarkable instances of Elaine’s bond with Seamus comes in the circumstances in which she presents the quilt to Seamus, an interaction which was literally life-giving.

This is not merely the story of a caring teacher who walks her class through one of the toughest situations they could face. It is the story of Seamus, his courage in the face of death, his honest conversations with a thoughtful pastor, his love for his class, and determination to finish fourth grade and enter fifth grade. It’s the story of a family and community who do their best by one another, faced with such a devastating diagnosis. No platitudes or stupid remarks. No denial of death. No one using the situation for personal advantage. Simply people doing the best they can while their hearts are breaking. Including children, who when treated with honesty and respect, show themselves incredibly creative and caring and responsible.

I reviewed another Bob Katz book, Third and Long, earlier this year. That was a fictional account of an Ohio town facing a factory closure when a drifter comes through, raising hopes for the high school football team and even for the factory. This was a true story. Both gesture toward what communities can be at their best, a message much needed in our divisive times. This also celebrates the significant role of teachers, who, at their best, teach far more than a state-approved curriculum. Here is a story of students, teachers, administrators, and parents, not at odds with each other, but together to care for one courageous child facing death.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author. ( )