The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

Dear Mr. W,

I just finished The Year of Miss Agnes. This is the plot. In the introduction I learned that Fred was the main character. Other characters include her classmates, her sister and mother, the people in town, and Miss Agnes. It is set in Alaska in 1948. The mood is unhappy because all the teachers they ever had have left them. The conflict is that once the kids like Miss Agnes, they don’t want her to leave.

Some events in the rising action include when Miss Agnes insists that Bokko come to school and she teaches Bokko sign language. She has students write stories about themselves. Miss Agnes puts a huge time line on the wall with pictures and has the class play Time Machine. She makes learning fun for kids who used to think it wasn’t important.

[Highlight to read the rest. Spoilers included...]

The climax of the story, the most important event, is on the last page when Fred and Bokko looked through the school window to see Miss Agnes and they knew that Miss Agnes decided to stay for another year. Or longer. The Year of Miss Agnes has no falling action. The book ends with the climax.

The resolution is that Miss Agnes has decided to stay and teach them. Readers don’t know why she decided to stay, but maybe it was because Miss Agnes's mom in England already died or that the students really wanted her to stay. Maybe she just wanted to stay in this place.

I wish the falling action included more information, like how long Miss Agnes stays, does she ever go back to England, does she ever get married, and does Fred ever follow her dream of going to college?

Sincerely,
Brian Fourth Grader