When the little girl in this story learns that the children in her class are to read their own poems aloud, she is terrified. She never speaks, and she certainly doesn't want to start now, in front of everyone. Then Miss Flotsam (wonderful name) 'explodes into the class', and she changes everything. Miss Flotsam has been everywhere, done everything, and she understands, as no one else has, how lonely and out of things the little girl is. They form an unlikely relationship, and when the little girl is frightened by Miss Flotsam's stories about cycling through 'booming hurricanes' and kayaking down 'raging rivers', the colourful teacher reads other quiet stories to the little girl, and she writes the first line of her poem. When the little girl is teased by her classmates about her lack of speech, Miss Flotsam says the right thing: 'We all have songs to sing and will sing them when we choose.' Another child is actively nasty, and Miss Flotsam makes short shrift of her. When the little girl finds her voice, she knows it is beautiful, as is her poem. This is a magical story about a wonderful teacher, who understands her pupils in very special ways, and of a lonely frightened child, who needs her help. Both the beautiful language and the equally beautiful illustrations are pure joy, full of light and colour and resolution,and the pain of the past is truly over. Both teacher and child are black. Splendid!