Have you ever had the feeling of frustration when you almost reach your goal?  In Absolutely Almost, Albie has that frustration all day every day.  He almost gets it but not quite.  The frustration turns to pain when his parents don’t understand why things are so hard for him, and that’s just at home.  Their expectations for him are high and they compare him to themselves and how they did at school.  There’s an ideal he can never live up to yet hears every day.  At school he is constantly teased and bullied because he doesn’t ‘get it’.  He isn’t one of the ‘cool’ kids, for sure, and he doesn’t even have a friend.  He is suspended from an elite private prep school because he doesn’t meet their rigorous academic standards (this is in NYC), and starts anew in a public school.  Once there, it’s the same thing all over again, but another throw-away kid, one with a defect, such as a stammer, becomes a lunch companion.  Albie’s life, as seen from his perspective, is a sad one indeed.  The book is sometimes funny to read, but it’s more sad when you realize Albie is just one of the many kids in schools who have trouble learning in the traditional way, and is unpopular because of it, and whose best friend moves away.  Life is a continual struggle for them.  Albie’s in fifth grade and because his parents have busy jobs, he has a nanny named Calista.  Albie thinks he’s too old for a babysitter, but Calista becomes much more than that.  Calista is the first person to really listen to Albie, to learn of his fears, and she gives him the confidence and strategies to overcome those fears and to learn to speak up for himself.  This is such a touching story, and Albie is a likeable character, that this book would make a great classroom read aloud with followup discussion on bullying,  and how to handle stress and painful situations.