Gary encourages and welcomes any comments on his book.

He is lucky enough to be able to share the following comments received from teachers at a public (primary) school.

I came across a copy of Gary Dodd's book A nod and a smile and decided to try some of his poems on a 5/6 class I teach. We looked at "Appreciation " and I was surprised how well the kids responded to it. The kids really picked up on the lines "It is easy to be distracted by the bad and miss the good" They really felt teachers did that!!!
And they loved the line "Out of every experience there is something worthwhile" We spent a lot of time discussing that. Some kids disagreed, but by the end of our discussion we agreed that it was true both good and bad things bring growth in us.
This poem engendered so much discussion in terms of values education the teacher and I decided to request Gary's approval to use a few of his poems in the children's poetry books and each one has continued to raise a lot of discussion.
We've looked at Respect, Responsibility and Courage. The kids have now decided to try writing their own poems for Book Week-on the theme Read Discover-Ourselves and Gary has agreed to contribute one poem and come and talk about how he came to write his poems.
What a generous man. What insightful poems. I would encourage other teachers to try them with their students
Chris (Teacher/Librarian)

With the every increasing subjects covered by the school curriculum it was a very pleasant surprise to discover " A nod and a smile" by Gary Dodd. A book full of prose that fills that gap, a resource ideal for values education. The poems cover pride, faith, responsibility, courage etc. The book is very readable and easily understood by students and teachers. The values are presented in a "down to earth" way that children will be able to readily relate to. I have found that students from grade 4 and above appreciate the prose and have a very good understanding of the concepts. A lively discussion follows the reading, students feeling both challenged by the poetry and also able to question and extend the concepts presented. A very valuable resource for all School Libraries.
Anne (Teacher/Librarian)