When a girl has difficulty making friends and having conversations with people her age, she finds her voice in reading to the alligators in a swamp. Slowly, she begins to feel a confidence that is entirely new to her.
⭐ 2026 Regal Summit Book Award Winner - Children’s Middle Category!⭐
https://regalsummitbookaward.com/winners

Alice Hammel
Grammy Award Nominated educator, Dr. Alice Hammel, was the 2023 NAfME Lowell Mason Fellow, VMEA Outstanding Educator (2018), and is the current Past-President of VMEA. She is a widely known music educator, author, and clinician whose experience in music is extraordinarily diverse. She is a Disabilities Specialist, and has many years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music in public and private schools. Dr. Hammel has put these varied experiences to great use while compiling a large body of scholarly work. She is a co-author for many texts: Q&A for Teaching Band to Students with Differences and Disabilities, Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities (A Label-free Approach and A Practical Resource), Teaching Music to Students with Autism, Winding It Back, and Universal Design for Learning in Music Education. Dr. Hammel is Past-President of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for Visual and Performing Arts Education and was awarded their Past President Award for Excellence. Dr. Hammel has served NAfME as a member of the National Executive Board, The Equity Committee, and The Music Teacher Professional Initiative.