The Breadwinner

Blog #3

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

This is the story of Parvana, an 11 year old girl who live in Kabul, Afghanistan. The setting is early 21^st century following the takeover of the Taliban. Parvana learns and accepts what has to be done to help support her family and how to survive daily in the country. This story addresses social issues and conditions along with determination and perseverance.

The genre for this story contemporary realistic fiction, a story that is plausible, the conflict is clear. The characters in the story are believable in behavior and action and this is a multicultural story. 

Motivational activities: Groups, individuals and split groups (male and female)

1-     have students do a comparison of the life style of their country verses the lifestyle of Parvana’s

a.     Are their laws or dangers for females being out in public (with or without being accompanied by a male family member)?

b.    Does your country require females to dress a certain way- are they different from how men dress?

c.     If so, why?

2-     How would you feel if you live in the same environment that Parvana describes?

a.     There are soliders walking around,

b.    they live in a small room that has been bombed,

c.     there is no running water

d.    trips to the tap to bring water to the family must be done everyday.

e.     How would you feel if you could not go outside at all?

f.     What would you do to occupy your time?

g.     Would you like to live the way Parvana has had to live?

This story was a good story that was actually a very terrible story. This focused on a 11 year old girl and the horrors she dealt with each day in her young life. From losing her home, to living in a constant nightmare of brutality and pain and in self sacrifice just to survive. I enjoyed the story and thank God that I live in the United States.

(Ellis) (Ellis, fis.edu, 196-2012)

Bible in Pictures

BLOG #2

The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth n. Taylor

This book is absolutely beautiful and has been written in very simple short stories that hold a child’s interest. The illustrations are beautiful and bring to life each story being told. 

The genre for this book is nonfiction because the stories and events in this little book are based on facts from the Bible. This book contains many stories from the Bible but does not follow a specific sequence but rather brings out stories that a young reader can identify with. Because of this, this book could also be a chapter book.

Each story in this little book has a lesson to be learned.

• Each story has 3-5 questions following it that immediately get the children involved (I would ask the questions first and have the children listen to see if they could hear the answer while I was reading)
• One activity would be to have the child/children stop and really think about the story and see if they can figure out what the lesson is. This makes for a great teaching tool.
• Another activity is to explain why this lesson was needed, what was learned from it, how was the problem resolved and was there another choice?
• Having children role play the characters helps a child see through their own eyes. An example is Joseph and his coat of many colors or what happened to baby Moses when he was put in the little boat and set adrift.

 This is one of my all time favorite picture books. This was read to me as a child, kept in the family and read to my siblings, my children, my nieces and now the next several generations down. This book brings the Bible to life for children. It is written in a simple style for a child to understand along with beautiful art work in vivid color. Children learn without realizing they have done so.

Other books by Kenneth N. Taylor include:

Devotions for the Children’s Hour

Living Letters for the Children’s Hour

Living Thoughts for the Children’s Hour

Stories for the Children’s Hour

Living Bible (Tyndale House Publishers)

(Taylor, 1956, 1985)

Bibliography

Taylor, K. N. (1956, 1985). Chicago: Moody Press .

Too Many Tamales-blog 1

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto, Illustrated by Ed martinez

This is a very interesting book to read. It had comedy, humor and suspense with eye-catching illustrations. 

This book is contemporary realistic fiction since this is something that could actually happen.

The story teaches us that often solving or attempting to solve one problem can lead to needing to solve another. The answer is not always what it seems and that admitting mistakes upfront and quickly can save a lot of unnecessary work. Honesty is the best policy.

Too Many Tamales opens the door for many learning activities. There are multiple areas of problem solving, by class, group or individual. Students can look into alternate ways to find the missing ring. Did they have to eat the tamales? Working together as a team, was there other solutions?

This book is of South American heritage, gives us a look into how families of this culture spend holidays and how they support each other in time of need.

Galda, L. Cullinan,  B. E., & Sipe, L.R. (2010). Literature and the Child (7th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Soto, Gary (1996). Too many Tamales, new York, NY: The Putnam & Gosset Group