Ryan Respects

We were looking for easy to read books so that my daughter who's picking up reading can try to read some pages on her own. We came across this book, on the shelf for beginner readers, in the library. I didn't check the pages because we were running late and just checked the book out. So last night when she took this book for me to read to her at bedtime, I realised that while it was for beginner readers, I think it's more for Level 2 beginner readers. That said, my son enjoyed reading it, and my daughter enjoyed reading a page or two which had mostly easy words. But most importantly, they both enjoyed the story!

There is simply too much hate and too much violence and too much war in the world today. Even as we protect our kids from movies which have excessive violence, we still cannot protect them totally. They watch it over the news and in cartoons. I grew up with Tom and Jerry in its cat and mouse chase and The Roadrunner outwitting the coyote at his every move and Bugs Bunny constantly being blasted with Dynamite. But the flavor of violence has changed. The violence in cartoons like Ben10 and Spiderman and Totally Spieshave a certain undercurrent of menace and violence. The innocence of cartoons of the past seems to have been silenced by the racket of the new ones.

In We Share The World, the book aims to show how different cultures all across the world can live harmoniously. In its beautifully illustrated pages, the book takes us into the world of people from the shores of China to the exotic fauna and flora of Costa Rica. With each turn of the page, the book's vibrant colours brings its readers along to share a page of the lives of the people in eleven different countries. Seen through the eyes of a boy, we see how we should appreciate the beauty and diversity that the many cultures and places provide us with. Unlike the other books I have reviewed, this book is a poem which starts with "You and I, we share one world" and ends with the line, "let's live in peace". While the poetry is simple yet poignant, the pictures speak a thousand more words.

While my son was very happy to read the book to his little sis because there were only one liners on each page, I let him read it thinking that it was a story. Obviously, the beauty of the poetry was lost on him. But what was more important for me was that he understood the message that the poem was trying to convey rather than be distracted by the knowledge that he was reading a poem.

After reading the book:

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  the kids were interested in knowing what the pictures showed. They wanted to know what the houses were made of and why they were not made of bricks. So I grabbed the opportunity to tell them about climate and then helping them recall another story they were familiar with which had houses made of straw, wood and bricks - Yup...The Three Little Pigs !


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  They wanted to know what the bird featured was called


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  they wanted to know how the Australian aborigines used the didgeridoo to make music. So youtube came to my rescue!


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  They wanted to know why the Chinese junks were not the same as ships

So that's just a heads-up on some of the possible questions you'll need to look for answers with the kids after reading the book. But I think it's a book worth reading and time well spent searching for answers and a lot of worldly knowledge the kids have gleaned. I'm not sure if they remember everything, but even if they remembered just one thing, that to me would count as success!

Nicole Digs A Hole

My daughter is learning to read by herself. Not only does she pretend to pronounce words by making the phonetic sounds of only the FIRST letter, but she also makes up the story for herself by looking at the pictures. It can be quite hilarious but to encourage her, I will say she's doing a superb and excellent job at reading. More often than not, I'm rewarded with an even more creative interpretation of the next page and her self satisfied smile. :) I remember having Read-It-Yourself books when I was little and I wondered if these books were still around. Although it's still available I didn't get the exact same series because it wasn't what I was looking for. Instead I found this Start To Read series which was perfect for my daughter. I got the book Nicole Digs a Hole from this series.