Inspiration: Books from Around the World

I am so inspired by the motivated and interesting parents that we have in our community. With summer here, many of my conversations of late have of course included, "What are you going to be doing with your kids?" questions.  Camps, sports, and trips are the expected answers of course, but I've also been hearing some inspiring plans that parents have to keep the brain drain to a minimum, and most importantly, to keep learning fun.

One idea that sounds fantastic is to dedicate each week to a country of your choosing.  I love it! What a nice way to infuse our secluded Moraga lives with a touch from the outside world, and of course, what an interesting way to guide some of your reading selections for the summer.

If this sounds good and like entirely too much work, check out a book called A Trip Around the World by Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company to jump start your efforts.  The book covers twelve countries (including the U.S.) and includes facts/figures, maps, activities (like making homemade tortillas for Mexico - yum!), and coordinating reading lists.  Some of the activities are definitely geared for the younger set and I don't want to oversell the book, but I think it has some gems in it.  I like the recipes for food to make and some of the tidbits of information, like that Kenya's motto is "harambee," which means "pull together."  The writers suggest having your kids come up with a classroom (or in this case family) motto of their own.  Who knows, that could prove to be an interesting dinner conversation.

I am also, of course, interested in the books that are suggested for each country.  I will put a smattering of links at the bottom of this post to share some of the books I am likely to check out this summer.

Finally, I can't finish up a post about global awareness without putting in a plug for a non-fiction history series that has been surprisingly popular at our house: The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Bauer comes in four volumes.  We started with ancient history, moved on to the middle ages, and are now in the early modern period.  The final book in the series covers modern times.   Bauer and her mother, Jessie Wise (of homeschooling acclaim) have written these books with children in mind and their efforts have succeeded.  After I finish a chapter, there are generally requests for me to read more.  I love that my kids are being introduced to world history in the form of stories and I have to say that I've been a bit gleeful when they (out of the blue) ask me if I remember the story about so-and-so from volume one.  They are indeed like sponges and summer seems to be a great time for them to soak up the world.

Another quick and easy way to bring the world (and some unexpected reading) to your house this summer is to sign up for Little Passports.  Your child will receive letters, pictures, and activities in the mail from two fictional children who are traveling the world.  And if you'd like to connect with a real person and learn some of the language from your country of the week, check out Livemocha.

Here's a list of books I'll be checking out.  Please leave your suggestions in the comments!

CHINA
The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack
The Chi'i-lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories by Linda Fang
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Lobel
The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep
Journey Through China by Philip Steele

GERMANY
The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
Cooking the German Way by Helga Parnell
The Bremen Town Musicians by Ilse Plume
The Queen Who Couldn't Bake Gingerbread by Dorothy Van Woerkom

EGYPT
Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
Fun with Hieroglyphs by Catherine Roehrig
The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Pyramids! 50 Hands-on Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt by Avery and Mantell Hart
Zekmet the Stone Carver by Mary Stolz

Light the Fire! Books on CD

If you want to build a ship, don't recruit the men to gather the wood, divide the work and give orders.  Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

I read the above quote today by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and all I could think was, "BINGO!!!!!!!"  Yes, yes, and yes!

His thoughts echo something I recently read by Richard Lavoie in his book  The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child.  Lavoie talks about the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.  He argues that the former (systems/policies that encourage a child to earn rewards) doesn't lead to the latter (a child who is motivated from within).  He isn't opposed to "well-planned and implemented reward programs;" however, he stresses that we should be "mindful that intrinsic motivation is our long-term goal" (12).  As Saint-Exupery suggests, teach them to yearn and the rest will follow and be its own reward.

While Saint-Exupery was talking about building ships and the sea, I think his metaphor is easily applied to children and reading.  Feed their enthusiasm about the world of stories and the semantics of reading will come together, and most importantly, be fueled by their own internally generated motivation to crack the reading code.  Leave them without exposure to the wonderful world of stories and what will be left to motivate them when the going gets (or perhaps stays tough) with reading?

Let's face it, learning to read can be a painstaking process, particularly now days when our kids are doing in kindergarten what many of us were still trying to master in second grade. I remember the phonics cards ... but they certainly were not in my kindergarten class, which I think was all graham crackers, naps, songs, and the occasional fluoride treatment.

So what can we do as parents to foster a love of reading?  I hope you'll leave your ideas and best practices in the comments!

Here's one thing that seems to have worked for my kids: Books on CD.   We rarely get in the car now without someone asking, "Can we listen to the story?,"  and often times they ask before the car is even running.  We have listened to books on CD for longer car trips, but now, we listen to them pretty much everywhere we go ... baseball practice, grandma's house, the grocery store, etc.  There are a zillion reasons why reading aloud to our kids is important and worth doing (which I hope to cover in another post) but perhaps one of the most important reasons is that it shows them how entertaining and enjoyable books can be!  The hope is that this affinity will keep them in the struggle of learning to read when they are young and it will continue to inspire them to be lifelong readers once the basic skills have been mastered.

Books on CD are available at the local libraries and if you find the Moraga library selection lacking, you can always put a title on hold online at www.ccclib.org and have it delivered to the Moraga library for pick up.

For the younger kids, I can't help but recommend The BFG by Roald Dahl (as long as your kids can get through the kinda scary first part, which our 4-year old did). Natasha Richardson's rendition of the novel is hands-down-completely-laugh-out-loud-funny.  My kids are still quoting that big, friendly giant and we listened to the story months and months ago.  For the older set, I'd recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

We are currently listening to The Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar, which was recommended by Jim Trelease in his Read Aloud Handbook (get it and be inspired!), and we've got Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith on the docket when that finishes up.  




How about you?  What books on CD have been hits in your family?