“For centuries needlework has been part of Hmong culture. But is has only been within the last two decades that “story cloths” emerged as a way for Hmong to keep their stories alive.
“For the Hmong people, story cloths are a bridge between past and present. For all Americans. Dia’s Story Cloth is a universal story of the search for freedom.”
– The Active Learner, Lee and Low Books
To download Lee and Low’s Teacher’s Guide filled with prereading activities, a fabulous character web, vocabulary building exercises, geography lessons, cultural history activities, and much more click here – Dia’s Story Cloth Guide .
Books about families and family traditions abound and narrowing down the list has been no easy task.
This week’s selections are mostly picture books with one very special EZ Read. They’re old and new favorites that we’re sure you’ll enjoy rereading or discovering for the very first time.
Later in the month, look for more Book Room selections, including several novels and a poetry collection you won’t want to miss.
A collection of the author/artist’s paintings and memories of growing up in Kingsville, Texas, Family Pictures presents a wonderful opportunity for children to reflect on their own favorite family memories. Some of the images and short reflections in the book include: “Watermelon,” “Making Tamales,” and “Birthday Party.” Be sure to check out a related Tool Box entry HERE.
Lizzie loves to tell stories of all kinds and her parents love to listen. All is well and good until… “her little brother, Marvin, came along.” Suddenly, nobody has time for Lizzie’s stories.
When Lizzie discovers that Miss Pennyroyal, her second grade teacher, loves a good story as much as she does, Lizzie is pleased. She has tons of ideas percolating in her Imagination Notebook, many inspired by her “helpful” and adoring little brother, Marvin.
But when Lizzie’s mother takes Marvin for a visit to Gramma’s, Lizzie soon discovers her inspiration has disappeared. What’s a star writer to do?
Gia’s Mama’s expecting a baby and it seems that’s all anyone talks about. Gia’s going to miss the special times she and Mama shared. “Those were the good old days,” she says.
“Guess you’re going to have to tell the baby all about it,” Mama says. She hugs Gia and they sit, “just being all cuddly, with that ding-dang baby jumping around in Mama’s belly.”
A heartwarming story about family, traditions, and change.
Lena is seven. “I am the color of cinnamon,” she says. “My mom’s the color of French toast.” All Lena’s friends are different shades: golden brown, bronze and ember, tawny tan, the color of ginger and chili powder. This book isn’t specifically about family, but it does remind readers that each of us, including each member of our family, is unique.
The relatives are coming and Bubbaville is abuzz. Mama Pearl’s on a home improvement spree, Big Bubba’s fixing to bake his Bodacious Buttermilk Pie, and Bubba and Beau are stirring up their own kind of muddy fun.
When the kin-folk arrive, Bubba and Beau are off again with Cousin Arlene and her small pup, Bitsy in tow. A picture perfect moment – swimming in the back of the pickup – is just the beginning of the fun in Bubbaville when the relatives come!
Dad’s making cucumber sandwiches and Zelda has had it! She and Ivy are running away, across the backyard, and behind the butterfly bush. “We can see the house, but no one in the house can see us.”
This wonderful EZ read captures the true essence of sisterhood and was given the Theodor Seuss Geisel award in 2007. Be sure and check out other books in the Zelda and Ivy series.
Each one of us is different. Each family is, too. Homes, lives, and words may be different, “But inside, their hearts are just like yours… Joys are the same, and love is the same… Smiles are the same.. wherever we are, all over the world.”
Share Carmen Lomas Garza’s FAMILY PICTURES/Cuadros de Familia with students, then check out the Gr. 3-5 lesson created by Loraine Woodard on the International Reading Association’s website, ReadWriteThink.
With the change of seasons, turning of the clock, and holidays just around the corner, November leads ReaderKidZ to thoughts of family, traditions, and thankfulness.
This week, Bethany Hegedus joins ReaderKidz as we celebrate, TRUTH WITH A CAPITAL T, a book about long-gone-but-not-forgotten relations, a sassy Southern girl, her trumpet-playing adopted Northern cousin, and a family secret.
Earlier in the month we welcomed, Joseph Bruchac to Beyond Boundaries, where he talks about writing, and how his own family and heritage have impacted the stories he’s compelled to tell.
War, loss. Hope, gain. The scars of war are many. The thread of hope thin. But through it all, Salva Dut, one of Sudan’s Lost Boys, held on to his thoughts of family, and the things they’d shared in his short 11 years of life. Things like courage and the need to live one day – each day – at a time.
Eventually, Salva left the camp that had become his home, and formed a nonprofit organization to help others in need. Park tells this story of the power, love, and resiliency of the human heart with simplicity and grace. You won’t want to miss it.
Family. Tradition. And the power of story. For these and more, November is brimming with thanks.
Read more about Author-In-Residence Linda Sue Park HERE.
A LONG WALK TO WATER by Linda Sue Park is based on the true story of Salva Dut, who, as a child, was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
This is a story of war and loss, family and survival, hunger, thirst and, most of all, the amazing power of the human spirit to survive and bring hope to others.
Southern Sudan, 1985: As a young boy of eleven, each day for Salva meant daydreaming, going to school, and gazing through the classroom window to the road that would lead him home at the end of the day.
But those were the days before the war had come to Salva’s village. Before the explosions. Before his teacher said hurriedly, “Go quickly, all of you… Into the bush… Not home… Go! All of you, now!”
Southern Sudan, 2008. Years have passed, but for another child, a young girl named Nya, every day is a long walk of a different kind. This walk is not away from war, but to a pond, hours away, where she must fill a big plastic container with the water her family needs to survive. For Nya, each walk to and from water is half a morning long. For Nya, every walk is: “Heat. Time. And thorns.”
By story’s end the dual narratives will intersect. After spending much of his childhood and young adult years in the refugee camps of Ethiopia and Kenya, Salva will be one of many boys chosen to leave the camp and come to America, where he will eventually establish Water for Sudan, Inc. a non-profit organization to bring water to families of Sudan.
While some of the details of A LONG WALK TO WATER have been fictionalized to allow the stories of Salva’s childhood to intersect with Nya’s, the main events of the story accurately portray Salva’s real-life experiences.
This story is one more mature readers will find powerfully, yet sensitively, introduces the topic of war, the resilience of the human spirit to overcome, and the power to make a difference in our world.
Read a Publisher’s Weekly interview with Linda Sue Park HERE.
Watch a video of Linda Sue Park discussing A LONG WALK TO WATER and meet Salva Dut HERE.
Until I was about eight years old, my family was the only Korean family in our whole town. There were no other Koreans living nearby. My parents decided to speak English at home, so for me and my brother and sister, English was our first language. Things were different back then—people weren’t aware of the importance of bilingualism or multiculturalism. My parents thought they were making the right decision. Today I regret that I don’t speak Korean, but I’m also glad that English is my first language.
Being the only Korean in school meant that I always felt different from my classmates. Most of the time the other kids were nice to me, but sometimes the mean kids would tease me and make me cry. What helped me get through those times was this: I loved to read, and I worked hard at my writing.
Find something you’re interested in. It can be anything: art, music, collecting things, a subject you can learn a lot about. Birdwatching. World War II. Anything you’re interested in! Work at it really hard, and get good at it. Become an expert.
When you feel good about yourself, it doesn’t matter as much what other people think.
Those kids who were mean to me? Not one of them has ever written a book, and I’ve written LOTS of them. Take that, bullies!
What were your favorite things to do when you were young?
READ! I owned very few books, but my father took me to the public library regularly, and I also checked books out of the school library. I read everything I could get my hands on, and I re-read my favorites all the time.
What were you afraid of?
Worms. Caterpillars. Soft, squirmy things like that. I’m still afraid of them. And I gave that phobia to a character in one of my books! Patrick, in PROJECT MULBERRY, is afraid of worms.
Did you ever get into trouble at home or school?
When I was about eight years old, I trimmed my little sister’s eyelashes. I’d heard it would make them grow back thicker and longer, but I didn’t want to try it on myself, so I used her for a guinea pig. My mom got really mad at me…especially when my sister followed my example and later gave herself a really terrible haircut!
THE MAN WITH THE PURPLE EYES, by Charlotte Zolotow
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A major-league baseball player. I wanted to play either shortstop or center field for the Chicago Cubs. I was probably about nine or ten years old when someone pointed out to me that there were no female ballplayers in the majors. I couldn’t believe it—I was crushed. But it wasn’t as great a blow as it could have been, because I had NEGATIVE talent for playing baseball.
If you weren’t a writer, what would you like to be?
A composer of music, or a visual artist. Because if you write music or paint or draw, your work doesn’t need translation to reach people all over the world.
I’d also like to be an astronaut.
What advice do you have for aspiring young readers and writers?
Read a lot. Write a lot. And one more tip you might not have heard before: Get yourself attached to a losing sports team. A LOSING team, not a winning one. If you follow a losing team, you experience a constant cycle of hope and disappointment – hope and heartbreak. This will be your life as a writer, so you can start practicing right now! I am convinced that my years as a Chicago Cubs fan helped prepare me for the career I have today.
How many times do you have to revise? Do you love revision or hate it?
Most of the time, I love revision. I love the challenge of choosing exactly the right words for the story. My personal record: I revised one of my novels, WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO, 37 times before I was satisfied with it!
Have you ever thrown a manuscript away?
Lots of them! A story might seem like a good idea at first, but then when I start working on it, I figure out that it’s actually a really BAD idea. I have thrown away many more stories than I’ve published.
Quick Picks
Soup or salad?
BOTH. But if I had to pick one, it would probably be salad. No, wait, soup. Okay, can I say salad in summer and soup in winter?
P & J or Mac and Cheese?
Mac and cheese.
Dog, Cat, Bird, or Fish?
Dog! I love dogs. I like cats too, but unfortunately I’m allergic to them. And I also like birdwatching.
Favorite or least favorite vegetable?
Favorite vegetable: artichokes.
Least favorite: none. I never met a vegetable I didn’t like, as long as it’s prepared nicely.
Longhand or computer?
Computer for novels. Longhand for picture books and poetry.
Early Bird Writer or Night Owl?
Night Owl. But not for writing. I write during the day. I read at night…sometimes until very late. When I was a kid, my parents used to yell at me to turn off the light and go to sleep. Now it’s my husband who does the yelling!
I’m so excited that you’re interested in my book A LONG WALK TO WATER. It’s a story that’s very important to me.
The book is based on the true story of Salva Dut, who is a family friend. I met Salva several years ago, and the more I learned about his life, the more I realized what an amazing person he is. I kept telling everyone I knew about him, and finally it dawned on me that by writing his story, I could tell a whole bunch of people at once!
In 1985, when Salva was eleven years old, war came to his village in southern Sudan. Separated from his family, Salva had to walk hundreds of miles through east Africa to reach a safe place. He faced not only war, but disease, starvation, dehydration, and attacks by lions and crocodiles, among other perils. Then he spent years in refugee camps, where he lived in terrible conditions. In 1996, he came to the United States as a ‘Lost Boy’ refugee…and grew up to become one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met.
I want readers to know about Salva because he is a terrific example of how one person can make a difference in the world. We might think there isn’t much we can do to change the world, but each of us can try to make our little corner of the world a better place to live. His story is one of hope, perseverance, and compassion. It’s scary and exciting, sad and joyful—in other words, it’s got everything you could possibly want in a story!
I hope you enjoy reading it. And remember: Reading good books can help dreams come true!
