This is a wordless picture book for kids of all ages. A young girl finds a magical red book that reveals another world where a boy has the same book and can see her as well. The girl finds a way to join her friend at the end of the book and leaves you wondering. It is a delightful story with simple yet telling colorful illustrations.
This book is a good choice for introducing the genre of magical fantasy to young readers. It offers children an opportunity to discuss the story as they look at the details in each successive frame. For older children, they could write text to match the pictures and practice targeted literary skills. Here is the story for the "Red Book" red out loud.
After reading this book or viewed you can make some great collage, that show places, people transportations etc. The great thing about this book is that you make your own story by just seeing the pictures in the book and how you does it ends.
This story is categorized as a realistic tale, and I can see why! The boy is extremely lazy, while his mother is a hard worker. His mother wants him to go work but the boy comes up with a plan so he won’t have to. He pretends to be a god, and goes to the merchant demanding that his daughter marry Taro. He knows that she will never marry him unless their house was in better condition. His plan works, and the merchant has people come and fix up his house, meaning Taro won’t have to. At the end, Taro has to supervise the merchant’s store, which means he will no longer have any time for naps, which is what his mother wanted all along. This story has a very realistic plot and I would enjoy using this story to teach my students about why laziness is not a value. It’s a story I could see being passed down from generation to generation to teach children to value work. This story would also be good to compare the Chinese culture with, and to discuss what theme might be.This book is for older children's from 6-8.
After reading the story ask some questions. 1- what time do you wake up? 2- Do you help around the house? 3-What are your duties in the house when you are not in school? 4-With your family make some soup or rice and share it at school. Here is a recipe that you can make at home with a little help.
This book is a great way to introduce the topic of bullying through a multicultural lens. This story centers around a boy that does not fit with the social and cultural norms of his classmates throughout his school career. He continually is bullied and made fun of until the sixth grade when a teacher takes interest in him and creates opportunities for him to show his talents and knowledge. This account of prolonged bullying and the resilience of a single student who does not fit in the social norm uses what seems to be colored pencil illustrations that allow for shading, multiple color use, and abstraction within each illustration. Each classmate's face along with the main character's face are somewhat blurred and allow for a greater audience for this story, since it is not esoterically identified with Japan and Japanese culture. The theme truly carries this story of an outcast boy who is later admired for his crow calls and becomes called "Crow Boy".
The Japanese culture is portrayed sparsely in this account, but it is clear, from the illustrations and some parts of the language, that this story takes place in Japan. The colors that are used, such as yellow, bright blue, pink, and green, are not typical to Japanese traditional arts, but bring a great vibrancy to the story and a lighthearted nature to parts of the story that are more optimistic. The faces are somewhat abstracted so the characters are not expressly Japanese, but the cultural elements, such as a lunch of a rice ball wrapped in a radish leaf and a raincoat made from dried zebra grass, show Japanese elements are included in this story.
I would definitely recommend this story to grades 2-4. This is a short picture book with bright illustrations that covers an interesting theme that is extremely applicable and relevant to American students today. Although this book was written some time ago, the topic of bullying, respecting multiple intelligences, and encouraging unknown talents in students are still truly important for students to understand. Overall, I think that this book shows some authentic cultural details with vibrant illustrations and a terrific theme.
After reading the story make some questions.
1- How would you field if you where crow boy?
2- Do you know someone that looks like crow boy in your class or neighbor ?
3- What would you o to make "Chibie" feel better?
4- What does "Chibie" means? it means small boy
After this you can make some craft using things that you can find in the feel,
like acorn rap or dried leaf and try to make your own Chibie or Chibie clothes.
Yashima does a wonderful job making an umbrella come alive, through the eyes of a little girl. The anticipation builds up in Momo as to when she will be able to but her umbrella to use. The rain took forever to come but when it did, her umbrella came alive and so did the rain as it danced and made music on the little girl's umbrella. Cute children's story and the illustrations are very colorful and pretty to look at. The Japanese symbols on the top corner of each page add to the celebration of the Japanese culture. This book is for 4-6 years old and it would be great to ask question about the weather in circle time. 1- Use some cotton and cut some construction paper and ask the chid to glue them in the the paper after you have asks them what does the weather looks like.? is it sunny? cloudy? or is it going to rain by predicting you are helping the children to develop his/her sense of intuition in the weather.
Dear Parents/ Caregivers
Here are the rest of the great composers books.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a large family of German musicians in 1685. During his lifetime, J.S. Bach was known more as a harpsichord player and organist than a composer. He played and composed his music during a time known as the Baroque period. His most famous and popular works are called the Bradenburg Concertos.
Leonardo Bernstein.
Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence Massachussettes in 1918. He not only composed music, but was known as a great conductor and pianist. Leonard Bernstein spent much of his time teaching children and adults about the joy of music. He became best known for the musical play “West Side Story”, which he wrote in 1957.
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was born in the busy German city of Hamburg in 1833. He wrote all kinds of music, from lively songs and dances to powerful symphonies. For more than 100 years, kids all over the world have fallen asleep to “Brahm’s Lullaby”.
AARON COPLAND.
Aaron Copeland was born in 1900, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He got a chance to study music in Europe, where he learned about jazz. Since Aaron was interested in writing American-sounding music, he thought it might be a good idea to add some jazz sounds to modern classical music.
DUKE ELLINGTON.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born in Washington D.C. in 1899. He and his family moved to New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. Famous for jazz music, Duke Ellington surrounded himself with the best musicians he could find. He played his band like an instrument, giving his players a chance to do their own special things, called solos.
GEORGE GERSHWIN.
George Gershwin was born in New York City in 1898. He is known for his beautiful, exciting concert pieces, as well as for the popular music he wrote for plays and movies. He wrote a lot of music with his brother Ira. George Gershwin’s favorite musical piece, was his opera, “Porgy and Bess”.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. A child prodigy in classical music, he wrote his first concerto when he was six. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote more than 800 pieces of music, including most famous operas “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
John Philip Sousa was born in 1854 in Washington, D.C.,where he was able to listen to the many military bands that played there. These military bands made such an impression on John Philip Sousa that he ended up leading the U.S. Marine Band. He is best known for composing thrilling marches like his most famous, “The Stars and Stripes Forever”.
PETER TCHAIKOVSKY
Peter Tchaikovsky was born in the Russian town of Votkinsk in 1840. He used his great imagination to create beautiful music that was sometimes very happy and sometimes very sad. Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, “Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker” all came from popular stories.
THE BEATLES
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were all self-taught musicians and song writers who were the world’s most popular musical group from about 1964 until 1970. Originally from Liverpool, England, The Beatles made popular rock and roll music as important as classical or symphonic music.
Dear Parents/Caregivers
Today I will introduce you with some of the most famous composer in time. Like Beethoven, since we are basically back in school, I thing it is a great idea to start introducing some great book for the kids to start recognizing this great composers. I found this great book and I must say that Mike Venezia did a great job by writing and illustrating all this books. The kids would love it and is also a great way to introduce some of the greatest sonatas from different composers. Is never to early to teach your kids about this great musician and their lives. You are also introducing them to really good classical music.
If you are a parent that wish to have a little Beethoven in your family or Mozart, this books are great for you to start doing that with your little musician, specially if they are already in the music field. Each book talk about the life of each musician and also show great pictures!
Age range: 7+
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn Germany in 1770. He came up with a new, ways of putting musical sounds together that let people feel the joy, sadness, and stress of life. Beethoven began to lose his hearing, just as he was starting to do his greatest work. Here is a video of one of my little Rascal favorite song from Beethoven's Wig . (is Beethoven Symphony No.5 with lyrics for kids!)
To extend a little more this book can ask question after to the kids like who knows. 1- What is a concert? A concert is a musical composition, usually in tree movements, in which a solo instrument performs a solo part accompanied by a full orchestra. 2-What is a movement? A movement is the largest, unified division of a musical composition, separated by pauses. 3-What is a Sonata? A sonata is a piece of music, usually in tree or four movements for a solo instrument or a solo instrument accompanied by a piano, for example a flute and a piano. 4-What is a Symphony? A symphony is a long, highly organized composition for full orchestra, usually in four movements. 5- What are the name of some instruments in a orchestra? Strings: Violins, violas, cellos and double basses Woodwinds: Flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons Brass: Trumpet, French horns, trombones and tubas. Percussion: Timpani After that you can have a dramatic play with the kids take out some instrument and try to make a orchestra using all the instrument that you might have in class or at the house.
Dear Parents/ Caregivers
I would like to introduce you a little more in the Asian culture with this book and the meaning of certain names like "Wabi-sabi" is underplayed and modest, the kind of quiet, undeclared beauty that waits patiently to be discovered. This book talks about the story of a cat named Wabi Sabi who lives in Kyoto, Japan. Within the story, Wabi Sabi begins to wonder what her name means, and sets out determined to discover its meaning. After receiving similar answers from her master, a cat, and a dog that her name was too difficult to explain, she sought out a monkey at Mount Hiei. Wabi sabi is a way that one may see the world; this concept began from the ways of the Ancient Chinese, and began to sculpt Japanese culture.Basically, wabi sabi is a way or a feeling in which one can see harmony and beauty within simplicity.This concept also incorporates humility, and its importance in the world. Age range : 7+
This bookcan be classified as a multicultural children’s picturebook that incorporates fiction, a nonfiction concept, as well as poetry. This book includes a cat’s story and haiku poems that can be found in both Japanese and English. I really enjoyed reading Wabi Sabi, as it took a concept that was difficult to understand, wabi sabi, and broke it down into a children’s story. I found the narrative to be especially useful to understanding the concept, and the haiku complemented the story beautifully; however, such poetry may be difficult for young readers to understand. The back of the story does include several translations for several haiku phrases in both Japanese and English. Here is a short story from the book so you can have and idea.
Below are 2 motivational activities and reader response questions that would be beneficial for students within the classroom: (3rd/4th grade Activites)
The first activity would incorporate art and poetry for the students. After reading Wabi Sabi, students would be able to create a collage of something that represented beauty to him or her within nature/the world. Students would be encouraged to use watercolors, realistic objects, outlining, and any other media or techniques that would bring the picture to life. After the collages were finished, students would begin writing a haiku about the beauty within the collage. (Remember, haikus are poems with 3 lines; the 1st has 5 syllables, the 2nd 7, and the 3rd has 5 syllables. Haikus also use one’s senses and objects of nature.) As in the concept of wabi sabi, the collage may appear simple, but holds great beauty!
The 2nd activity would allow students to look up one’s own name and its meaning. Each student would be given the opportunity to search for the meaning of one’s name on the computer. Students would also be able to ask one’s parents why this name was chosen for him or her. After all of the information was gathered, students would create a small poster with his or her name, including pictures and text describing the meaning.
Reader Response Questions:
What was the author trying to tell you through this book?
Have you ever seen something that others thought was simple and imperfect, but you thought it was beautiful? Explain!
Why do you think Wabi Sabi’s friends had such a difficult time explaining the meaning of her name?
