If you are unable to log on to the website for Packet 2's reading, "The Magic of the Family Meal," please use the link below.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_752.cfm
Also, below you will find a copy of the sample student essay response that we read and discussed in class today. We decided that its strengths were: organization; transitions between paragraphs; lack of sentence level errors; strong intro paragraph. It weaknesses were: lack of enough supportive development; issues with staying on topic; weak conclusion; insufficient analysis work.
Lessons of Home
Much
has been written about the importance of reading to young children beginning
from the moment they are born. In fact, many parents insist that starting the
pattern of reading aloud to one’s child should begin while the child is still
in the womb. Besides for the need to expose young people to books and the joys
of reading in their early years, the subject matter of these books should also
be considered as significant. Exposing children to a wide variety of topics certainly aids
in feeding their imaginations. The theme of home is found in hundreds of
children’s picture books and provides young audiences, when well written and
illustrated, a wealth of lessons regarding home—under roofs, in nature, and in space.
For
many young children, bedtime brings anxiety; they are often unwilling to be
alone in a dark room without a parent near. Parents find that reading a story
to calm a child’s bedtime fears provides comfort and encourages sleepiness. Good Night, Baby Bear, by Frank Asch, is
an excellent picture book that unravels a sweet story about a Mama Bear who is
very patient as her Baby Bear thinks up many reasons to extend his time with
her as she attempts to say goodnight. He first asks for a drink of water. When
Mama Bear brings the water, he tells her, “Thank you, Mama…maybe now I’ll sleep” (6). However, Baby Bear
continues, asking for the moon and asking for a kiss. The illustrations are
simple and focus mostly on facial expressions, especially those of Mama Bear.
Through all of Baby Bear’s stalling, she always maintains an attentive face
that suggests such affection and calm. This simple story reminds young
audiences that home hopefully is a place where one can always find comfort and
acceptance.
Another
very appealing picture book, Can’t you
Sleep, Little Bear? also depicts bedtime and the common insecurities
children experience at this time of evening. Again, the characters are a Mama
Bear and her Baby Bear. Immediately after Mama Bear says goodnight and tucks
him in, Baby Bear climbs out of bed, finds his mother, and says, “I’m scared. I
don’t like the dark. The dark all around us” (Waddell 4). Mama Bear attempts to
ease his fears by bringing a tiny lantern to Baby Bear’s bedside table.
However, the tiny lantern does not suffice, and Baby Bear seeks out Mama Bear
again. This scenario continues, and each time, Mama Bear brings a bigger
lantern, and each time, Baby Bear is not satisfied. He tells Mama Bear that
there is still dark outside. Of
course, Mama Bear knows that there is not a large enough lantern to light up
the dark outside. Smiling, she carries Baby Bear outside and says, “I’ve
brought you the moon, Little Bear. The bright yellow moon and all the twinkly
stars” (11). Finally, Baby Bear feels safe, and falls asleep in her arms. Any
child who hears this story cannot help but sense the same fear and finally,
peace, that Baby Bear does.
A
third book which follows the same theme of bedtime anxiety is Mama, Do you Love Me? written by Barbara
M. Joosse. The story centers around an Eskimo (Inuit) mother and child who live
the way Inuit lived many years ago in the northern part of Alaska. It is
bedtime, and the young girl attempts to postpone bedtime by asking a series of
questions that begin, “Mama, do you love me?” When Mama tells her yes, she
persists, “How much?” (2-3). Her mother answers by using creative descriptions
that personify many of the surroundings unique to the Arctic. For example, Mama
replies, “I love you more than the raven loves his treasure, more than the dog
loves his tail, more than the whale loves his spout” (5-6). Once her mother
answers, the young child continues asking more questions, including: How long
will you love me? What if I ran away? Instead of scolding her daughter for
asking questions to avoid going to sleep, the mother is patient and loving,
assuring her little one, “I will love you, forever and for always, because you
are my Dear One” (14). The illustrations are particularly attractive and add so
much to the message of love that should be present in all homes. One book
critic singles out the art in her review of this book: “The illustrations are
wonderful: round, stylized, full of pattern and surprise and very comforting”
(Hurst).
Besides
for home lessons regarding comfort and affection, many picture books introduce
young audiences to nature as a place that elicits feelings of calm. Jane
Yolen’s very popular book, Owl Moon,
is about a young girl’s father who takes her “owling” for the first time. It is
late at night and the girl and her father walk silently into the snowy forest
hoping to soon hear an owl hoot. As they walk deeper and deeper into the woods,
the father calls out, “Whoo-whoo-whoo-whooo,” in hopes of baiting an owl into responding
(4). Anxiously waiting to hear an
owl, they both stay silent as to not scare away any animals. The watercolor
illustrations in blue, white and brown are exceptional; the wintery outdoors
are masterfully painted and the detail in the Great Horned Owl is especially
stunning. The coldness feels colder and the darkness feels darker with the
richness of the illustrations. The young girl learns about the magic of a
forest at night and the reward of staying quiet and listening. The story ends
with a sighting of an owl, a lesson in patience.
Grandfather
Twilight is a picture book that utilizes nature as well, along with the
vastness of space, exposing children to the idea that home can include places
beyond Earth. Young listeners are easily reassured by the gentle, glowing
figure of Grandfather Twilight, whose nightly walk through the woods with his
animal friends, signals the onset of night and whose special task each evening
is to place the moon in the sky. The moon is symbolized by a small pearl, taken
from an endless strand, that grows with each step Grandfather Twilight takes.
Twilight spreads behind him like mist until he releases the pearl (the moon)
above the ocean and into the sky: “Gently, he gives the pearl to the silence
above the sea” (Berger 8). The book features a meditative quality that is
almost mysterious; there are very few words, yet they are so carefully chosen.
In fact, some pages have no words, just luminous illustrations. Comfort can be
found, clearly, in nature and the night sky.
Keeping with the
theme of the night sky, the picture book, My
Place in Space, introduces young children to astronomy. The story is set in
Australia, and the authors cleverly blend fact with fiction. When an arrogant
bus driver asks Henry and his sister, Rosie, if they know where they live,
Henry answers affirmatively, and goes on to tell the driver far more than just
his address. Henry launches into a lengthy and lucid explanation of the solar
system, solar neighborhood, galaxy and supercluster to which Earth belongs.
Henry begins his answer by stating his home address. Much to the chagrin of the
bus driver, Henry continues:
“Gumbridge is
just typical country town in Australia. Australia is in the southern hemisphere
of the planet Earth. The planet Earth is one of nine known planets which circle
the star we call the sun. Earth is the third planet from the sun, 93 million
miles away from it (Hirst 5).
As Henry continues his answer,
which becomes more and more detailed, accurate and beautiful renditions of the
solar system, and beyond, are seen overhead. The darkening sky contains
precise, almost photographic renderings of the astral phenomena being named.
This entertaining picture book introduces children to the world beyond their
neighborhood, beyond the forests and mountains, and into space. It also offers
them an idea of just how big the universe is.
Ideally,
children learn to love literature through joyful encounters with picture books
shared with them by enthusiastic adults.
Home can be defined as a place where one is loved, accepted and safe.
Those same feelings can be also found in nature and in the recognition that all
of us can call the world of stars and planets our home as well.
