Or, "Can't we all just get along?"
The Way of the Ninja by David Bruins and illustrated by Hilary Leung, Kids Can Press, 2010.
Another pleasing addition to what I hope will be an ongoing Ninja Cowboy Boy character education series. The first book, Ninja Cowboy Boy, was reviewed here at BookMoot in 2009.
Ninja does not want to pick flowers with Bear or paint with Cowboy. They agree to play his games but he will not play along with them. Alone, Ninja realizes it is more fun to share and take turns with his friends.
Leung's Japanese style illustrations are original and sweet. The small trim size of the series is easy for small hands to hold. The way to pronounce the Japanese words/characters on the pages is given along with the translations.
Six Crows
by Leo Lionni. Knopf, 2010
A farmer is tired of six crows who are eating the grain in his field. He builds a scarecrow to keep the crows away but they retaliate by building a kite that looks like a giant bird to scare the farmer. He arms his scarecrow to make it more fearsome and the birds build an even larger kite. Finally, a wise owl acts as a go-between and gets the two sides talking to solve their differences. These are some of Lionni's strongest and most beautiful collages. This is another excellent choice for art teachers who are teaching collage.
There have been many inquiries on the school library listservs for books about bullying this past week. This title would be a good addition to character units on cooperation and getting along.
2 comments:
That's so good that you're posting info about books that encourage good morals and cooperation! This is a great blog! There's a book called "Alex Opalstone and the Window of Heaven's View: Life 101" by TM Meek. I read the free chapters preview and found it to be highly noteworthy. It's about a thirteen year old girl who protects kids from bullies and tries to prevent violence. She also shares her money with the poor kids at school so they don't go hungry at lunch. We definitely need more "GOOD" books (as you so appropriately state) and this is one of them. Check it out for yourself. You may find yourself unable to stop reading the free chapters. I certainly did.
Thanks for posting this. We can learn a lot from the behaviors of birds and other creatures. This reminds me of a description of blue jays I recently read in a book called Bird Friends I Know. Blue Jays are bossy and bold and because of their bad behavior, have very few friends. The book is worth checking out. It follows nine common birds throughout the four seasons of the year and captures their personalities in rhyme. You can find out more about it at www.birdfriendsiknow.com
Post a Comment