When the path to eight-year-old Allison’s Catholic school goes through hostile Protestant territory in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Allison finds she is not alone in her loathing of the situation.
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Written from the perspective of the schoolyard, this simply illustrated tale stimulates thought on issues of responsibility. When the classmates of a young boy who has been bullied all deny blame for the incident, they offer many common excuses why they declined to step in on their peer’s behalf. The familiar, first-person narration of the young characters begs the question, Does it really have nothing to do with me? The story closes with a series of powerful images of global strife, making the connection between simply not stepping in to help someone and standing by while wider atrocities go on.
Featured in Volume II, Issue 2 of WOW Review.
When Maddie Harper was seven years old, she found herself in the Brantford School in Ontario with about 200 other little girls who called it “mush-hole” because mush was their daily fare. Here, Harper tells of her eight years at the school, the cultural degradation she was forced to endure, her escape at age 15, her alienation from her community, her descent into alcoholism and finally, her return to traditional ways and recovery.
Children in an urban school are curious about a classmate’s moccasins.
Deron Goes to Nusery School is a title in the First Experiences series, a vivid new series portraying young children’s very first experiences of nursery school, time with grandparents, and other events. The first time for anything can be daunting, and these books set out to familiarize children, through simple read-aloud words and beautiful photos, with what seems at first unfamiliar but will eventually become a routine part of everyday life. Set in and photographed in Ghana in West Africa, these beautiful books brilliantly capture these universal early childhood experiences from the relatively unusual and revealing perspective of a country in the developing world. In Deron Goes to Nusery School, Deron watches his mother make his new school clothes. The next day he goes with her to the school and meets his new teacher, who shows him around the school and introduces him to the other children. Playing, singing, writing, eating lunch, resting, and listening to a story are all part of Deron’s exciting first day, and at the end he can’t wait to go back tomorrow. Written and photographed by an award-winning author, this is a uniquely heart-warming book to share with all young children.
The first day of school can be scary, especially when no one else speaks your language. Carmen, who speaks only Spanish, knows she must be brave. Her teacher’s Spanish is muy terrible; but with a little encouragement from la Senora, Carmen teaches the class Spanish words and numbers, and she in turn learns English from her new friends.
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
While on a school field trip to an orchard to make cider, a young immigrant named Farah gains self-confidence when the green apple she picks perfectly complements the other students’ red apples.
Young Nasreen has not spoken a word to anyone since her parents disappeared. In despair, her grandmother risks everything to enroll Nasreen in a secret school for girls. Will a devoted teacher, a new friend, and the worlds she discovers in books be enough to draw Nasreen out of her shell of sadness? Based on a true story from Afghanistan, this inspiring book will touch readers deeply as it affirms both the life-changing power of education and the healing power of love.
Willow’s voice, soft and shy as a secret, goes unheard by everyone at school and causes her to no end of troubles. (Having to drink orange juice at snack time when she has asked to nicely for apple is just one disappointment.) After a night of wishing, thinking and planning for a way to make louder words, Willow wakes the next morning with the perfect idea: a magic microphone! But although she fashions if from the sturdiest recyclables, her beglittered invention doesn’t last the school day. Will Willow find another way to make herself heard?
In the worst winter in living memory. The people in the tiny northern Alberta Hutterite colony are confined by the relentless snow. Finally the thaw comes and the colony’s school children and their teacher are able to take their first walk of spring.To their dismay, the children discover a coyote caught in a trap. When they release it they are amazed to find that the animal makes no attempt to bite or to run away. Instead, it scampers like a dog, delighting in a freedom that every living creature can understand.The recording of this extraordinary event was the teacher’s dying wish. Her sister, Jacquelinne White, has told the story in evocative words and paintings.