THE LORAX by Dr Seuss

If you are a 'green' teacher or parent and you'd like to introduce the issue of sustainability to your 'cubs' without being pedantic, I warmly recommend that you see 'The Lorax.' Based on the Dr Seuss book of the same name, this animated movie tells, with the simplest words ever, what happens to the environment when we don't take care of it.

"Truffula trees", cute hairy plants, were chopped down, many years before our story begins, by "The Once-ler", a young fellow who wanted to become a successful businessman by producing 'Thneeds', his invention. The Lorax, a small orange creature, who "speaks for the trees" had warned the guy about the consequences of his behavior, but Once-ler ignored him and soon the once beautiful valley became polluted and desolate. 

The protagonist of the film is a young boy, who lives in a city completely made of plastic, right next to the deserted land. Helped by his family, he will be able to start the process that will remake the link between people and Nature, despite the obstacles he faces along the way.

"Unless someone like you...cares a whole awful lot...nothing is going to get better...It's not." 

The film is an easy ecological metaphor of what will happen to our own planet if we don't preserve it. 

The message is absolutely clear : each one can do his part, or at least start the change. 

The photography of the movie is amazing, animals are cute and can sing and interact with people. The dialogues are clear. The adventures are thrilling. 

Songs and rhymes enrich the whole story.

So, don't wait, it is going to charm your young students!!!

More stuff:

THE LORAX PROJECT

THE LORAX TRAILER

THE LORAX ECOLOGY LESSON PLANS

AND MORE BOOKS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN:

PETER PAN by J.M.Barrie

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE by Laura Ingalls Wilder

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD of OZ by L. Frank Baum

What's the Land of Oz?

It's a kind of beautiful and enchanted green island surrounded by a great desert and ruled by the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

In each direction there is a land inhabited by a Witch: the Wicked Witches of the East and the West, and the Witches of the North and the South.

Nothing to do with the dry grey prairies of Kansas. But Dorothy, who has just landed with her house and dog, Toto, right on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her, brought by a cyclone, only wants to go home as soon as possible, because Aunt Em and Uncle Henry will surely  be worried.

Unfortunately nobody can help her. She is told to go to Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz lives, and once there she might be helped by Oz himself to find her way home.

She only has to walk along the yellow brick road.

With the Wicked Witch of the East's silver shoes and the shiny kiss mark of the Witch of the North on her forehead, to protect her, Dorothy starts her adventurous journey toward Emerald City. 

On the way, she first meets the Scarecrow stuck in the middle of a cornfield . Once she sets him free, he decides to go with her to ask Oz for a brain, since he is made of straw and he doesn't want to be considered a fool.

In a wood they find the Tin Woodman, rusted and incapable of moving his joints. After being oiled, he also decides to go to see Oz and ask him for a heart.

The last companion is the cowardly Lion who makes his decision to meet the Great Oz and ask him for some courage.

To reach Emerald City, where everything is green, is not a big deal, apart from a field of poppies that almost kills the lion.

After meeting the Wizard a lot of dangerous and peculiar adventures are awaiting the four friends: a pack of wolves, a flock of wild crows, a swarm of black bees, the winged monkeys, the Wicked Witch of the West, the golden cap, the missed hot air balloon, a new trip toward the South, the Fighting trees, the China country, the Hammer-Heads, and finally…

It seems unbelievable to read such a great number of adventures that catapult the reader into the middle of a bewitched land populated by enchanted characters. Exactly like for Dorothy, every line is a discovery of something unusual and totally different from reality. 

Even though it was written in 1900 it's really easy to read. The pages run one after another like Dorothy's steps on the yellow brick road. 

Here again, like in James and The Giant Peach http://bit.ly/IhPVpr we can recognize many Propp Functions: an heroine who has to clear many hurdles, helped by a magic object and several friends, before fulfilling her desire to go back home. It's a classic structure that teaches our youngsters that many efforts are necessary to reach their established goals. 

Here you can find some rally interesting activities based on the book, designed by Nancy Polette:

http://www.nancypolette.com/LitGuidesText/oz.htm

Read more book reviews:

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Jules Verne

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roald Dahl

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Jules Verne

1872. The Morning Chronicle has just announced that thanks to the opening of the section between Rothal and Allahabad on the Indian Peninsular Railway, anyone can now travel around the world in a mere 80 days.

Would it be possible taking bad weather, adverse winds, shipwrecks, derailments, etc into account?

Phileas Fogg, the English gentleman with the most well-established routine, bets 20,000 pounds on the success of the venture. 

After Leaving the Reform Club, where he must be back on Saturday 21 December, he immediately sets off for Dover, with his astonished new servant Passpartout.

In this brilliant book we can really find lots of information about many different subjects, from detailed descriptions of steamships and trains to a little history of the British Empire and some of its laws across the colonies.

We read about several religions like Hinduism or Mormons and sects like the Indian Thugs. Even native Americans have their space in the novel: they appear to assault the train where the protagonists are traveling to cross the United States from San Francisco to New York.

An Indian elephant, a Chinese tavern frequented by opium smokers, a Japanese circus and a large herd of bison are the frame of this exciting  and unpredictable journey. 

Concerning the writing style of Jules Verne, we can surely appreciate a certain humor when he tells about British customs and laws. His way of comparing English manners to the American ones is definitely hilarious. 

The rhythm of narration coincides perfectly with the rhythm of the trip. It starts in a slow and plain way, almost monotonous. 

The reader may have the impression that everything will be smooth sailing until the protagonists' return to London. But luckily for us the railway in India wasn't really finished and the missing last stretch becomes the excuse to step on the accelerator. From that moment everything gets faster and more interesting.

Don't be surprised if you'll realize to have finished your book in less than a few days.

Here are some ideas for reading and learning about Around the World in Eighty Days. There are also quizzes and word searches inside the children’s edition of the book.

http://www.bristolreads.com/around_the_world/download_files/gra_activity_pack.pdf

Read more book reviews:

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roald Dahl

MOMO by Michael Hende

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roald Dahl

James is a little English boy  who had lived by the seaside with his beloved parents until they got eaten by an 'enormous angry rhino escaped from the London Zoo'.

He was sent to live with his two horrible aunts: Aunt Sponge, fat and lazy, and Aunt Spiker, bony and cruel. 

Their house was ramshackle, set on top of a high hill and surrounded by a big garden, where James was practically a prisoner for years.

He was absolutely alone and desperate when, one day, he ran away to the edge of the garden, and right there an old man gave him a bag with tiny green things that James was supposed to eat to finally end his miserable life. 

But he stumbled over the old peach tree's root, dropping the entire content of the bag that disappeared in a few seconds into the ground. 

The very next day something awesome happened: on the top of the old peach tree, that never had produced a single fruit, a peach suddenly appeared that, in less than one day, grew up and reached the volume of a house!

One night James found a hole in the skin of the massive fruit and… Enormous friendly insects and exciting adventures finally flew him toward a new happy life across the Ocean!

This book is worth to reading for at least  3 different reasons.

First of all, the story is founded on few basic Propp's functions that bring the young reader from an initial status of unhappiness of the hero (James) to an happy ending thanks to a magic gift given to him by a mentor. The hero makes new friends that will join and help him  through many adventures with characters like sharks and stormy Cloud-Men.  

You can also find many nice and funny rhymes in it and we all know how much important they are to developing reading skills and phonetics.

Finally it teaches children about insects: the Grasshopper, the Centipede, the Spider, the Earthworm, the Glow-worm, the Silkworm and the Ladybird.

They will discover who is useful to agriculture and who is a pest, why only certain kinds of grasshopper can play beautiful melodies, how many legs a centipede really has,  several uncorrected beliefs about them and much more! 

So enjoy the reading and, if you are a teacher, here you can find some really useful activities based on the book, designed by Nancy Polette:

http://www.nancypolette.com/handouts/guide_jamespeach.htm

Read more book reviews:

MOMO by Michael Ende

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Jules Verne

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

MOMO by Michael Ende

When I was 10 I was shown a movie entitled 'Momo'. I remember there was this little orphan with an 'unruly mop of jet-black hair' and everything was kind of grey. I also remember that the film was about time.

Three good reasons to embrace the adventure of reading this book, written by the author of 'The Neverending Story', Michael Ende, and published for the first time in 1973 in Germany.

No-one knows Momo's age. She lives by herself in an little room under the ancient amphitheater at the edge of the city. She makes a lot of good friends because she knows how to listen to people and at the same time it seems that she helps them to improve the good side of themselves. Every day many inhabitants of the city spend a good time with her, either playing or chatting. 

But a grey shadow is planning to rule the city in a very different way. It's the Timesaving Bank and its men in grey. They want to steal people's time. They need it to exist. But 'time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart'.

So they convince everyone, little by little, not to waste their spare time. They want people to work as hard and fast as they can. No more chats, no more daydreams, no more love. 'All that matters in life is to climb the ladder of success, amount to something, own things.'

But Momo is different. She doesn't need anything. She only cares about her friends and the special moments they spend together.

One day she finds the doll 'Lola' waiting for her at the amphitheater. After her, a man in grey also appears. The particular doll can talk, but she only wants new outfits. That's why from the boot of the grey car of the man in grey, one after another, a huge quantity of doll's stuff starts to appear. Because 'There's always something left to wish for.'

Momo answers something about love to him and suddenly something unexpected happens. The man in gray feels a strong desire to tell her the truth about him and his organization. He keeps talking until he realizes that it 's the secrets of the Timesaving Bank that he was revealing. He stops and escapes from that uncommon little girl and  'like an explosion in reverse, all the dolls and their scattered belongings flew back into the boot.' This is one of the best scenes of the film, at the very moment I read the passage I could clearly see in my mind all this dresses and shoes flying back into the grey car.

Here you can see the Spanish version of the scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYd-TabJdA&feature=related

After that many adventures entertain the young reader (and the old one).

I only would like to highlight some of the most illuminating passages in the book: concepts and ideas that are absolutely modern despite the book's age.

For example at some point of the story children are no longer allowed to play children's games in the streets. 'Child Depots' are built by the men in gray. There 'the youngsters can be moulded into useful and efficient members of society'. 

What kind of society they refer to is the question that immediately arises.

The answer lasts a line: 'A world dependent on computers and nuclear energy'. 

Does it ring a bell to someone out there?

Into Child Depots, kids, wearing grey uniforms, are taught how to play. The author describes a game like the 'data retrieval' where all of them pretend to be a card, each one carrying various bits of information about himself, sometimes they are just long strings of letters and numbers and so on. 'It's useful for the future'. They say.

It's impressive how time is stolen second by second from people who don't even notice that something is, slowly but inexorably, changing in their lives and the relationships among them. 

To be honest, I don't remember if I caught the meaning of these metaphors when I was 10. Probably not. Probably when you are 10 you just  don't like bad grey men and sympathize with Momo, feeling her pain of losing all her friends suddenly for some very bad reasons.

But probably for a child these strong emotions and surrealistic scenes are impressive enough. 

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AND DRAMA

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L. M. Montgomery

This is an old book, written when dinner was at lunch time and lunch coincided with tea time. Uncommon vocabulary could generate some embarrassing moments for the teacher who has to explain its meaning, but it's really worth the effort, because 'lovely' and 'thrilling' are the two adjectives that will stay with you as you follow Anne around the landscapes of Prince Edward Island. Everything is "so romantic" and enjoyable. Everything is a gift to give thanks for.

Anne, who has got nothing but her imagination and her red hair, will tell you about the simple life and old-time education, but also about dreams and the strength of will to make them come true.

It was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a child. I suppose because kids can identify with the little girl who, like them, has to learn how to be a well-mannered child and wants to be an excellent student to make her parents (adoptive, in this case) very proud of her. 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. He had an unhappy time at school - at Llandaff Cathedral School, at St Peter’s prep school in Weston-super-Mare and then at Repton in Derbyshire.
Dahl’s unhappy time at school was to influence his writing greatly. He once said that what distinguished him from most other children’s writers was “this business of remembering what it was like to be young”. Roald’s childhood and schooldays are the subject of his autobiography Boy.

Every Christmas, during my childhood, I used to watch the movie inspired on this book.  

Little Charlie and the four old grandparents in only one bed, the incredible moment when he finds the Golden Ticket etc. 

Everything has magically come back to my mind. It surprised me and it made me laugh once again. 

I loved it! 
Here you can find some activities for your class:

http://www.leapinginto5thgrade.com/CharlieChocolateFactory.htm





Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.