books! Books!! BOOKS!!!

Reading a book to 5-8th grade students

I have to tell you something.  I feel like we’re all friends here, so I can say this without being embarrassed… I am a geek for reading.  I love books!  I’m not talking about those things you read on a screen and that run off a battery.  I’m talking about those old fashioned things that are made from paper and open and close where the reader can actually turn the pages.  Whether you are an e-reader enthusiast, a paper book die-hard, or somewhere in between, if you’ve ever read a good story, you’ll be able to relate to my following post.  Even if you’re illiterate, I encourage you to find someone to read my words of wisdom out loud for your listening pleasure.

 

Have you ever read a book that was so good, you literally couldn’t put it down?  Have you ever been so engrossed in a story that you stopped reading a few chapters from the end, holding out on reading the rest for as long as possible because you just didn’t want it to end?  Have you ever read something that transported you to another place or time?  Have you ever fallen in love with a character who just seemed so perfect?  Have you ever thrown a book across the room because of an unsettling ending? Have you ever been surprised by a plot twist or unexpected ending?  Have you ever read a book that made you think about the world a little bit differently?  Have you ever read a book that made you question yourself, your beliefs, or your integrity?  If you answered “no” to all of the above questions, you have been reading the wrong kinds of books- probably something in the Nicolas Sparks genre- I implore you to branch out!  Just kidding, I have nothing against Nicholas Sparks (except that all his books take place in North Carolina and feature characters named Landon and Juliet), that was just a little joke for my mom.  Hi Mom!

Seriously though, this is the power of reading.  It allows you to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while, to see the world through someone else’s eyes.  Books can show you the world (just like Aladdin did for Jasmine).  You can travel to India, Kenya, or Brazil without leaving your couch.  You can visualize life in another time through a writer’s vivid descriptions.  You can ask yourself what choices you might make if faced with the same decisions of the characters.  

Books give the reader the power to explore and to create, and I am certainly no expert, but I believe that this power is immeasurably important, especially for children.  Most of you reading this blog probably remember being read to as a child.  If not, hopefully you have had the chance to read to a child whether that be your own child, a niece or nephew, a grandchild, a babysitting charge, or a student in a classroom.  I can still remember the life lessons I learned as a child from the Berenstain Bears, hating that selfish kid who took everything from his friend- The Giving Tree, enjoying the wacky adventures of Amelia Bedelia, and the wisdom of Dr. Seuss.  

School library

I was fortunate enough to develop a love of reading at an early age.  I remember having loads of books at home and making frequent trips to the local library.  Most kids in Ethiopia are not so fortunate.  It would be extremely rare to find any books of fiction in most homes.  Libraries are not much better.  My school library is in a pretty nice building, and even better it’s open during the school day and students actually do go there.  There are several shelves of textbooks, dictionaries, and other study materials.  There are no stories in fiction to foster reading for enjoyment.  There are no books that would appeal to most children.

Grade 6 students with their book reports. These books have already been generously donated.

So this brings me to my current project—get some books to Ethiopia!  How can you help?  Oh well, I’m so glad you asked…  Below I have posted a list of children’s books that I would like to have for the students in my school.  By logging on to betterworldbooks.com you can purchase these books and others.  This website sells new and used books, some for as little as $5, and the best part is, the shipping is FREE!  So every purchase you make will be sent directly to me at no extra cost other than the price of the book.  If you want to buy a few books, great!  If you want to send one book, awesome!  Whatever you can do will be much appreciated!  On a side note, Better World Books is a buy 1, give 1 company, so for every book that is bought off their website, another book is donated to a organization in need somewhere in the world.  Keep that in mind for your future book-buying needs.  How is this going to work, exactly…

1.       Read my list of suggested books and check out the website for prices.

2.       Once you decide which book(s) you would like to send, email me with your choice. (aliciainafrica@gmail.com)  Please do this before purchasing so that I can inform you if someone else has already bought that book.  Hopefully this will cut down on duplicates.

3.       When I have confirmed your book choice, go online and purchase the book(s) using your credit/debit card.

4.       Enter my address into the shipping information so the books come directly to me. (P.O. Box 406 Ambo, Ethiopia).

5.       Pat yourself on the back for your good deed and a job well done!

6.        Once you book arrives in Ethiopia, I will make an inscription in the book that says who it was donated by, and I will send you a confirmation and thank you email for your donation.

The list below is just a starting point for books.  If you have a favorite book from your childhood or a book that your kids love, and you don’t see it on the list, please email me about it- if it’s that great I’d love to add it my school library.  Also, I am hoping that from the generosity of family and friends I am able to get more books than are on this list.  I’m also interested in books that feature non-white characters and books that would appeal to older students (just remember these kids are learning English as their third language, so text should be fairly simple). 

My last request, I promise- if you think this book idea is a worthy cause, please help me get the word out.  You can use the links at the bottom of this post to email, post of facebook, tweet, etc.  If you know someone who might be interested in buying a book, please pass the word.  If you know someone who knows me but doesn’t regularly read this blog (I can’t imagine who wouldn’t be regularly hanging on my every post), please let them know to check it out.  Thank you very much! Bayyee galatooma!!

Requested Books

 

TITLE	AUTHOR
Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak
The Cat in the Hat	Dr. Seuss
Green Eggs and Ham	Dr. Seuss
Oh, the Places You’ll Go	Dr. Seuss
The Lorax	Dr. Seuss
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle
The Giving Tree	Shel Silverstein
Charlotte’s Web	E.B. White
The Runaway Bunny	Margaret Wise Brown
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Judy & Ron Barrett
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day	Judith Viorst
Guess How Much I Love You	Sam McBratney
Pat the Bunny	Dorothy Kunhardt
Love You Forever	Robert N. Munsch
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?	Bill Martin & Eric Carle
Harold and the Purple Crayon	Crockett Johnson
Press Here	Herve Tullet
Go, Dog. Go!	P.D. Eastman
Are You My Mother?	P.D. Eastman
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault
Fancy Nancy	Jane O’Connor
Corduroy	Don Freeman
The Little Engine That Could	Watty Piper
The Tale of Peter Rabbit	Beatrix Potter
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie	Laura Joffe Numeroff
Madeline	Ludwig Bemelmans
Make Way for Ducklings	Robert McCloskey
The Story of Ferdinand	Munro Leaf
Amazing Grace	Mary Hoffman
The Story of Barbar	Jean De Brunhoff
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears	Verna Aardema
Stone Soup	Marcia Brown
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Roald Dahl
Llama Llama Red Pajama	Anna Dewdney
Madeline	Ludwig Bemelmans
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt	Michael Rosen
Russell the Sheep	Rob Scotton
Ben’s Dream	Chris Van Allsburg
The Velveteen Rabbit	Margery Williams
All by Myself	Mercer Mayer
Clifford’s Manners	Norman Bridwell
Magic Tree House (any books from series)	Mary Pope Osborne