Tara Books

Looking at the book, An Indian Beach: by Day and Night created by Joelle Jolievet, I realized that I hadn't gushed about a favorite publisher of mine, Tara Books, for quite sometime.

An oversight, to be sure.

The books that I love most from Tara Books are handmade (from the paper, to the images being screenprinted, to being bound by hand) and/or often illustrated in unique and interesting ways showcasing traditional Indian folk art styles..

For example, An Indian Beach. This book illustrates the typical activities that go on from morning til night on Elliot's Beach near the city of Chennai, South India. The author depicts people waking up in the morning, engaging in all sorts of activities such as selling fish, repairing nets, eating, jogging, going to work, and playing.  At the hottest time of the afternoon there are very few people out, only a couple of dogs or birds. But by early evening the pace picks up again and people are out and about selling food, playing games, relaxing until nighttime when it's time to return home.

But it's the way in which the daily happenings on Elliot's Beach has been displayed for the reader that makes it stand out. Wordlessly, it has been illustrated as a series of predominately black and white panels joined together to create a never-ending, circular flow of activities from dawn til night. It's a wonderful display that invites the reader to stop and take in the details of each scene. On the inside of the joined panels are multitudes of various species of fish to be identified reinforcing the proximity and importance of the sea to the people living close to this beach. There is a blue border at the top of each page 
identifying the presence of the sea. On the inner side of the book blue colours the water for the fish.

The folder packaging the book provides us with additional descriptions about what's going on in the panels. It also includes suggestions as to how the book can be used and read. Because of the foldout nature of the pages the scenes can be 'read' in various configurations, inviting the reader to create their own stories.

This would make a terrific addition to the Alberta social studies unit studied in grade 3 where students learning about India. I think the book design is provocative enough to be of interest to almost anyone.

As I said at the top of this blog, I love Tara Books because of the books they publish. I love that they take on the challenge of storytelling in unique and innovative ways. An Indian Beach is an excellent addition to my favourites list.

Journey of a traditional artist

Okay, another blog about another Tara Books publication.

Waterlife by Rambharos Jha.

But this one is so beautiful I just had to let you know about it. 

It’s another handmade book with gorgeous textured paper and coloured printed illustrations (you can smell the ink) that are so lush and vibrant they shimmy on the page.  A piece of art you can hold in your hands.  (Has anyone noticed that Tara has started numbering their handmade books?)

The author/illustrator, Rambharos Jha is an artist born in the Mithila region in India.  Growing up, he was influenced by the women who traditionally painted the walls, floors and courtyards of their homes during festivals, participating in a government supported program that gave them opportunities to earn a living from their artistic endeavours.

Rambharos Jha learned to draw by watching.  He came to appreciate the accessibility of the dyes and colours derived from nature, local markets and household detritus (such as lamp soot) that coloured his paints.

Starting with Hindu mythology, his art work reflected these traditional stories while he learned how to detail in a traditional style and motifs.  Gradually, he began to follow his “own creative impulse, and to register the impact, like all artists do, of my surroundings, the place and time I found myself in…I was now beginning to journey into my imagination. I was also working with new colours, having begun to use acrylic paint.  During this experimental phase, I started doing pictures of water…”

In this book, his illustrations reflect the meshing traditional motifs (fish, turtles, crabs, snakes) and traditional line patterning with his interest in the natural world centred around water.

"It is an enormous challenge, even technically speaking: how for instance, is he to show movement using the conventions of an art form that is essentially static?  Rambharos does it masterfully: he adapts the Mithila tradition of signifying water through fine lines but extends it into a complex whorl of eddies and currents.  He solves the problem of naturalism by side-stepping it elegantly, giving his fish, tortoises and crabs and home and habitat in water – while keeping essentially with their traditional symbolic representation.  Sometimes he invents creatures like the lobster who never appear in Mithila art.  At other times he plays with his swans and lotuses as they appear within a conventional Mithila composition." --from publisher, Gita Wolf

This is the journey of many artists. Creativity is about  blending tradition with the artist's own yearnings to create something fresh and of their own.

Highly recommended.  This book is an art piece and could be used with all age groups for that reason alone.  

Today is Nonfiction Monday, a blogging event that celebrates nonfiction children's literature.  Please stop by Wendie's Wanderings for see a raft of reviews.

The Enduring Ark

As many of you will know, I'm a big fan of Tara Books, a publisher out of India.  They produce many  beautiful, handmade books that celebrate the traditional storytelling traditions and varied art forms from around the country.  I've tagged several blogs ‘TaraBooks’ if you’d like to see other examples of their publications.

Today’s offering is a retelling of the Biblical story, Noah’s ark, illustrated in the Bengal Patua style of scroll painting.

The Enduring Ark by Joydeb Chitrakar & Gita Wolf is the traditional story of Noah, as instructed by God, building an ark that will hold two of each animal to withstand a deluge that will wipe the Earth clean from corruption.

The ‘scroll’ style book is more accordion-like that can either be flipped page-by-page or opened up and displayed as a panoramic view as the story literally unfolds.  Once you've worked your way through the story you flip the last page over and work through the last part of the story. The illustrations are richly coloured folk art with highly stylized elements.

I can’t say that this is an essential purchase for every collection but the format of the book is unusual and for me, very appealing, which I think may be of interest to children.  Looking at this book because of its art form may be of interest to all ages.

Life’s journey

Drawing from the City by Tejubehan is another interesting offering from Tara Books, an Indian publisher that promotes Indian art forms in beautifully produced books that are often handmade.

This particular offering is an oversized, handmade book based on the oral stories of the artist Tejubehan who has illustrated her life’s journey with highly detailed, folk art drawings.

She introduces us to her life as a young girl in a small village in Rajasthan.  Daily life revolves around the routines required to survive.  On occasion her father tries to earn money and food as a traditional singer, going house-to-house.   Her mother, also a singer, does not sing in public.

A nearby train track makes Teju wonder about the lives of others – travellers on the trains, where they are travelling to, life in the city – and she dares to dream of going there one day.

Drought and famine do eventually drive Teju’s family to the city, but the vibrant urban pulse that Teju feels when she first arrives, won’t help her family start anew.  Their new lives will be on the fringes, living in a ragged tent city, again just scraping by.

Time passes and she marries a kind man, Ganeshbhai, who is also a singer from Rajasthan.  With his encouragement she also begins to sing in public and the two decide they will try to earn their living travelling from place-to-place, singing of everyday occurrences, of hope and faith.  Life continues to be a struggle.

But luck does strike, too.  The artist, Haku Shah gives Ganeshbhai the opportunity and encouragement to learn to draw.  In turn, Ganeshbhai encourages Teju to try her hand at drawing as.  With pen and paper, Teju feels a level of contentment she’s never encountered before.  Being able to draw what she sees and imagines in her mind’s eye is ‘like magic’.

Teju’s illustrations are filled with images of busy people moving and travelling on bicycles, trains, cars, and airplanes. She focuses on women, depicting them as they travel about. As much as this book shows others travelling and what she imagines the lives of other women to be like,  this Teju’s story about her journey from village to city, from girl to married women, from singer to artist.  The idea of travel seems to represent freedom for Teju something she knows she doesn't always have due to economic and social constraints.  But it’s in her art work that she does revel in her artistic freedom to express what is in her heart.

This is an intriguing record of one woman’s life and art work.  I recommend using this book across the grades in social studies, fine arts and language arts classrooms.

Today's Nonfiction Monday event is being held at proseandkahn.

Garbage to recycling

This past summer I read Trash by Andy Mulligan (823 M9165T FIC), a mystery focussed around three boys who live and work in a large urban garbage dump somewhere in Southeast Asia.  I enjoyed reading this middle grade novel, but found the premise of people living in and from a garbage dump very disconcerting.  This wasn't something I had been unaware of; I just hadn’t come across this issue before in children’s literature.

I would pair the novel Trash with Trash! On ragpicker children and recycling by Gita Wolf, Anumshka Ravishankar and Orijit Sen (331.31 WoT 2011).  This nonfiction book will answer questions that could come up.  And there’s a lot to question about children working in such appalling conditions.

Trash! On ragpicker children and recycling uses a fictional boy in India who runs away from home to a big city, to illustrate what the life as a ragpicker is like.  Velu meets a girl who shows him how to work in a dump and survive living on the streets.  Interspersed within the story are blocks of information about ragpickers and the trash industry, life in India especially for the poor, living conditions and educational opportunities for children, and the recycling industry.  The story is a bit didactic but does work well for its purpose, which is to show a real-life situation and create empathy with working children.  There are points for discussion at the end of the book, as well as suggestions about what would help children ragpickers.

An interesting point is that this book is an Indian publication (Tara Books) and is directed toward an Indian audience.  So when reading the discussion points at the end of the book the statement “All of you must have seen such children – ragpicking, working in restaurants, in garages or as servants in houses” it really jumps out.  Unless you’ve visited a country where child labour is more prevalent, you are less likely to be witness to this.  

This would be useful as a supplemental resource for grade 3 social studies (Alberta) curriculum.  Reading level is appropriate for middle grades.

Today's Nonfiction Monday event is hosted by A Teaching Life.

Traditional Indian Art

Two recent additions to the Doucette Library caught my attention.  But then again, most books from Tara Publishing out of India often hold my attention for the traditional art forms it incorporates into picture book making.

 The Great Race by Nathan Kumar Scott and Jagdish Chitara (398.209598 ScG 2011 PIC BK) is a retelling of an Indonesian folktale about pride coming before a fall.  In an Aesop- like tale, a boastful deer, Kanchil, challenges all the animals of the jungle to a race to prove who is the fastest.  Only a tiny snail comes forward to accept the challenge.  To the amazement of all of the animals, the snail beats the deer twice.  How did he do it?

It’s the art work that really shines in this book.  It fits very well with traditional storytelling with a strong folk style and limited colour palette.  There is a write-up at the back that explains that the Waghari were formerly nomads who created block printed textiles as a form of worship.  We learn about the method used to create these pieces of art and how they are growing in popularity with the upper classes of India.  We also learn that the low caste Waghari, though making some money from their skills, are still considered socially inferior.

 Mangoes & Bananas by Nathan Kumar Scott and T. Balaji is another folktale from Indonesia that introduces us to different traditional Indian textile art form.  Kalamkari is a centuries old tradition that depicted “Indian epics on large pieces of textile, which were hung in temples and carried from town to town by minstrels.”  The process of production is epic in itself with lots of preparation of the cloth, renderings of the pictures, and labour intensive hand colouring. 

This tale, again, features Kanchil, the boastful deer from The Great Race and his friend, Monyet, a monkey.  Kanchil comes up with the idea to plant a garden as a way to have easy access to their favourite foods, mangoes and bananas.   But as with many plans there is often an unforeseen flaw.  Kanchil cannot climb trees to pick his own mangoes and must rely on Monyet.  With the best of intentions to share, Monyet gets caught up with the wonderful bounty and eats all the bananas.  This entitles Kanchil to all the mangoes without sharing.  Of course, Monyet is still the one having to pick the fruit and thinks that just one mango won’t be missed.  One, leads to two and you know where this going.  Realizing that he is about to miss out on the mangoes, Kanchil starts insulting Monyet (“face like a papaya”, “head like a cabbage”, etc.).  Monyet reacts by throwing the remaining mangoes at Kanchil.  Who’s the winner in this one?

The stories are entertaining, but I have no way of knowing how authentic the retellings are.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the illustrations from both books.  I love that this enterprise between Tara and traditional artists introduces us to art styles from across India we would  never see otherwise.  Educating the reader about the peoples and art processes is fascinating. 

See for yourselves.

Not your everyday "John Hancock"

Signature: patterns in Gond art edited by Gita Wolf, Bhajju Shyam and Jonathan Yamakami (759.9548 Si 2010) is a celebration of the artistic tradition and creative ability of tribal artists from central India. This book offers a unique perspective of Gond art as it explains that each artist designs an individual pattern that becomes their ‘signature’. Artists can be identified by these designs.

Each two page spread features an artist and one of their paintings. A segment from the painting has been blown up to showcase the pattern the artist uses to decorate the images in the painting. Animals, gods, people and trees are represented in these pages and every singe image is filled in with detailed patterning of their ‘signature’ design. The patterns include crosses, single lines or dots, diamond shapes filled with lines, basket-weave, half-circles, spirals and many more. The colours combined with the patterns create vibrant images.


Each artist explains the inspiration for their particular design. I’ve included a few of these descriptions which I often find very poetic.
Mohan Shyam says, “Here are ears of corn. I’ve drawn them simply one behind the other, in rows.”


Nankusiya Shyam says, “This is the pattern created by a marriage procession, as it weaves through the village.”


Narmada Prasad Thekam says, “I’ve followed lines, the lines from the past to the present, tracing memory.”


Rajkumar Shyam says, “You’ll see my design inside a lemon. Just cut it across in half, and you’ll find the seeds and the pattern I’ve used.”

Subhash Vyam says, “These are seeds, scattered on the feathers of a peacock.”


In terms of classroom use, the most obvious connection is art. I think it could also be used in a social studies classroom when talking teaching about identity and the interconnectedness between tradition, the individual and the present. Further to this is the concept of community and how the Gond have developed and maintained their art form. Pair this with another Tara book, Tsunami as a way to illustrate how traditional art forms are being kept relevant in today’s world.

To see what Gond art looks like check out the YouTube video below.

Self-portraits

A recent release by Tara Books, Following My Paint Brush by Dulari Devi and Gita Wolf, tells the life events that lead to Dulari Devi becoming an artist. This autobiographical picture book beautifully depicts what growing up in India was like and the difficulties her impoverished family had filling even the most basics needs. From a young child her expectations were of nothing but hard work. It is not until one of her employers provides the opportunity that she discovers the wonders of art. She is immediately drawn in and eagerly wants to learn more. Through her art we see her as a child, her family and where she gets her inspiration. This is her journey from labourer to artist.

The illustrations are done in the traditional Mithila style of folk painting derived from eastern India. These detailed, heavily lined paintings have customarily been used to decorate the walls of houses depicting religious Hindu gods, goddesses, icons and scenes of everyday life.

Another book that also focuses on self-portraits of artists is Just Like Me: stories and self-portraits by fourteen artists edited by Harriet Rohmer. These artists, predominately living in North America, most from the United States, also tell their stories about becoming artists and how their identities are reflected in their art. Each two-page spread features a different artist with one page dedicated to a visual portrayal of themselves, showcasing their art style. I really enjoyed the range of styles, finding out what inspires them and what lead them to this path. The piece done by Michele Wood (p.27) is especially evocative of journey, detailing several important points in her life.

In case you’re wondering, I will be drawing these two books into my mega-book talk to the Nellie McClung Elementary School teachers as they both reflect the ‘big idea’ the school will focus their teaching around next year.

Today is Nonfiction Monday at Amy O'Quinn's website.  Check out the links to other blogs focusing on nonfiction children's literature today to learn about other resources.

Identity

I’ve just crossed paths with a weirdly wonderful book by Tara Books.  Fingerprint by Andrea Anastasio (709.2 AnF 2009) is a wordless picture book that isn’t for little kids at all.

It starts with a single black fingerprint at the bottom of the first page which, on the next page, is joined by a pink print at the top. From there additional pink prints are added incrementally until the black print is seemingly pushed out off the page, only to reappear on the adjoining one.  Eventually, pages are filled with prints of various colours,arranged and rearranged into different, orderly patterns, until ultimately, they are messily merged together.

So, what’s going on?  What’s it all about?  What does it mean?

This book takes more than one reading.  I suspect interpretations will vary depending on the individual reader and whatever experiences said reader brings to this book.  Yes, it’s that kind of book.

Initially, I was ‘reading’ this wordless book as allegory, about an individual’s place in society.  But I didn’t really come up with a conclusion. Or at least, an one tidy conclusion -- we all end up together, we're different but the same? I thoroughly enjoyed the essay at the book’s end, written by the editor of Tara Books, V. Geetha (a historian and political activist), which explains some of bigger concepts surrounding the issue of fingerprints, the process of fingerprinting and what this means to the individual both historically and, especially, currently.  This essay provides the book with a lot of depth.

The impetus of the book was based on the author’s experience of coming through an American airport where immigration requires non-nationals to be fingerprinted.  This incident stayed with the author and eventually emerged into his work.

I could see this book being used at the secondary level (grades 7 to 12) as a spark that could lead into discussions about personal identity, privacy concerns, political issues relating to controlling individuals at the state level, immigration processing, international relations, and artistic and creative processes.  There is a lot to work with here, and I would encourage teachers and students of art and social studies to spend some time with this little book.

Today is Nonfiction Monday, a roundup of blogs about nonfiction children's literature.  Check out Shelf-Employed to see today's recommendations.

India, again

Last fall I purchased a fair number of books from two publishers in India, Tara Books and Tulika Publishers, for the Doucette Library’s collection, primarily to support the grade 3 social studies curriculum.  I’ve not been disappointed in my selections.

I then wrote a blog about the importance of authentic voice in children’s literature and mentioned several of the books I had purchased from these two publishers.

One of the books, The Riddle of the Ridley by Shekar Dattatri (597.928 DaR 2006), really brought home to me how little we see scientists from other countries doing science.  Most often, we see North American, or maybe European scientists (and then, these are mostly white people), who do their work in many different places around the world.  A series I’ve blogged about several time is Scientists in the Field which does just this – showcase scientists at home in North America and aboard, conducting research.  I really enjoy this series of books and am not suggesting they shouldn’t enlighten us about the work of North American scientists. I’m keen that they do.

It was just that, not until I read the book about the Ridley turtles did I realize my own ethnocentric perspective.  I just hadn’t questioned what I had been seeing (and not seeing) all these years, leaving me with a sense of North American preeminence in science.  I just took it all for granted.  I love how Shekar Dattatri brought this to my attention. I am now thinking about it a lot more.

I was delighted to see a recent offering from Tulika Publishers, Why the Sky is Blue: Dr. C.V. Raman talks about science by Chandralekha and Dashrath Patel (501 ChW 2010).  This short picture book is an excerpt of a lecture given by Dr. Raman, the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics recipient, in 1968.  In this lecture he describes what science means to him, as a way to explore and understand nature, and appreciate the many wondrous things here on Earth.

The book includes a short narrative and timeline of Dr. Raman’s life as well as a concise explanation about the Raman Effect (relating to the properties of light) and the continuing impact of his discovery today, wherever security and medical scanners are used.

This should be used in elementary and middle grade classes when talking about the importance of science, about questioning what we see around us and about the wonder to be found in how ‘things’ work.

Voices from India

I often speak to students about finding books with ‘authentic voice’.  Meaning, books that authentically reflect the culture of the story being told and, ideally, told by an author from that culture.

Most often I direct this to stories about Native North Americans told by Native North Americans.

But recently I’ve been trying to find books that do the same for other cultures and have found a couple of publishers from India that publish children’s books in English (amongst many languages).  Tulika Books  and Tara Books  have published several folk stories from different parts of the country,,often illustrated using traditional artistic techniques:

Eyes on the peacock’s tale: a folktale from Rajasthan by Vayu Naidu, art by Nugdha Shah.

The rooster and the sun by Meren Imchen (from the Ao tribe in Nagaland)

  

And land was born retold by Sandhya Rao, art by Uma Krishnaswamy (from the Bhilala tribe in central India)

Night life of trees by Bhajju Shyam (from the Gond tribe in central India)

A non-Indian tale, The Flight of the Mermaid by Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao, is a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, but illustrated by Bhajju Shyam a Gond tribal artist. Really interesting to see such a well-known European story illustrated with Indian illustrations.

In addition to the folktales, I’ve enjoyed reading a couple of titles that reflect everyday life told with an Indian perspective.  These books are written for Indian children and not necessarily for children in North America, assuming some familiarity with the culture. Here are two nonfiction books that I enjoyed:

Hina in the Old City by Samina Mishra is about a 10-year old girl, Hina, who lives in the walled city of Delhi, Purani Dilli, with her familywho are traditional craftspeople (zardozi embroiderers).  Suggested for grades 5 and up.

Riddle of the Ridley by Shekar Dattatri describes the annual migration, breeding and laying of eggs by Ridley turtles on the beaches of India.  We see what Indian scientists are learning from their ongoing research.  Suggested for grades 3-7.

A couple of fictional titles I liked include:

Out of the way, out of the way! by Uma Krishnaswami about a village that expands into a busy city but cherishes and preserves a tree planted long ago by a child, now a grandfather. Suggested for grades 1-4. 

That’s how I see things by Sirish Rao and Bhajju Shyam tells the story of an artist with an exceptional imagination, creating unusual animals that speak to him.  Very playful.

Suggested for grades 2-5.

Over at Papertigers  there is lots of information about books from India written and illustrated by Indian writers and artists that is well worth checking out.

Anyone else know of good books written with an ‘authentic voice’ from places outside of Canada and the U.S.?  Please drop me a line if you do.

Do! What You Will! - Nonfiction Monday

I’ve another fantastic, handmade book from the publisher Tara to recommend.  It’s Do! by Gita Wolf, Ramesh Hengadi and Shantaram Dhadpe (954 WoD 2009 PIC BK).

Like their book Tsunami! (include link), I think that Do! presents many opportunities for classroom use.

Using very simplistic human and animals figures based on traditional Warli tribal art from Western India, action words such as pull, farm, fight, carry, play and read (just a few) are enacted within a village setting.  For example 'work’ depicts men and women doing various tasks from making fish traps and harvesting and collecting food, to making clay pots, as well as a few activities I’m uncertain about.  ‘Dance’ beautifully displays two curving lines of dancers spiraling in circles with musicians and spectators gathered around.

The illustration style embodies movement, which is what inspired the authors originally.  Traditionally everyday activities, special events and stories are recorded in this way (more typically as murals on the walls of their homes) that captures the dynamic quality of people and animals moving about.

What an interesting way to look at rural life in India (Alberta social studies curriculum for grade 3), Indian art, narrative and pictorial forms of storytelling, and of course, language arts.  The beautiful ‘feel’ of this book is also in its making which is all done by hand (silkscreened, typeset and bound) on recycled kraft paper.  Another one of those books ‘where less is more.’  Wonderfully do-ne!

Join Nonfiction Monday Roundup by clicking on the box below to go Playing by the book to see a list of recent blogs dedicated to highlighting nonfiction resources.

It's Non-Fiction Monday & The tingle of potential

Today I'm hosting Nonfiction Monday.  This is a weekly roundup of blogs that highlights nonfiction children's literature.  If you wish to have your blog's posting added to this week's list please leave your link in the comments box or use Mister Linky's Magical Widgets found at the end of this posting and I'll add them throughout the day.

Just in at the Doucette Library is Tsunami by Joydeb Chitrakar, a very interesting book published by Tara Books.

This is one of those books that kinda get my synapses snapping, a ‘feeling’ you might say, of ‘potential’.

First, the format: This is what grabbed me right off the bat.  It is a rectangular-shaped book that unfolds downward, accordion-style as it tells the story.  It represents a scroll (more about that in a moment).

Second, the story: Well, it’s not really a story.  It is a recounting of the 2004 tsunami that devastated large areas of South East Asia and killed thousands of people.  Though it does tell of the event, it more aptly conveys the feeling of loss and desperation that was left in its wake. It is described as ‘dirge-like in tone’ and as a ballad.

Now back to the scroll aspect.  The description on the back of the book says it best: “The Patua is a form of narrative graphic art, comprising a series of panels, stitched together to form a scroll.  It belongs to a performance tradition of Bengal when song-writer and artist went from home to home, showing pictures and singing out their stories. Traditional stories and local news was part of their repertoire.  Now contemporary artists also look to events reported in the mass media, especially drawn to news that is dramatic and emotionally charged…”

Third, the illustrations: Wow!  Can’t miss them. The colours, yellow, red, green and black are incredibly vibrant, bordering on the garish.  The books are all handmade, from the making of paper to the silk-screening process to the assembling of the book.  See video as to how this is accomplished.  Very cool.

The first panel/page shows a fearsome, open-mouthed, fanged demon.  The open mouth has a river-like flow of water, representing the water from the tsunami, filled with people, animals, homes and debris. Along the ‘banks’ of the mouth we see mostly mourners and a couple of journalists.  The text of the narrative also flows along beside the “water’s tongue” poetically describing the “tragic story that I sing Of the wave that took everything. Tsunami!  Swallower of the living…”

And finally, the potential:  I can see connecting this book to art, language arts, social studies, science and health. Everything but the kitchen sink, you might say.

For art, the whole book itself can be used to look at the process of hand making a book. Looking at this traditional form of storytelling could also tie into the arts.

For social studies, there is the grade 3 social studies curriculum in Alberta that looks at India.  At higher grades, looking at global issues such as how the international community responds to crisis is possible.  Tied to current events, like the recent earthquake in Haiti, it provides a venue for comparing situations.

Language arts can connect into narrative styles as well as how the story was physically told (accordion scroll) and what this contributed to the telling.  Students could potentially use this as a basis to model some of their own work.

For science, extreme natural events often hold a fascination for kids.  Adding this to a unit on earthquakes, volcanoes and drought would be a natural fit and provides a way to engage and introduce cross-curricular connections, too.

Whew!  I wonder what else?  I know this is one that I’ll keep in mind and find opportunities to promote – whatever the subject.