Focus on Education
Be good for goodness sake
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• • • • • • • • December 2024 • • • • • • • •
Iusually give books to my grandchildren to celebrate the holidays. In anticipation of 2025, I am making some strategic choices.
This year, I am considering books about values: truth, kindness, empathy, good choices, equality, and patriotism. Based on the news in the last couple of months, there seems to be some confusion over what these words mean.
The book list contains lessons we all need to learn. Remember, pictures—especially in children’s books— are worth a thousand words.
Tell the Truth
Yes, George, we know. Future presidents cannot tell a lie.
- The Lying King. “When other animals fail to take a stand, a lying warthog becomes their king with devastating results”.The Lying King by Alex Beard
Make Smart Choices
If our media is full of examples of bad choices, how do we teach our children to make the right ones?
- What were you thinking? A third grader struggles with impulse "What Were You Thinking?" Book Trailer
Kindness
Not everyone lives like the top one percent.
- The Note Keeper: A mother and daughter flee from danger but are denied entry at the U.S. border, and must find the refugee in charge of “the notebook,” an unofficial ledger of those waiting to cross into the U.S.
Cooperation
What is better? “Us vs Them” or “We” working together?
- Stone Soup A tale about a selfish community that is tricked into creating a delicious soup from stones. The moral of the story is that people have strength when they work together. This tale has a long history and shows up in the literature of many countries.Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth: Children's Books Read Aloud on Once Upon A Story
Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”
Bullying
Is it really OK to bully someone with a disability?
- Out of My Mind: A brilliant student with cerebral palsy faces bullying. Out of My Mind | Official Trailer | Disney+
Books for Teens: morality and governance
What rights should people have? What happens when freedom of speech is banned? How much power should political leaders have? These books explore challenges we face in creating a good society. All three have been on banned book lists.
- Animal Farm: “One of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale …that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.”Animal Farm Summary (Full Book in JUST 3 Minutes)
- Lord of the Flies: “ Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.” Lord of the Flies (1990) ORIGINAL TRAILER
- 1984: “doublethink, memory hole, unperson, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Thought Police, Room 101, Big Brother—they’ve all entered the English language as instantly recognizable signs of a nightmare future. It’s almost impossible to talk about propaganda, surveillance, authoritarian politics, or perversions of truth without dropping a reference to 1984.”1884 trailer
Patriotism
Yes, indeed. These are the times that try men’s souls.
- The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation “Using Lincoln’s words as a keystone, and drawing from first-person accounts, The Gettysburg Address shows us the events through the eyes of those who lived through the events of the War, from soldiers to slaves.”Trailer | The Gettysburg Address — A Graphic Adaptation
- They Called Us Enemy “A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself — in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.” Note: On a banned book list.George Takei “They Called Us Enemy” - One morning in Los Angeles
Equality
Are all men created equal? Let’s try that again. Are all men and women created equal? One more time. Are people of every race created equal?
- The Story of Ruby Bridges The true story of six-year-old Ruby Bridges, a young African-American girl, who entered a whites-only school in New Orleans in 1960.The Story of Ruby Bridges read-aloud
- How Women Won the Vote “stunningly illustrated, and tirelessly researched story of the little-known DC Women’s March of 1913 — a pivotal event in the history of women's suffrage in America!”What You Need to Know About Women’s Suffrage | NowThis
What could happen if our children do not learn these important lessons? These books have been on banned book lists.
- The Diary of Ann Frank The diary of a 13 year-old Jewish girl who was killed by the Nazis during WWII. The Ann Frank Museum explains how this diary became one of the most read books in the world. Anne Frank: Her World and Her Diary
- To Kill a Mockingbird A Pulitzer prize winning novel about race in America and a hero who confronts it.To Kill a Mockingbird Official Trailer #1 - Gregory Peck Movie (1962) HD
Are your children learning these lessons in school?
All of these values should be taught in school. Lest we forget, one of the most important roles of education is to teach our children to be responsible citizens in a democracy. Grandparents are the back-up team to help pass values from one generation to the next.
Happy reading.
Carol Kocivar is a children’s advocate and lives in the Westside. Feedback: kocivarATwestsideobserver.com
December 2024
