i'm at the miracle library. sitting at a desk just like i have for the past 9 months. typing a blog like i have for the past 9 months. and in a few hours, i'll leave this library, and probably never come back to it for the rest of my life (except in some really hotttt dreams).
leave tomorrow morning for ilsan. not suwon. i don't know anything about ilsan. i know it has a subway line.
since i am at the library, and english storytelling to complacent munchkins was part of the job requirement, i think now seems as good a time as any to reflect on some of my favorite children's books.
there were two authors that the kids went apeshit for, making my life much easier: eric carle and anthony browne. my connection to eric carle was pretty immediate, but anthony browne had to prove himself to me over the duration of 9 months.
the very hungry caterpillar by eric carle. it's the tale of a caterpillar who, as the title would suggest, is very hungry. charts his life from birth until butterfly-dom. many hyjinks ensue along the way, including a run-in with too many sweets and the resultant tummy ache. the library has a huge cardboard version of this book, with holes cut out in each of the foods that a little plush caterpillar can squeeze his way through. it's the favorite, hands down.
from head to toe by eric carle. teaches body parts and animals pretty well. plus, it's really fucking cute to have an entire classroom of little people screaming and pantomiming "i am a penguin and i turn my head. i can do it! i am a buffalo and i raise my shoulders. i can do it!" downside: if your students are mute, sleeping, or in the middle of being breast fed (seriously, last week it was dueling breast feeders. 2 at once. mildly distracting), it's hard to elicit any sort of reaction from them.
other notable eric carle books: the very quiet cricket, papa please get the moon for me, a house for hermit crab. the pictures are always cool, and lots of time they're very hands on, multiple sensory experience books.
moving on to anthony browne. the best parts of his books are the illustrations. i'm thinking of the book changes in particular. lots of weird hidden stuff that you have to look for. plus he's always got gorillas in his book (gorilla, willy the wizard, willy the wimp, willy the champ) and hides bananas everywhere. i'm sure that if any of his books were in large, heavy duty cardboard format with a miniature plush gorilla, i would like them as much as the caterpillar one. but there aren't, so i don't.
farmer duck. poor duck has to do all the work for the fat, lazy farmer. the other animals mutiny, kick the farmer out of his house and share the workload together. "how goes the work?" "quack." my sentiments exactly. fight the power!
happy birthday moon. bear wants to talk to the moon, but it's too far away. so he climbs up into the mountains to be closer to him. has an enlightening conversation with his own echo and thinks he and the moon have the same birthday. so he buys the moon a hat as a gift.
where's my teddy? there's a little dude named eddy. eddy's teddy's name is freddy. freddy's also little, as he is eddy-sized. eddy loses freddy so he goes to search for him in the woods. he stumbles upon a gigantic teddy bear, obviously not freddy, but whose is it? then a giant bear appears holding a tiny teddy bear. clearly there was some sort of mix up--eddy got the bear's gigantic teddy; the bear got the tiny freddy. bear freaks out at kid, kid freaks out at bear. they run away. all is right with the world.
bear hunt. shit, i forgot this one was anthony browne too. anyhoo, there's a bear out walking in the woods. there also happen to be two hunters following him. bear gets himself into several sticky situations, but with the aid of the pencil he happened to be carrying with him he makes it out alive. it's like macgyver, but with a bear.
mouse count. 1 hungry snake on the prowl (with a jar in which to place his dinner) + 10 napping mice = 1 action-packed children's book. okay, not really. but it's pretty damn cute. you get the kids to count and they're really concerned about the welfare of these poor (albeit stupid) mice. the snake gets all the mice into his jar, but ultimately his greed gets the better of him and the mice are able to escape. whew!
pete's a pizza. i do remember that this one is by william stieg--same dude associated with shrek. pete's bummed out because it's raining and he was sposed to play baseball with his chingus. his dad thinks it will make him feel better if he is made into a pizza. always worked for me. (a pretend pizza. i generally try to avoid jesus and cannibalism during storytelling hours).
don't do that. story about a little girl with a beautiful nose who gets her finger stuck in it. my favorite book to read, because there were always about 5 kids with fingers stuck up their noses, watching me read.
other notables: the bear's lunch, the pear in the pear tree, room on the broom, dr. dog.
i drank way too much last night. it just seems worth mentioning. tonight will probably be same same.
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