Wilfrid Gordon Partridge MacDonald

Sorry to miss you all last week – but stomach viruses and computer time don’t come together well! That said, let’s get to the important stuff: books! This week, I’m taking us all back to some older favorites. We’ll explore new books, too, as the weeks pass, but like the cold weather brings cravings for comfort food, it also makes me want the old, comfortable books!

Today, I’d like to share a wonderful, warm book for younger readers – one that tells the story of one boy’s compassion and concern for his neighbors. Wilfrid Gordon Partridge MacDonald, by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas, tells how Wilfrid helped his friend and neighbor, Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper when she lost her memory. Before he can help, though, he asks his other friends in the nursing home next door to help him understand what “memory” means.

                 Get your copy of this wonderful book at Usborne Books & More!

Helping Children Understand the Book

There's absolutely nothing wrong with reading a book just to enjoy it, and this book is a great one for that. However, if you want to help your child read and comprehend the story a bit better, these ideas may help.

Pre-reading 

• Ask your reader what he thinks “memory” means. Discuss the idea that a memory is about remembering things that have happened. Talk about some memories you share and about what makes those memories special. Ask what kinds of things remind your reader of those memories: Does a certain toy help him remember a special family vacation, or does a certain smell remind him of Grandma?

• Talk about some words in the story that might be unfamiliar: organ, speckled, lad, errand, tram, admire, porridge. For classroom or homeschool lessons, have your child fold a piece of paper in half "hot dog" style (lengthwise). Then she should fold it in half "hamburger style" twice. When she unfolds her new vocabulary sheet, she should have eight boxes. In the first box, let her print the book title and author; she could draw a picture then of what she predicts will happen in the story. In each of the remaining blocks, have her print one of the new words and draw a picture or symbol that will help her remember what the word means. Do not over-direct her symbol selection; as long as she can explain to you (1) what the word means, and (2) why/how the symbol cues her in to the meaning, it's a good choice. Remember -- this is about what helps the reader remember, not what helps Mom or the teacher!

Post-reading

•  To check whether your reader understood the plot and timeline of the story, let him create a "graphic novel" or comic strip version of the story. For those who are less artistically gifted -- like me! -- thumbprints make fun characters when you add facial features and limbs with markers, colored pencils or pens! 

• Bring the story into your child's world by helping him use a Venn diagram to compare Wilfrid to himself or to compare the memories in the book to his own cherished recollections.

 Writing It Down to Understand More

This book lends itself to so many writing possibilities that it's hard to know which to include here! Use these suggestions as a starting point for generating your own ideas!

•   Encourage your reader to write acrostic poems for MEMORY, FRIEND or SHARE. An acrostic is a poem in which the first word of each line begins with the next letter of the topic word. For example:

Really wet outside today --

Almost like a river in the streets.

I know Mom thinks it's a mess --

Not me, though -- I think it's fun! 

• Help your child start her own journal for capturing memories. For even more fun, use the instructions below for making a book to create the journal. 

•   Story or journal entry prompts:

§  My Favorite Memory

§  What would you give (family member or close friend) if s/he lost his/her memory? How do you think it would help?

§  What is (abstract noun: love, friendship, etc.)?

Crafting Your Way to Book Fun

Okay, now comes the best part: making stuff! Join your kids in the maybe-messy creative process!

• Who doesn't love playing with puppets? Let the kids make some puppets to use in retelling the story.

*    Stick puppets: Glue your child's cutout drawings of Wilfrid and his friends to craft sticks. He can embellish them with yarn hair and scrap fabric clothes, or he can stick to his unadorned drawings. An old file folder with a slit cut into one side makes a quick and easy backdrop with a little crayon action.

*    Sock puppets: Now's your chance to give lonely, mate-less socks a new purpose in life! Add yarn or paper hair to your puppet, then use buttons, felt or just markers to add eyes and a nose. Slide the puppet over your hand, tuck it in between your thumb and your palm, and you're set!

• ·  "Something warm" is the way one of Wilfrid's friends describes a memory. Use extra-fuzzy yarn to braid or finger-crochet bracelets to remind each other of this heartwarming book. Learn to finger-crochet at Sahrit's Eye for Cuteness blog at http://www.sahrit.com/crochet-with-your-fingers/ .

•  Use air-drying clay to make "medals" for the neighborhood heroes your child knows -- including law enforcement officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, the mail delivery person, maybe the grocer or babysitter. Little hands can use dull pencils or toothpicks to "etch" the design into the clay. Poke a hole in the top, and then run a ribbon through the hole before making the presentations.

• Go green with memory making by using old potato chip cans to create memory boxes. Paint the outside or cover it with scrapbooking paper. Then your child can decoupage photos and other images from a favorite vacation or event to the outside. (Mix 1 part plain white glue to 1 part water -- there's no need to buy expensive products!). Inside, she can place small souvenirs, more pictures and journaling cards to recreate those memories many years later. Make the cards by cutting 3" x 5" cards in half "hamburger style" or cut small rectangles from scrapbooking or any other kind of paper.

• Make a book for your child to use as a journal. While there are many ways to do this, make it special by starting with an old damaged hardcover book. Cut the front and back covers away from the pages before your child decorates the outsides with photos, drawings, beads, stickers, or anything else she can find. Drill/punch a hole about 1" from the top and another about 1" from the bottom of the covers and in paper that you've cut to fit inside the covers. Tie the whole thing together with yarn, ribbon, leather thongs or other cording.

Oh, and don't throw the book cover's spine away! Cover it to match the journal, and it makes a great bookmark to save your child's place in her journal.

Getting Involved to Make the Story Real

I think that encouraging children to volunteer to give back to their community is a gift second only to teaching them to read. Wilfrid Gordon Partridge MacDonald's unselfishness can inspire any number of ways to help others.

• The most obvious community action related to this book is making visits to retirement centers and nursing homes. If your child has enough experience being around older people, especially those who may not be in good health, this is a great opportunity. However, you know your child best; if he (or you) is going to be markedly uncomfortable, don't push the idea; there are many other ways to get involved! Keep it from being overwhelming by contacting staff ahead of time to set up a visit with just one resident, rather than wandering the halls and gathering rooms!

• Add an extra layer of caring to your nursing home visits by making lap robes for the resident(s) you'll be visiting. Your child can make an easy mini blanket by cutting 1" strips, about 6" long, around the edges of a yard of fleece fabric. After the strips are cut -- and you may want to help with that part -- a quick knot tied close to the uncut part of the fabric turns it into a toasty cover for lap and legs.

• Wilfrid wanted to help Miss Nancy because they were friends. Help you child make "Caught You Being a Good Friend" cards to share whenever she sees someone showing friendship to someone else. The cards can be as simple or as elaborate as she chooses, ranging from crayon or colored pencils drawings up to embellished pieces adorned with fabric, yarn, beads, stickers or any other "treasures." Again, index cards or cardstock work well for this project. You can also take a shortcut by buying blank artist trading cards.

• Finally, for those kids who want to do something for nursing home residents but don't feel comfortable in visiting physically, contact the staff for a name or two, and let your child write letters and make cards to mail to a resident. It's amazing what a simple letter or card from a child can do to alleviate the loneliness someone might be feeling!

Louis L'Amour, author of historical novels set in the Old West, once said, "For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time." Tomie daPaola, children's book author and illustrator, said it well, when he commented, "Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything."

Books open doors, introducing new places and new friends, while stretching a reader's imagination beyond his or her own small world, adding color and excitement to what could otherwise be a bland, boring existence.

Sadly, those new worlds and adventures remain unexplored by the 24% of American adults who did not read a single book in 2013 -- not in traditional format, not on an e-reader, not even by listening to an audio book, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. Based on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, that means that more than 60 million adults read no books, of any kind, in twelve months.

So, as parents, teachers, and other concerned adults, how can we make sure that children develop a love for reading that will follow them throughout their lifetimes? There are dozens -- maybe even hundreds -- of possible answers, but I think it comes down to one simple concept: Make reading fun.

Over the next weeks, I want to share with you ways to do exactly that. The site will include a weekly spotlighted book for younger and for older readers, along with activities you can share that relate to that book, including learning activities, crafts, writing prompts -- whatever I can offer to give your child a reason to love that book and to transfer that love to books in general. While the activities will have a specific book in mind, you'll be able to use most of them with any other books you choose.

To start us off, how about setting up a special hideaway just for your young reader? How much more fun is hiding in your own private reading nook than just sitting in a chair or the floor like everyone else? Before you panic and scream, "But I'm not crafty; I'm not a DIY-er," let me assure you -- this one is soooooo simple, you can handle it. I promise; you can. Really, trust me!

All you need is a Hula Hoopä, a shower curtain, something to use for hanging it -- ribbon, chain, rope, whatever -- and a large hook. Cut an opening in the hoop, slide the curtain on, and then tie (or glue) your hangers onto the hoop. Attach the hangers to the hook, and you have a portable reading cave, ready for use just about anywhere. (Just remind your reader not to tug on it!)