On February 11th, I helped a waitress pick up some pencils she knocked over. I chose to do that because it looked like she was having a pretty rough day. It made me feel nice because it might’ve made her day better, and that was my goal.
On Monday, February 18th, while I was at the movie theater I gave someone a pair of 3D glasses. I chose do to that because the movie was in 3D and he seemed to have forgot to take a pair from outside and I figured I might as well get him a pair since I was going out to get myself a pair as well. It made me feel helpful because the man seemed to be thankful.
“Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress”
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress written by Christine Baldacchino and illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant is a story about a little boy breaking gender stereotypes. Morris loves to go on adventures, paint and wear a tangerine dress. At school, the other kids would make fun of him because “boys can’t wear dresses”. Every day the kids would bully him until finally he pretended to be sick so he could go home to get away from them. While he’s away from the negativity, he spends time with his mother. Eventually when he goes back to school, he found the courage to stand up for himself. The message of the story is to be yourself, no matter what society tells you. Nowadays people are so much more accepting and open minded, but there are still the select few that just can’t understand why others are different. Society stereotypes people into thinking that girls MUST like pink and wearing dresses and boys MUST like blue and playing sports, so if you don’t, there’s something wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with how you dress or who you like, because that’s what makes you, you. It’s really nice to see a children’s book address that issue and bring it to light because kids can be sensitive to being different, and discriminating to those that are different. I love how the story tells you how it’s okay to not be the epitome of what your gender “should” be, and I think it could be really helpful to kids who are experiencing this and on the journey to finding themselves.
“Two”
“Two” by Katherine Otoshi is a book about friendship. One and Two are best friends until Three comes along. One starts playing with Three and leaving out Two, making her feel jealous. Eventually the odd and even numbers get into a conflict, but Two speaks up about how their differences shouldn’t be a reason to dislike one another. In the end, Three apologizes for excluding Two, and One starts hanging out with Two again. I think that the message of the story is to not cling onto people and to be independent. In the story, Two clings onto One instead of letting One make new friends, or making new friends herself. I’ve been clingy with friends in the past, and usually it doesn’t end well if you rely on one person to rant to, make you laugh, and keep you company. People come and people go, so the best option would be to put yourself out there and make a couple friends that you can trust instead of just one person. The message could also be to not exclude people. Three won’t let Two join their games, which makes Two upset and lonely. Unless you have to, you shouldn’t exclude people for petty reasons for example, not being an even number. This story hit quite close to home since I’ve been though similar scenarios and have felt the way Two did in the story.
“One”
“One” is a story about standing up to bullying written and illustrated by Katherine Otoshi. The story is about Red, who bullies the other colours Blue, Purple, Orange, Green, and Yellow. At first, Red only picked on Blue, and when the nobody stood up for Blue, Red got bigger and ended up picking on them all. Until one day, One came and stood up for them. The colours turned into numbers and started standing up for each other and themselves. I think that the theme of the story is standing up for yourself and not letting people walk over you. The message to be gained would be that when someone tries to pick on you or someone else, be the bigger person and tell the bully that what they’re doing is wrong. Personally, I think that this is a really good story for younger kids because they tend to not understand that saying certain things can hurt someone’s feelings. I really liked this story because it had a very good message and I also liked how simple the art was.
“Ivan: The Remarkable True Tale of the Shopping Mall Gorilla”
Ivan: The Remarkable True Tale of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian is about a gorilla named Ivan who had been in captive for over 20 years. Ivan was stolen from his home at 6 months old and shipped to a pet shop owner in Washington. Eventually he grew too big to be left in a house and was moved to a cement room in a shopping mall, where he stayed for over 20 years. Over some time, people started becoming aware of how he was being mistreated and started protesting. Luckily, Ivan was then moved to a zoo where he could be social with other gorillas. I think the message was to bring awareness to the animals that aren’t being treated as they should. Personally, I found this story to be really sad. I really didn’t like how people left him in solitude, because most animals need to be able to socialize with others, as well as being in a habitat that suits them. Although this issue is still happening around the world, I truly hope that those animals will eventually be free.
“What Do You Do With An Idea?”
“What Do You Do With An Idea?” by Kobi Yamada, and illustrated by Mae Besom, is a story about a boy who thought of an idea. At first, the boy was uncomfortable with it, trying to hide it from other people. But then, as the story progresses, he becomes more confident with sharing it. Eventually the idea changes and becomes a reality. I think that the message is to not hide your ideas and if you’re passionate enough, your idea can be a reality. Personally, I could really relate to this story since there’s been countless times where I’ve given up on an idea because someone said something negative about it. I really liked how metaphorical the entire story was and I think it added a poetic vibe, I also liked how detailed the art was, it made the pictures really interesting to look at. Overall, for me, this was a really good book that I, and probably hundreds of other people could relate to.
“Chopsticks” is a book about an inseparable pair of chopsticks, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Scott Magoon. The story is about a pair of chopsticks who do everything together, until one day, they’re forced to be separated. Hesitant at first, Chopstick ventured out into the world and had its own adventures. When Chopstick was finally reunited with its best friend, it told them all about the adventures it had. I think that the message of this story is to try new things, because you might like them. I’m the type of person to stay in my comfort zone and I don’t tend to try new things, which could be an issue at times. In the book, Chopstick leaves it’s comfort zone by leaving its best friend for the first time. I personally liked this book, but I think that “Spoon” was better. Compared to “Spoon” the message was unclear at times, and I often found myself thinking about what it was. However, I did enjoy the little jokes in the story. The story showed the readers that sometimes you have to try new things, even if they’re not something you’re used to.
“Spoon”
“Spoon” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and illustrated by Scott Magoon is a story about a spoon wishing he lived the life of his friends, Chopsticks, Knife, and Fork. The spoon starts out feeling unhappy with his life and starts envying his friends, but then the readers find out that his friends were also jealous of how Spoon lived. The story ended with Spoon’s mother telling Spoon how lucky he was. I say this for almost every story, but I liked it. I really liked the little jokes in story, and I generally like it when books incorporate puns. I think that the moral of this story is to be grateful for what you have, and not waste so much time on wishing you had a life you didn’t. Personally, I can relate to this a bit because whenever I see somebody on vacation, or maybe with something I really like whether its on Instagram, or even YouTube, I’d start thinking “wow they’re so lucky.” Envying people probably isn’t a great habit to have since you’d start forgetting or looking past some of the things you have going good in your own life. People should be thankful for the opportunities or things that they have, because there are probably people out there who won’t get a chance to experience them.
“Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind The Peace Prize”
“Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind The Peace Prize” is a book about the creation of dynamite and the Nobel Prizes, written by Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrated by Zachery Pullen. The story told us about the origins of the Nobel Prizes, which came to be after Alfred created dynamite, leading to an accident that killed his brother, along with 4 other people. Two years after the accident, a newspaper was published with the headlines being about Alfred’s death, which was mistaken with his brother. The paper said that Alfred had created a weapon, something that he had not intended the dynamite to be. On Alfred’s will, he wrote a statement saying that his house will be used for what is now known as the Nobel Prizes. I think that this story was informative, and the pictures were interesting to look at because of the crazy amount of detail. Before reading this book, I had no idea who made the Nobel Prizes, nor the story behind it. For all my life, I believed that it was the “Noble” Prizes, and not “Nobel” so this story cleared some things up. Personally, I enjoyed the story because of the information, the art, and probably because I also like history.