Many of you know, I have an intense relationship with books. They are a passion. They are a hobby – I collect them, and I’m unable to let them go. I sometimes joke that I even own many books in languages I will never learn, including – as collector’s items – my 1920’s Lithuanian Dictionary and my 1880’s Welsh Bible. My proudest is perhaps a first edition Spanish translation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Dioses de marte [Gods of Mars]” – printed during WWII in Franco-era Spain, and made to look like a prayer book, to get past the censors.
Books have been a vocation, too: I worked several years in a book bindery (a book manufacturing facility), where I also learned “book arts” (the artisanal hand-manufacture of books); and then later, I worked several years at a bookstore, where I developed some degree of expertise in the wholesale used-book market.
Twice now, at Hongnong Elementary, I have turned this passion/avocation/vocation of mine into an extended lesson plan. The first time was during last Fall’s afterschool class for my fifth/sixth graders, and the second time was last month’s afterschool class for my fourth graders. The kids (not all, but many) really run with it.
Last Fall, I gave the kids, as an example, a copy of Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School. This is a great kid’s book, anyway, and the fifth and sixth graders ran with it, making humorous “school diaries” with lots of humorous creative illustrations.
Last month, and ending a week ago, I gave the kids some of the previous works as examples, but they took the task more literally (as 4th graders might) and so provided fairly accurate accounts (with less humor) of life at Hongnong Elementary.
Here are some pictures of the books they made. The did all the writing and illustration, and used tape, glue and thread to help hold the books together. I used my bindery book-making skills to make nice paper-covered covers for the books, giving them a “real book” feel, which the kids then drew on some more.
Da-yeon (a now-departed fifth-grader), who insisted her English name was “Messy,” was by far the most talented artist. Here are some images from her book.
Ha-jin, a fourth grader, created a simple record of life in school here. Note that it’s “Ethics” she hates, not “Ethies” as she wrote it. Somehow this seemed appropriate – I like Ha-jin a lot, but she’s definitely one of the more Machiavellian 8 year olds that I’ve met in my life.
Chally (I can’t recall his Korean name off the top of my head) made a great book with some flights of imagination – including this great page where he commutes to school by airplane or by pole-vault (“long stick”).
Da-eun (Da-yeon’s sixth grade sister, also departed) meditated on what it would be like for her in middle school, where she now is.
