| July
2005
Dear
Fellow Book Lovers:
SUMMER ACTIVITIES,
PART II
Last
month I suggested that libraries encourage parents to include
museums in their children’s summer activities. Another very
educational way for a family to spend the summer is to explore
various local, state and national monuments. The public library
can encourage this type of activity by sponsoring a library
night for families that focuses on books and web links to
specific monuments. Ask them to begin in their own backyard.
For example, my own town is the home of Shoeless Joe Jackson.
I might introduce patrons to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Virtual
Hall of Fame (www.blackbetsy.com)
and display books about baseball.
Many
cities and towns have war memorials, and monuments to founding
fathers, or first citizens. Send families out to discover
such monuments and invite them back to the library at a later
date to share their discoveries. They may even enjoy keeping
a photo journal that they are willing to share on the library’s
web site. Older readers may want to explore the concept of
a memorial, and the connection between art and monuments.
There
is no better way than by reading Whirligig
(ages 12-up) by Paul Fleischman. Readers may want to
discuss why a whirligig is an appropriate memorial to the
adolescent girl killed by a teenage drunk driver in Fleischman’s
novel. What does the driver of the car learn by constructing
the whirligigs himself? Small groups of parents and young
readers may want to research the debate about the memorial
to the victims of September 11 at Ground Zero. What does this
debate reveal about art, politics, and emotion behind the
construction of memorials and monuments?
If
travel isn’t in a family’s summer plans, there are many monuments
that can be visited virtually. Here are a few suggestions,
along with related books from Random House:
The
Lincoln Memorial (www.nps.gov/line/home.htm)
Abe
Lincoln’s Hat (ages 6-8) by Martha Brenner and illustrated
by Donald Cook; Abe
Lincoln by Sterling North (ages 10-up); and Meet
Abraham Lincoln (ages 7-10) by Barbara Cary
The
Washington Monument (www.nps.gov/wamo/home/htm)
Meet
George Washington (ages 7-10) by Joan Heilbroner
Iwo
Jima (www.nps.gov/gwmp/usmc.htm)
Flags
of Our Fathers (ages 12 up) by James Bradley and Ron Powers;
Adapted by Michael French
World
War II Memorial (www.wwiimemorial.com)
The
Last Mission (ages 12 up) by Harry Mazer; Heroes
(ages 12-up) by Robert Cormier
Pearl
Harbor (www.nps.gov/usar)
Under
the Blood-Red Sun (ages 9-12) by Graham Salisbury; Eyes
of the Emperor (ages 9-12) by Graham Salisbury
Statue
of Liberty (www.nps.gov/stli.htm)
Ashes
of Roses (ages 12 up) by Mary Jan Auch; A
House of Tailors (ages 9-12) by Patricia Reilly Giff;
Land
of Hope (ages 10 up) by Joan Lowery Nixon
The
Alamo (www.thealamo.org)
I
Remember the Alamo (ages 9-12) by D. Anne Love; Inside
the Alamo (ages 7-up) by Jim Murphy
Vietnam
Memorial (www.vvmf.org)
The
Monument (ages 10 up) by Gary Paulsen
Another
way to approach this activity is to display books about famous
events, or distinguished people. Then have young readers and
their families search for web links to monuments or memorials
commemorating these events or people. For example, young readers
may read Christopher
Columbus (ages 8-10) by Stephen Krensky and search for
sites about Plymouth Rock, or Columbus himself. Liberty
(ages 6 up) by Lucille Recht Penner and illustrated by David
Wenzel and Patriots
in Petticoats: Heroines of the American Revolution (ages
8 up) by Shirley Raye Redmond are a good introduction to the
American Revolution. How many American Revolution battle grounds
can be found on the internet?
Summer
travel may be impossible for some families, but these enriching
activities are possible for everyone.
You may email me
at pscales@scgsah.state.sc.us.
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