{"id":181,"date":"2008-08-18T13:34:06","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T18:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/181"},"modified":"2008-08-18T13:34:06","modified_gmt":"2008-08-18T18:34:06","slug":"nonfiction-monday-its-back-to-school-we-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2008\/08\/18\/nonfiction-monday-its-back-to-school-we-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Nonfiction Monday &#8211; It&#8217;s Back to School We Go!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/files\/2008\/08\/school.jpg\" title=\"school.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/files\/2008\/08\/school.jpg\" alt=\"school.jpg\" height=\"167\" width=\"126\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Back to school is right around the corner for many kids. As summer&#8217;s end approaches, minds are on new teachers (who will it be?), new clothes (what will I wear?), school supplies and much more. First day jitters may already be appearing. In my house we have long been anticipating the start of school. Don&#8217;t get me wrong&#8211;summer has been fun, but my boy is ready to go back. To get ready for school we&#8217;ve been reading a bit about what school is like for kids in other countries. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/ItS-Back-School-We-Go\/dp\/0761319484\/\">It&#8217;s Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories From Around the World<\/a>, written by Ellen Jackson and illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis, provides a wonderful introduction to schooling around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The book opens with a world map that highlights the  countries that are featured. On each double-page spread that follows, a child is introduced through a first-person narrative of their school day on the left page, while interesting facts about children in that country are presented. Readers meet:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Achieng &#8211; An 8-year old girl from Kenya<\/li>\n<li>Anton &#8211; A 7-year old boy from Kazakhstan<\/li>\n<li>Kendi &#8211; A 6-year old Inuit boy from Nunavut, Canada<\/li>\n<li>Jessica &#8211; A 9-year old girl from Australia<\/li>\n<li>Misaki &#8211; A 6-year old girl from Japan<\/li>\n<li>Jinsong &#8211; An 8-year old boy from China<\/li>\n<li>Thomas &#8211; A 7-year old boy from Peru<\/li>\n<li>Gunther &#8211; A 6-year old boy from Germany<\/li>\n<li>Rajani &#8211; An 8-year old girl from India<\/li>\n<li>Nadia &#8211; A 7-year old girl from Russia<\/li>\n<li>Casey &#8211; A 9-year old boy from California (<em>Why CA and not United States?<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The author&#8217;s note at the beginning of the book provides some information about the children highlighted. It begins:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Each of the eleven children portrayed in this book is a composite of several real individuals. Obviously, every country provides a variety of educational opportunities and no one child can represent them all. Some children live in villages; others in cities. Some schools have computers and science labs; others don&#8217;t even have desks or books.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here are just a few of the interesting facts readers will learn from this book:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In Kenya, children go to school six days a week, from January to November.<\/li>\n<li>In China, students who exhibit good behavior earn red neckerchiefs.<\/li>\n<li>The first day of school is a time of celebration in Kazakhstan. Students there bring flowers for their teachers. (Much better than apples, I think!)<\/li>\n<li>In the United States, 9 out of 10 children go to public school.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is an extensive bibliography at the end of the book, as well as a list of web resources. I particularly liked the link to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.topics-mag.com\/edition11\/games-section.htm\">Children&#8217;s Games from Around the World<\/a>. The author has also provided some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ellenjackson.net\/work6.htm\">ideas for teachers<\/a> at her web site.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, this is a terrific book for thinking about back-to-school and for studying different cultures through a common, shared experience. I recommend pairing it with Edith Baer&#8217;s book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/This-School-Blue-Ribbon-Book\/dp\/0590431625\">This is the Way We Go to School<\/a>, which looks at how children in different countries make their way to school. For even more ideas, check out the thematic book list on <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/30\">school around the globe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/ItS-Back-School-We-Go\/dp\/0761319484\/\">It&#8217;s Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories From Around the World<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ellenjackson.net\/\">Ellen Jackson<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Illustrator: <\/strong>Jan Davey Ellis<br \/>\n<strong>Publisher: <\/strong>Millbrook Press<strong><br \/>\nPublication Date: <\/strong>2003<br \/>\n<strong>Pages: <\/strong>32 pages<br \/>\n<strong>Grades:<\/strong> K-5<strong><br \/>\nISBN-13:<\/strong> 978-0761319481<br \/>\n<strong>Source of Book:<\/strong> Personal copy purchased online.<\/p>\n<p>This post was written for <a href=\"http:\/\/6traits.wordpress.com\/nonfiction-monday\/\">Nonfiction Monday<\/a>. Head on over to <a href=\"http:\/\/6traits.wordpress.com\/\">Anastasia Suen&#039;s blog<\/a> and check out all the great posts highlighting <a href=\"http:\/\/6traits.wordpress.com\/2008\/08\/18\/nonfiction-monday-round-up-29\/\">nonfiction this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to school is right around the corner for many kids. As summer&#8217;s end approaches, minds are on new teachers (who will it be?), new clothes (what will I wear?), school supplies and much more. First day jitters may already &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2008\/08\/18\/nonfiction-monday-its-back-to-school-we-go\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,1142,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-nonfiction-monday","category-social-studies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}