Hello Book Bums families!
We hope you are having some summer fun. We're having fun with emojis and pizza and books! Also this week in the newsletter Dr. Christy is getting philosophical. Follow her thought process from naptime reading with her grandson, to the nature of apples, to poetry. And don't miss the TEDx talk we share about the value of reading aloud. Enjoy!
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Word of the Week
philosophy (fill-ah-suh-fee) noun/person, place, or thing - the study of the basic ideas about knowledge, existence, and truth
In my philosophy class I read several ideas about the meaning of life.
Literary Calendar
• July 17 is World Emoji Day.
• Look closely at your calendar emoji, and you'll see it's showing July 17.
• Love them or hate them, these colorful icons are part of digital communication. Share your favorite emoji with us!
From our Bookshelves
Have you read The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown? She’s the author of the age-old classic Goodnight Moon. I bet you’ve read that one. I hadn’t read The Important Book for quite some time; but my grandson was over, and I pulled it off the shelf, along with a few others, to read just before naptime. Sure enough, Easton began to choose this book again and again. It wasn’t long before he was filling in the lines for me—which I always find magical.
Me: Easton:
But the important thing about a spoon is that . . . you eat with it.
Now, I have to say that I don’t always agree with what the author deems as the “most important thing” about the objects she names, but that simply makes the book more interesting.
Aristotle believed things had essential properties—things that, if they lost those properties, could no longer remain the same object. Is that what’s happening, here? Whew. Now we’re getting philosophical. Can young children distinguish between essential properties (what the thing is) and accidental properties (how the thing is)? I believe they can. Simply pose the question, “Do you agree with the author? Is that the important thing about that object?”
Is the important thing about an apple that it’s round?
I’d disagree with that one. I don’t believe the shape is an essential property. Do you?
I certainly understand why the back cover says, “. . . The Important Book continues to go on long after the book is closed.”
Tips for Readers and Writers
There are wonderful opportunities with this book for older kids, too. In fact, the book almost reads like kids have brainstormed descriptions of some everyday items. Enjoying this book with your early-elementary-aged student could be a great way to encourage them to expand their thinking, noticing details about items around them.
Here’s an example from The Important Book
The important thing about a daisy is that it is white.
It is yellow in the middle, it has long white petals, and bees sit on it
it has a ticklish smell, it grows in green fields, and there are always lots of daisies.
But the important thing about a daisy is that it is white.
Young kids could write beautiful, poetic observations about a variety of items to create a lovely book of their own. Poems don’t hold fast to conventions; they don’t need to follow grammatical rules. Writing poetry can be a bit freeing for novice writers. They can use five commas in a row and it’s just fine. Using the repeating line brings the ideas—even those of very young writers—full circle.
Tips for Families
I remember, after I’d had my first son, my husband and I were relaxing in our hospital room. I was holding our new baby, and I suppose we’d run out of things to say. We didn’t really want the TV on, so Mike asked, “May I read to you?” Mike began reading, and I remember thoroughly enjoying that time together. These days, while I’m cooking, he often poses the same question. He sits at the counter and shares whatever he's reading while I make our meals. It's a delight!
He likes to hear me read, too. Back in the original Book Bums in Olde West Chester, Mike often wandered out from the kitchen just to listen to me read favorite stories to the children who'd gathered around me. He'd pull up a chair and just listen.
Books can be magical that way! Do you remember the joy of someone reading aloud to you? I’m sharing, below, a TEDx video that I hope you will watch. I’m praying that it will inspire you to make space in your days for reading aloud to kids or anyone else you love.
Wordology Workshop
• The Latin root soph means wisdom.
• You can find it in our Word of the Week, philosophy, which literally means love of wisdom.
• Soph is also the root in names like Sophie and Sofia.
• In America we call the second year of high school or college sophomore year. Sophomores have learned enough to think they know a lot, so their name means wise fool.
Practical Grammar
I’m not sure these words are often misused, but I did hear someone say that the error irks them, so here we go.
idea – (noun/person, place, thing) a thought or suggestion as a course of action
What a great idea! (correct)
ideal – (adjective/describing word) existing only in the imagination, desirable or perfect, but unlikely to happen
It ended up being the ideal vacation. (correct)
Now, to keep it interesting, you should know that sometimes ideal can be used as a noun. It can be used to refer to a person who’s regarded as perfect.
My son married his ideal of a beauty. (correct)
So maybe that’s where the confusion began.
Just for Fun
Yes, I read books; but only because every time I finish one, I reward myself with a personal pan pizza.
It’s the way I was raised.
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