HIT: books with a village theme

[Maureen Pelensky <pelensky@TELUSPLANET.NET>]

Thank you so much to all the people who resonded to my plea (below).  Here
is a cut and paste of the responses:  If this list triggers any more ideas,
I would happily accept them!

Help!  We would like to start our school year with the theme, "It takes a
village to raise a child."  My principal would like me to find some picture
books that show everyone taking a hand in caring for children.  I am
thinking that there might be folktales, particularly African, that have this
theme.  I will happily publish any ideas back to this list.  Thanks.

Get on the internet and surf for Comer Schools and usually their theme is
caring and helping children.

Grifalconi's The Village of Round and Square Houses is a good one.

The Village of Round and Square Houses popped into mind. Also Katy
No-Pocket, about a kangaroo mother with no pocket who, when she finally is
given a wonderful apron with lots of pockets, takes care of all of the baby
animals.  Also there's a beautiful book called Homeplace by Anne Shelby
about a grandmother telling a child about her roots in the family homestead.
Not African, but lovely.

I believe there is a book called It Takes a Village by Jane Cowan-Fletcher
with an African setting.If I remember correctly, a little boy is lost from
his sister and everyone in the village watches over him in some way until he
is found.

The perfect new title for your theme is Muskogee-Creek children's author
Cynthia Leitich Smith's JINGLE DANCER (Harper 2000).  In this
contemporary Indian story, young Jenna wants to jingle dance at the powwow
but she does not have the necessary regalia.  She visits one
after another woman in her community to borrow a row of jingles for her
dress.  The comfortable, contemporary setting and characterization, and the
beautiful watercolors by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu bring this
community story to life.

Try: Anansi the Spider: Tales from an Ashanti Village by Peggy Appiah. Some
of the stories are creation stories and trickster stories. It is a
little old though--1966--but was an award winner at the time. Good Luck!

Nicholi / by Cooper Edens ; illustrated by Banfill.
Abstract: One Christmas Day in a mountain village, a mysterious  man named
Nicholi carves a magnificent sleigh and  reindeer out of snow and takes the
villagers on a  magical flight.

One gaping wide-mouthed hopping frog / Leslie Tryon.
 Publication info: New York : Atheneum ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada
; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, c1993.
Abstract: Hopping Frog, the mail carrier, takes the reader along  his route
through a village bustling with activity in this counting rhyme.

Tomcat takes a walk / story and pictures by Pippa Unwin.
      Publication info: London : Andersen Press, c1997.
Abstract: A tomcat takes a walk around the village and discovers lots of
adventures.

Won't you come and play with me? / adapted by Mary Lee Donovan ; illustrated
by Cynthia Jabar.
 Publication info: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Abstract: A song that takes the speaker up to the barber shop, down through
the village green, into the baker's shop,and eventually into Mother's arms.



I stumbled upon a website that had community as a theme...here is the URL:
http://rms.concord.k12.nh.us/88.htm#Top
PS. It's a helpful web site to keep bookmarked!

Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

Once again, many thanks to everyone.

Maureen Pelensky
Teacher-librarian
Minchau School
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pelensky@telusplanet.net

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