Reading: Ages 7-14

'Mirror' Stories: Reflecting Real Life

 

            Today's Snack: You can make something that comes pretty close to a mirror! Boil some water, and dissolve a 3-ounce box of berry blue Jell-O in ¾ cup of boiling water. Now combine ½ cup of cold water with enough ice cubes to make 1¼ C. all together. If you use a glass, 2-cup measuring pitcher, it'll be easy to see. Now add that ice water mix to the Jell-O mix, stirring until it's slightly thickened. Pour it into a 9" x 13" pan. Refrigerate for one hour. It'll look a little bit like a mirror, but it'll taste GREAT when you cut yourself a few squares to eat along with some green seedless grapes.

 

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Supplies:

Library books that "mirror" real life for kids today

 

 

Kids in the early primary years love make-believe stories. But they also love seeing how the stories in books are similar to what's going on in their everyday lives.

 

Take a look through the library books, read the book jackets to see what they're about, and see ways that they "mirror" what is going on in YOUR life right now.

 

            When you go to the library, or suggest books as gifts from Grandma or for birthdays, be thinking of what's going on with you. There's a book written for every conceivable topic, just waiting to come into your arms at just the right time.

 

A good children's librarian or bookstore employee will know just the right book to connect the dots in an enjoyable way for you.

 

            Let's say your family just got a white dog with black spots. You might roar at the antics of Harry, the Dirty Dog, a dog just like that, who got so dirty his family didn't recognize him and thought he was a black dog with white spots!

 

 

            Maybe there's a big road construction project going on near your house. You might like Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel, the beloved tale of a bulldozer who could do a tremendous amount of work in just one day.

 

 

            If your family just returned from a vacation elsewhere in the United States, you could expand your understanding of that region or its history with a book that you could read aloud when you return home. Try Little House on the Prairie if you have just seen farmland for the first time, for example.

 

 

           

 

Another important "mirror" is your interests. A book that matches something that you're excited about learning more about can be just the right avenue for exploration and imagination. Let's say you've just discovered the excitement of horses. Now's the time to check out from the library a book from the Misty of Chincoteague series:

 

 

 

Cultivate friendships with teachers, librarians and bookstore personnel so that when something important happens in your life - a new sibling, a big trip, a move to a different house, the remarriage of a parent, a problem at school - you can get a referral to a book that can really make a difference for you.

 

            Make a difference! Because isn't that what reading is supposed to be all about?