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[CCBC-Net] Traveling Man
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From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 10:16:29 -0600
After Ginny's post yesterday, I read Traveling Man to my second graders today. Not only was it the story of adventure--and what extraordinary travels Ibn Battuta took--but it was an ode to the life of a traveler. The children loved the details--an arrow piercing his side, the man?ting tigers, undoing his turban to tie his sick body to his camel. The details are beautifully illustrated in the small parts of the detailed drawings.
The extensive glossary in the back proved to be most interesting. Not only were their welcome pronunciation keys, every reference was explained. Though this book appealed to my listeners, I could really see older students loving all the details. Casual references to Mecca, Persia, the plague, Omar Khayyam and many other details of life during the fourteenth century would keep interested researchers busy for a very long time. The map at the end astounded my students, especially when we retraced the trip on the classroom globe. 75,000 miles is a very long trip! Everything about the book begs closer reading and inspection.
There are some repeated phrases throughout the book that we loved:
Traveling...it makes you lonely, then gives you a friend Traveling--it offers you a hundred roads to adventure, and gives your heart wings! Traveling--it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. Traveling--it offers you a hundred roads. How does a holy man know the one you'll take? Traveling--it had captured my heart, and now my heart was calling me home. Traveling--it gives you a home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land. Traveling--all you do is take the first step.
After I read the book, the children made their regular morning greeting. I choose a child to start and say whatever greeting he wishes to the person next to him. The greeting is then passed: James said, "Good morning, Wilson. If I could travel anywhere, I would travel to China." Wilson passed it on by saying he would go to Morocco.
I think I will go back and look at the calligraphy and illustrations once again.
Robin Smith
Received on Thu 06 Dec 2001 10:16:29 AM CST
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 10:16:29 -0600
After Ginny's post yesterday, I read Traveling Man to my second graders today. Not only was it the story of adventure--and what extraordinary travels Ibn Battuta took--but it was an ode to the life of a traveler. The children loved the details--an arrow piercing his side, the man?ting tigers, undoing his turban to tie his sick body to his camel. The details are beautifully illustrated in the small parts of the detailed drawings.
The extensive glossary in the back proved to be most interesting. Not only were their welcome pronunciation keys, every reference was explained. Though this book appealed to my listeners, I could really see older students loving all the details. Casual references to Mecca, Persia, the plague, Omar Khayyam and many other details of life during the fourteenth century would keep interested researchers busy for a very long time. The map at the end astounded my students, especially when we retraced the trip on the classroom globe. 75,000 miles is a very long trip! Everything about the book begs closer reading and inspection.
There are some repeated phrases throughout the book that we loved:
Traveling...it makes you lonely, then gives you a friend Traveling--it offers you a hundred roads to adventure, and gives your heart wings! Traveling--it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. Traveling--it offers you a hundred roads. How does a holy man know the one you'll take? Traveling--it had captured my heart, and now my heart was calling me home. Traveling--it gives you a home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land. Traveling--all you do is take the first step.
After I read the book, the children made their regular morning greeting. I choose a child to start and say whatever greeting he wishes to the person next to him. The greeting is then passed: James said, "Good morning, Wilson. If I could travel anywhere, I would travel to China." Wilson passed it on by saying he would go to Morocco.
I think I will go back and look at the calligraphy and illustrations once again.
Robin Smith
Received on Thu 06 Dec 2001 10:16:29 AM CST
