The story begins with Dr. Greg arriving in the small village of Korphe, tired and sick from 70 days of mountain climbing. He was shocked at the poor state of education in the village and became inspired to help. After one year in the states, he returned to the village, and with the help of the local Korphe people, built the new school.
The illustrations are particularly unique in this book. Rather than simple drawings or paintings, the pages look more like collages, made from various materials. Mortenson's method creates an three dimensional affect that is eye-catching to the reader. The author notes that in his original creation of the book, he in fact did create collages from raw materials. His inspiration was the Pakistani people; they did not waste a thing. He attempted to mimic this approach and diverged from his routine to draw on his expensive, clean-white paper. Instead, he used scrap materials he found around him.
The story's final section includes real photographs that were taken during the construction of the school. The "scrapbook" shows maps, photographs of the Korphe students, Korphe teacher (Hussein), and the new school where boys and girls are learning.
This book conveys how one person with determination and passion can change the world. It will inspire children to show compassion to those less fortunate. As a followup activity of reading this book aloud to my students, students may create their own inspirational scrapbook. Topics could include anything associated in the book. For example, students could research the countries of Pakistan or Afghanistan, create a terrain map of the area (mountains, rivers, ect), invent their own idea to help those they feel compassion towards, ect. This allows students to choose a subject/topic of interest, while exercising their creativity simultaneously.
No comments:
Post a Comment