Pistes d'exploration

Read about or watch teacher-selected videos on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Discuss how children in different parts of the world vary in their access to human rights.

Use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the lives of children in Korphe and in your community.

Read the artist’s note. Notice the details of her collages and how she incorporates different materials. What materials might you use to create a collage about your school? Explain the significance of your choices.

Research Pennies for Peace or another humanitarian organization. Create a project to support children’s right to access to education.

Discuss the community

In small groups, draw a timeline of the story.

Compare schools here and in Pakistan.

Research the history of your school. Find pictures and create a scrapbook in the style of the book. Add information about people in the school

Discuss and list reasons why building schools in areas without them is important. How is your school different from those in less developed countries? Research the organization Pennies for Peace. Brainstorm ways your school can help children have access to education.

Stop reading on the page where the bridge is built. Invent the rest of the story, and illustrate it with a collage of magazine pictures. Then finish reading.

Pretend you are Greg. Write a text describing the story from his perspective. Share and discuss your story with a partner. Which elements stand out?

A School Like Mine: A Unique Celebration of Schools Around the World, Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the world, Ryan and Jimmy, Beatrice's Goat

Mots-clés

Non-fiction , Greg Mortenson , humanitarianism , illustrations (collage) , multiculturalism , Pakistan , perseverance , schools

Commentaire descriptif

Not long ago, the children of a poor, remote village in Pakistan had their lessons outside. They learned to write with sticks, on the ground. When an American stranger arrives in their midst one day, hungry and sick, the villagers nurse him back to health and he vows to return someday to build them a school. Based on the author’s real-life adventure, this heartwarming read-aloud about one man’s humanity and determination is the child-friendly version of the bestselling adult title. Told in the voice of Korphe’s children, it uses rich but simple language, making the narrative suitable for young readers. The occasional foray into poetic language, as in the scene where Dr. Greg asks the village’s wisest man how to repay the people, is also rendered in a way that all children can relate to: “Haji Ali answered . . . with a puzzle. ‘LISTEN TO THE WIND,’ he said.” Colourful impressionistic illustrations created out of scraps of paper and other “debris” recycled into collages have a dynamic rather than static quality, and are textured and filled with such exquisite detail that readers will want to reach out and touch them. The book ends with a scrapbook of photos chronicling Dr. Greg’s building project in Korphe and maps of the region, as well as an artist’s note explaining how she created her artwork. The story can be extended to discuss how one person’s actions can make a difference.