Talking Walls, Life Lessons

While Talking Walls teaches many lessons about different people and cultures, the biggest lesson it teaches is to respect and appreciate differences. Growing up in a small town, I witnessed a lot of intolerance for people of different races, religions, and cultures. I never witnessed any violence, but I did hear a lot of derogatory remarks, and even saw kids at school shunned because they were different. From a very young age, I saw this injustice and felt empathy for these kids and couldn’t understand WHY they were being treated this way. It wasn’t until later that I realized most of this behavior came from a lack of understanding about the cultures from which they came. And the others…well, all I can say is that unfortunately, there are some very despicable people in the world who get a kick out of bullying others who are more vulnerable.

For many years I’ve pondered how I was able to escape developing this mindset since I was surrounded by it, and one day I realized it was mainly because of books and my passion for reading. Growing up, my nose was always stuck in a book, and I learned about different cultures and became “friends” with the characters in the books I read. Yes, they may have looked different, eaten different food, and worshipped differently, but the one thing they had in common was their humanity. Under all these differences, they were human. I remember always having a thirst for learning about different people and places and religions and customs.

When I started teaching ESL, I witnessed the same prejudices I saw when I was growing up all over again, and it didn’t come just from the American kids. Some kids in my classroom were prejudiced against other kids in the classroom from certain cultures. Thus, I set about on my crusade to teach my students to respect and appreciate differences. I created a “culture” unit where the students had to talk about where they came from, the common foods they ate, favorite pastimes, etc. My students knew that my number one rule was to respect others even if you disagreed with what they had to say, and there were never any derogatory remarks in my classroom. But many kids were uncomfortable talking about themselves, and the audience wasn’t really engaged. I didn’t feel like I was really reaching them or helping change their mindset, and even though I had established a rule in my classroom, I saw and heard different things in the hallways. I knew this stemmed from a lack of understanding and the environment they grew up in, that just talking about it wouldn’t work.

During my second year of teaching, I discovered Talking Walls, and realized that this was exactly what I was looking for. I had to start on neutral ground, and Talking Walls was this neutral ground. Instead of singling out students to talk about their cultures, Talking Walls enabled me to teach about different cultures from an outside perspective. No one was put on the spot and had to talk about themselves (at least in the beginning). Through the book and the supplemental activities I developed, students really were able to begin developing an understanding and even appreciation of differences. At the end of the unit, I had the students complete a project where they had to talk about traditions in their individual cultures, and I was pleasantly surprised when even the shyest kid presented her information with pride and every single kid in the class paid close attention to every presentation and asked thoughtful and respectful questions at the end. Through their differences, they were somehow able to find common ground, and to me, that was a tremendous success.

A Song in Bethlehem, Life Lessons

When I opened this book, I was expecting it to be just another rendition of the Christmas story, but by the time I was finished, I was surprised that it was much more than that. A Song in Bethlehem teaches us about forgiveness and faith. But the most important lesson I got from the book is the importance of kindness and compassion. In the book, Naomi steals a coin from the family in the stable. She is caught, and when the father (Joseph) realizes she is a child and a hungry child at that, he gives her food to eat instead of throwing her back into the cold. He allows her to look at and sing to the newborn baby, and when the family leaves the stable, he gives Naomi the flute that ends up changing her life. This important scene reminds us to find kindness in our hearts for everyone, even if they’ve done something to us. Naomi clearly felt remorse for what she did, and Joseph forgave her and acted with compassion. We don’t always know a person’s motives behind a certain act, and if we take a minute just to look instead of immediately reacting with anger, we may find that all that person needs is a little compassion.

I’m not saying not every person is good…there are a lot of bad people out there, and I’m not saying that we should justify why a person did something wrong and that it’s okay to do something wrong or illegal just because you’re hungry or just because something else is going on with your life. What I AM saying is that we are often very quick to judge and not give people a chance, and if we sometimes just paused and took a good look at the situation and demonstrate kindness, there may be a completely different outcome, and we may make a deep positive impact on that person’s life. Joseph demonstrated this type of kindness and gave Naomi a flute who discovered a hidden talent that ensured she would never have to beg for food again.

The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll, Life Lessons

This book resonates with me because of the lessons it teaches, but the great thing is that Patricia C. McKissack gets these lessons across so well that kids who read it won’t feel like they’re being “preached” at. Three of the most important lessons I got from the book are:

1. People are more important than things
First, McKissack does a beautiful job of demonstrating through a bit of humor that people are indeed more important than things. When Nella first claims Baby Betty as her own, she has a great time playing all alone with her…for a while. Then Nella gets increasingly frustrated when Baby Betty doesn’t respond to her stories or songs until she finally sees her sisters in the other room having a great time playing together and feels sad and lonely. It’s not until she invites her sisters to join her and Baby Betty for tea that she truly has a good time. In fact EVERYONE has a good time, and Nella is finally able to say it was the best Christmas ever.

2. Be thankful for what you have
The second lesson the book teaches us it to be thankful for what you have. The Pearson’s have to fill the cracks and line the walls with newspaper to keep the cold out. They are in the Great Depression, and money (and work and food and toys) is hard to come by. Yet, when the girls receive their bags of raisins and nuts for Christmas, they are very pleased because it’s the most they’ve ever received. And when they get the Baby Betty doll, they are excited beyond belief. Children who are used to receiving tons and tons of gifts may be horrified at the meager gifts the girls receive, and it’s a perfect opportunity to let them know that are many kids out there who are less fortunate than them. It could also be a good time to introduce them to charitable giving and get them involved in helping out kids who are less fortunate. Perhaps volunteer at a local food bank, participate in a toy drive, or “adopt a family” for the holidays. Your children may have great pleasure going out and finding the ”perfect” gift.


3. Share what you are fortunate enough to have
Finally, McKissack shows us that by sharing what you do have, everyone wins. Nella is miserable until she asks her sisters to join in the fun and have tea with “their” Baby Betty doll. A great lesson, especially if you have kids who squabble over toys and other things a lot.

Life Lessons From the Velveteen Rabbit

So why has a book about a boy and his bunny remained so popular and well-loved for 85 years? Why do I still get the warm fuzzies when I think about this book? I’ve pondered these questions this week as I’ve been writing about the book, and I’ve come to realize that this book is everlasting because it teaches some important lessons. It’s much more than a book about a rabbit and the boy who loved it.

It’s a story about unconditional love and real beauty--beauty that comes from the inside. The rabbit is teased first by the more modern and “high tech” toys in the boy’s room because he has no cranks or springs or other mechanical parts. Then he’s teased by the real rabbits because he doesn’t look like a real rabbit. This makes the rabbit sad and self-conscious. I don’t know how old children are when they start worrying about the way they look and how others perceive them, but I do know it starts very early. I am not looking forward to the day when my daughter comes home feeling bad about herself because she was teased, but I am not too naïve to think that it won’t happen. All children are teased at some point by someone, and unfortunately, some more than others. So, I think all children who read this book can identify with the rabbit and how he feels when he’s teased. However, the book soon teaches you that beauty is really not about how you look…it’s about who you are inside, and when someone loves you for who you really are, the way you look doesn’t matter. The old, shabby skin horse and then the old shabby velveteen rabbit prove this point. The boy’s uncle and the boy respectively loved their toys so much that the toys became real to them, and even when they were old and beat up and not as new and shiny as the other toys, they were still the most-loved toys.

I remember in my Calculus class in college, I was grouped with a girl whose left side of her face was severely scarred by a dog attack when she was 8 years old. The scarring was so severe that I couldn’t help but notice it every time I talked to her. Then as the semester went on and I got to know her as a person, I didn’t notice the scars as much. One day my roommate asked me what the name of the girl with the scarred face was and it took me a minute to figure out who my roommate was talking about. I knew her as “my friend Britney”, not the girl with the scarred face. In The Velveteen Rabbit, the boy doesn’t notice that the rabbit has become old and shabby because he loves him so much, and it teaches us all to remember to look on the inside and see people and ourselves for who we really are.

Another feature that has made this book endure is its magic. The toys come to life when the boy is asleep or away from his room. This theme has been repeated over and over in books like the Raggedy Ann and Andy series and movies like Toy Story. There’s just something about getting inside the heads of toys to see what they do and what they talk about when you’re not around. I remember when I was little, I used to pretend to sleep hoping and praying that I would see my toys “wake up” and play. I was even convinced they could tell the difference in my breathing, so I would breath deeply and heavily and was always bummed when I woke up the next day because I actually had fallen asleep and missed out on the adventures. Look at tales like Pinocchio and Cinderella that have been around forever. Kids love magic especially when there is a happy ending, and in the Velveteen Rabbit, there is a very happy ending. The magic nursery fairy turns him into a real bunny. What more can you ask for?

There are many many other lessons and quality elements in this book that make it so well-loved, but alas, I’m writing a blog, not a novel. I look forward to the day when I can share this story with my little girl and see her enjoy it as much as I did.

Please tell me--why do you love this book?