Author/Illustrator: Satomi IchikawaPlot Summary: A young boy helps his father sell carpets in a small shop in Moraco. Their customers are foreign tourists. One day he finds a hole in one of the carpets. His father allows him to keep it but only if the boy agrees to learn foreign words. The boy finds playing with the rug much more interesting so he puts it on his head and proceeds to wander around the marketplace looking very much like the chicken who begins to follow him. He roams around the marketplace learning how foreign tourists say "rooster" in their native languages and brings his father some new customers.
Comments: A very cute, story with a happy ending. A rooster follows the boy around because the carpet he is wearing on his head is made from the same colors as those on the rooster. This would be very funny to kindergarten or first graders. The book also gives a glimpse in to commerce in certain foreign countries. The book was originally written in French. It does rely a bit on stereotypes but that is not a detraction.
Extensions:
1. Students would practice making the rooster sound in different languages.
2. Students would look on the map to see where the various countries are located.
Themes/keywords: middle east, carpet, trade, business, multicultural
Age/Reading Level: Interest Level - K-3; ATOS - 2.2; Follett - 2.3
Standards:
1. Economic Understandings: SS3E3 The student will give examples of interdependence and trade and will explain how voluntary exchange benefits both parties.
Publisher's Info: Kane/Miller Book Publishers, Inc., 2006.
ISBN: 13 - 978-1-929132-99-7; 10 - 1-929132-99-9
Awards/Review Sources:
Reviews & Awards
| Wilson's Children 10/01/07 | Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/09 |
| Booklist 02/15/06 | Horn Book 10/01/06 |
| Kirkus Review 03/15/06 | Library Media Connection 10/01/06 |
- ASA Children’s Africana Book Award
- Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year
- USBBY Outstanding International Booklist
Genre/Dewey: Fiction, E
Websites: http://www.kanemiller.com/book.asp?sku=332/ ;
Arapahoe Library District, Englewood, Colorado
Notes for Booktalk:
Vocabulary: Bienvenue, Hermoso, roosters crow in different languages
Comments