A Children's Book

[ecosophia]

Last weekend I was in rural North Carolina giving a talk to a Masonic group there. As I commented at the time, most of the Southerners I know are very hospitable people, and so are most of the Masons I know; combine the two and hoo boy. It was very pleasant. During one of the intervals when the womenfolk were present, I was introduced to the wife of one of the brothers, who is also a writer. She didn't tell me that, and seemed embarrassed to have it brought up, but I'm glad that came up in the conversation.

Sharon K. Bradshaw (that's her name) is a preschool teacher, and her book, Rainbow Circle's Big Worry!, is for preschoolers.  It's got animals for characters, and it's short and well illustrated, the sort of thing that not-quite-beginning readers can pick their way through without too much difficulty and five- and six-year-olds can take in easily when it's read aloud. The reason I mention it here is that it's about listening. 

Ms. Bradshaw mentions in the foreword that she's asked her students, "What's the hardest thing about being a child?" (Not many adults would have the courage to ask that question, much less take in the answer.) The answer far more often than not was "Nobody listens to me." I'm not sure how many of you can relate, but I certainly can; having to deal with most of the issues I faced alone, without a single sympathetic person I could talk to, was one of the things that made my childhood a very bleak time. I wonder how many people remember Cat Stevens' song "Father and Son," with the son's harrowing lines: 

"How can I try to explain? When I do, he turns away again

It's always been the same, same old story

From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen
Now there's a way, and I know that I have to go away."

That's what Rainbow Circle's Big Worry! is meant to address. Its overt purpose is to teach children to think of listening -- and the broader set of skills to which Ms. Bradshaw gives the name "attuning" -- as a valuable talent and a skill worth learning. I suspect that a covert purpose is to slip the same insight through to parents and other adult caregivers. On the off chance that my readers know children (or adults) who could benefit from this, I figured a signal boost was worth doing. 

You can get a copy from Bookshop and from all the other usual suspects. 

Comments

[open_space]

My school opened a preschool and primary ten years ago and 60% of the classes are in English. I have forwarded the title to them in case they might find it useful. One of the useful things about my education is that we read a lot of diverse things, so maybe they also do it in the preschool system.

[(Anonymous)]

I'll see if I can get this for my library.
-Cliff