Books Around The World

We read multi-cultural books and wrote reports on them. Here are shortened versions of the book reports!

 

 

The Island of the Blue Dolphins

By Margaret

 

 

 

 

My book was the Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell. It takes place on an Island on which lives a tribe of people. I believe the time period was historical. I think this because the Russians who came to the island came on a low-tech ship and according to the description wore historical clothing. In this book a group of Russians come to the Island and hunt for otters. When they do not pay the Islanders the appropriate amount, a fight of the beach leaves the village of Ghalas-at in devastation. Karana's (the main character) people leave the island but her brother misses the boat. She swims back to the island so that he will not be alone. Her brother is killed by wild dogs. The Russians came back and she made friends with the wife of one of the Russians. Then, when the Russians leave once again, she discovers that sometimes, being by yourself can open a whole new you.

 

A Single Shard & When My Name Was Keoko

By Jiyu

 

 

I read two books and compared them for my book report. Both books are written by Linda Sue Park. First, I will give you a little summary about A Single Shard. The book takes place in a small village on the west coast of Korea, mid- to late twelfth century. The main character's name is Tree-Ear. He is an orphan who lives under a bridge with his elderly friend Crane-Man. One day, Tree-Ear breaks one of a potter's pot, he starts to work for the potter. One day, Potter Min sends Tree-Ear on a mission to an emissary. Tree-Ear's job was to take two of Potter Min's work to the emissary. But along the way, both pots are broken to many different pieces. So then, Tree-Ear takes a single shard from one of the pots, and presents it to the emissary. Once Tree-Ear arrives back to the potter, the potter's wife has a sad story for Tree-Ear.

My second book was When My Name Was Keoko. This book takes place in Korea, 1940-1945. This book is about a girl(Sun-hee/Keoko) and a boy(Tae-yul/Nobuo) during the Japanese invasion of Korea. Of course, the invasion wasn't only 5 years, but the book starts in the year 1950. Every chapter, it changes from Sun-hee telling the story to Tae-yul telling the story. But one day, the Koreans are forced to have Japanese names. So, Sun-hee's name becomes Keoko, and Tae-yul's name becomes Nobuo. Their Korean family name is Kim. Based on the history of the last name Kim, their father changes their family name to Kaneyama, which means Gold Mountain. So, the book talks about these kid's lives during the Japanese invasion, and the joy of freedom and independence.

 

 

 

When My Name Was Keoko & A Single Shard

 

By Addy

 

These two books were both written by Linda Sue Park. When My Name Was Keoko was about a girl named Sun-hee, or Keoko, and her brother, Tae-yul, or Nobuo. It takes place in Korea, from 1940-1945 when the Japanese invaded Korea. The Japanese were really cruel to the Koreans, and usually twisted things around to make it seem like they were doing the Koreans a favor, rather then what they were actually doing, which was forcing the Koreans to do whatever they said. For example, when they made the Koreans take Japanese names, something Sun-hee and Tae-yul’s uncle thought was the ultimate crime, when they wrote it in the newspapers, they made it say that the Japanese were generously letting the Koreans take Japanese names. The story talks about Sun-hee and Tae-yul’s lives, and shows a lot on how the average Korean’s lifestyle was during the Japanese invasion. This was a really great book, and I would recommend it to anyone.

My second book was A Single Shard. This book is about an orphan named Tree-Ear who lives under a bridge with his aging friend, Crane-Man. They live in a village during the twelfth century. This book also occurs in Korea; they live on the west coast. Tree-Ear loves to watch the potter Min make pottery. Then, when Tree-Ear breaks one of his pots by accident, he offers to work for the potter to make up for the loss. Min agrees, and tells him he must work for 9 days. Tree-Ear doesn’t mind; the reason why he offered is because he wanted to help, and learn how to make pots. However, Min just sets him to work cutting firewood, and digging out clay for the entire duration of the 9 days. Tree-Ear is very disappointed, but he offers to work for Min. This time, he gets paid, by a single meal for lunch. Tree-Ear is very happy, and always shares it with Crane-Man. But Tree-Ear still does not get to make pots.

One day, an emissary comes to their village to seek a good potter with pots to present to the emperor. Min and another potter are the best ones, and they start to prepare pots for the emissary. At the time, when a potter tried to mix ceramic colors to decorate the pot, they would drip, and the pot would be ruined. The other potter figured out a way to make the colors stand out, and look amazing. The emissary very much likes Min’s pottery, but as the other potter is using a different style, is obliged to show the other potter’s work to the emperor. However, the emissary tells Min that anytime he wants, he should come, and show him his pieces again. Min tells the emissary that he most likely won’t be able to come, that he’s growing old. Tree-Ear offers to take it, so Min makes his pieces, and tries to make them his finest, and glazes it beautifully. Crane-Man, who is skilled at weaving straw, weaves a very good straw container for two pots. On the way, however, two bandits attempt to steal from Tree-Ear; after finding he had no money, decided to throw the pots down for fun, shattering it into many pieces. Tree-Ear finds a single shard from one of the pots, and shows it to the emissary. The emissary is impressed. Tree-Ear goes back to the potter, giving him the great news. In turn, Min also has some sad news for Tree-Ear. This story was really good, and it was also very sad. I liked it very much.

 

When my name was Keoko

By Na'im

This book takes place in Korea durng the Japanese invation. The Koreans are being treated unfairly by the Japanese government. The emperor forces the Koreans to take Japanese names. The main characters Sun-hee and Tae-yul become Keoko and Nobuo. This book has many true facts about the invasion of Korea. For instance, the emperor sends rubber balls to the schools. I later found out that this did happen. If you are interested in learning a facts about the Korean invation I would recomend this to you.

There are other reasons to read this book. This book is also a powerful story about how the are not allowed to speak about the government. After reading this book you will know why the founding fathers wanted freedom of speech. There are also poems that were writen and put in to the story when Sun-hee starts a diary. One of the poems about the feeedom of speech I liked very much:

 

You burn the paper but not the words

You silence the words but not the thoughts.

You kill the thoughts only if you kill the man

And you will find that his thoughts rise again

In the minds of others—as twice as strong as before!

This is a very good book. For more information on freedom of speech see government.

The Year of the Panda

By: Daniel

    The book The Year of the Panda is by an author named Miriam Schlein. This book takes place in China. The main character, Lu Yi, is caring and I think that he is very responsible for other animals. The main problem of this story is that the bamboo on the mountains are not growing fast enough so the pandas are dying out and humans are also contributing to the extinction of the pandas. Later on in the story, Lu Yi finds a baby Daxiong Mao and takes care of it. The government is offering 300 yuan per panda. Lu Yi sells his panda to the government and soon, the government takes the panda to a place where people conserve pandas. If I had to recommend this book to another person, I would. This author has a very smart and creative way of writing.This book relates to the Extinct and Endangered Species of our Global Village project. I think that it relates to the Extinct and Endangered Speciees because the pandas were dying out in the book.

The Year of the Panda

By Rohan

Miriam Schlein wrote the book The Year of the Panda. It is about a young boy named Lu Yi who finds a baby daxiong mao (giant panda) near his home in the mountains. They usually stay at the top of the mountains, but bamboo is scarce. Every sixty years the bamboo dies out, threatening extinction. Before the pandas dealt with the problem by coming down the mountain and eating bamboo down there. But in the last 60 years, after the last bamboo shortage, humans built homes there and tore down the bamboo stalks. Lu Yi takes care of the daxiong mao for a long time and becomes attached to it, naming it Su Lin. Then the government finds out and offers 300 yuan for a daxiong mao. Lu Yi struggles with his mixed feelings of attachment to Su Lin and longing for the 300 yuan to help his family. Soon the government takes Su Lin to a daxiong mao reservation center. It has to do with endangered species because extinction threatens the daxiong maos.

 

 

Lydia, Queen of Palenstine

by Shoshie

 

Lydia is a young girl of 10 who was born right before World War II in Bucharest, Romania. She is faced with many problems, including divorce, the war, friendship, and living without her mother in the kibbutz in Israel for half a year. Lydia has a wonderful imagination, and she plays with her dolls, making each of them a character in the story of her life. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It has an intriuging plot that doesn’t let you put the book down. I would recommend it to people ages nine to 12, because Lydia is a girl of ten years old who is going through some of the things that people these ages are going through.

 

 

Becoming Naomi Leon

 

By Shelby

 

 

 

I read Becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam Munoz Ryan. This book is about a Hispanic girl who was abanded at about age 4, and was left with her great grandma and younger brother. Then her mother comes back, and wants to take Naomi back so they can move to LA with her boyfriend, Clive, and his daughter. There are a few flaws in the plan, though. 1) Her mom is alcoholic 2) their mother does not want her brother 3) Naomi would be a “slave” 4) Naomi would have to leave her “family”

 

When her mother comes to pick her up, Naomi hides in their Hispanic neighbors’ barn. Her mother threatens to come back with a court order, but before she can, the little family and the Hispanic friends travel to Mexico to find her father to help them. They find him at a radish carving competition and he rights a letter to the court (they were taking her mother to court). When Naomi is up at the witness stand, she finally finds the courage to do what she thinks is right.

 

 

 

The Big Wave

Bennett

 

I read The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck. It was a very well written book. It is about a Japanese boy (Kino) who survives a tsunami but his friend's (Jiya's) family is not so lucky. It is the story of how Jiya chooses between living the rest of his life with the rich Old Gentleman or Kino's poor family. Jiya is therefore put in a lot of pressure; his entire family dies, Kino's family helps him recover, Old Gentleman comes and asks for Jiya to be his son, and he needs to make the decision when he can barely stand! During this, Kino is struggling to not be selfish by letting Jiya chose without Kino's interuption. Kino wants the best for his friend, but he really wants Jiya to stay with his family, even though they are poor. The conclusion, I will not give.

 

 

The story explained a lot about Japanese culture. One of the really interesting things that was in the book was the way they explained things. It was fascinating how death was explained in it! It really explained to me the way people lived in Japan, the Japanese culture, and even the food! The book talked about what it was like to live with the sea in front of you and a volcano behind you. Another example of the culture was the way the explained why the volcano erupted; the volcano was angry.This is a great book that I would recommend to anyone. Pearl S. Buck truly wrote a awesome book.

 

 

 

 

A Single shard

 

By Isaac

In this book Tree Ear accidentally breaks one of Min’s clay boxes. He has to work for 8 days for the “honorable potter” by collecting wood for the kiln, and getting clay from the river side. When he is let off from his task, he decides to work for Min. Later the emissanary comes and looks at all the potter’s work in the town to see who will get the job as royal potter, although Kang is a big competition.

 

This Korean culture seems creative. There are so many potters and all of them have different styles. For Tree Ear it must be exhilarating. He’s an orphan, and he’s lived his whole life under a bridge, and yet one day he finally finds what he truly likes; pottery. I would recommend this book to people who like to get on with stories. It does not have that much description and you can never tell what will happen next!

I learned that in Tree Ear’s culture you always have to be on your best behavior, treat people with respect; whereas in our life you need to treat people with respect, but people don’t always. This can tie into our Global Village project because Tree Ear and Crane Man don’t always have enough food to eat.

 

 

A Single Shard

By Linda Sue Park

Report by Rachel

    Tree-ear is a teen-age boy from Ch’ulp’o, a twelfth century town in Korea.  In this book he has broken a pot for one of the greatest potters in town.  To make up for it he tries to work for the potter with the hopes of becoming a potter himself, as he is an orphan living with his best friend, Crane-man, under a bridge.  Luck comes to the village potters as the royal commissioner for the palace comes to choose pottery for the king.  Unfortunately a new style that was brought in catches the commissioner’s eye and wins but the commissioner tells Tree-ear’s master that if he can make something with his good skill and the new talent that he can bring it to the palace.  The potter does and sends it on the back of Tree-ear, then disaster strikes.  The pieces are thrown off a cliff by bandits but Tree-ear, not giving up, gets the biggest piece and continues to the palace to be surprised with the honor of getting the commission for his master’s pottery.  When he returns home, Crane-man is dead so the potter offers him a home and starts to teach Tree-ear pottery, just what he wanted all along.

 

 

 

 

 

The Clay Marble

 

By Kelly

 

 

Dara was only eleven when the war started between Thailand and Vietnam. Dara lived in Cambodia, which is in-between Thailand and Vietnam, and Laos, so naturally, she and everyone in Cambodia were stuck with the disadvantages of the war. I read The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho. This story takes place in Cambodia. So let's start the story. A year later, both Dara's grandma and father have been killed by the war, and she is living with her mother and brother, Dara and what is left of her family hear of a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Cambodia, where they give free food and tools, perfect for rebuilding a life half-destroyed by the war.

 

They began their journey, and just as they were running out of food, they found the camp, and once they came in, another family of a girl, a grandpa, and two cousins took them in, to form a kind of family that is kind of awkward because it's a brother, a sister, a sister that's not related a mother to the first sister, a grandpa, and two cousins, one Dara's age, and one very young. Dara's family did grow accustomed to the new family, and Dara became great friends with Jantu, a thirteen-year old girl who took care of the other cousin, who everyone just called Baby. The family thought that they would eventually have to part, but then, Nea (Jantu's cousin) and Sarun (Dara's brother) decided to get married, then Dara becomes very happy. That was, until there was shelling at the refugee camp. The entire family, along with the other families, fled from the camp.

 

Dara and Jantu were trailing behind the others, as Jantu had Baby with her, and when the saw an old shack with a recognizable truck parked in front, they stopped to get some food. You see, everyday, the lunch truck (a truck that brought lunch to the children) was parked in front, so naturally, the girls wanted some food. So the snuck inside. Unfortunately, there was no food, but then, a shell hit the shack. Jantu and Dara were not injured, but Baby had a big gash in his foot. There was an ambulance near by, but someone had to go with baby to the hospital, which wasn't very far from there. Jantu volunteered, so she asked Dara to go and find the family and tell them that she and Baby were at the hospital so they could come and get her.

 

But Dara couldn't find the family in the crowd, so, once the shelling was over, she went back to the camp to find them. She couldn't find them at the camp either, but then she saw Chaney, an orphan who had come to the camp all alone. He said he had seen them heading towards the military base, because the had heard that the shelling might happen again, and that if Sarun enlisted or volunteered, that they would take care of the family. So, Dara and Chnay headed towards the base, and when they got there, the searched for three days until they found the family. But Monsoon season was coming, and planting season would soon be over. For the family had been given special rice seed, a type that wouldn't be affected by bugs or anything like that. So they made a plan.

 

Sarun hadn't really enlisted in the military. he had volunteered to help in a special ceremony called the flag raising ceremony. Nea and Dara would go to the hospital and get Jantu and Baby, while the others would stay there and watch/participate in the flag raising ceremony. When Nea and Dara got Jantu, it was dark, and as they were coming back, some of the soldiers thought they were enemies, so one shot Jantu. When they got back to the base, it was two days away from a group of people on ox carts going back to Siem Reap, where Dara lives. But a day before they left, Jantu died, and so they were forced to go back to Siem Reap without her. But they made it back, so yay!

 

 

 

This is a very suspenseful and kind of sad book, but it is still very interesting, and it told me a lot about their culture. Like, their communities rely a lot on rice as a food source. without it, many would starve. And, back when the war was happening, they used ox carts to get around a lot.

 

I think that this story ties into the Global Village issues with health and economy, because the main characters weren't millionaires, living in mansions with money to burn. They were not very wealthy farmers, and no one in the story that I can remember had enough money that they could burn it. It ties into health because when Nea and Dara went to the hospital, it was jam-packed with people who were dying of malnutrition, and I think that's pretty important. But, this story is realistic fiction, so the story never happened, but many things in the story really happened or were really there. So it is very sad, but it's a good book, and I'd recommend it to everybody who lives on this earth.

 

 

 

The Kite Rider

 

By Amos

 

 

 

     The Kite Rider, By Geraldine McCaughrean, was a book about a boy named Gou Haoyou who found his life-long work in strapping himself to kites and flying in the wind. He found his knack for making kites at the age of twelve and a few days later he was asked to join the circus. The reason he was asked to join the circus was not because he was a great kite maker, but because he had volunteered for a wind testing, or a trying of the wind to see if the boat’s journey will be prosperous.

The book took place in the thirteenth century during the time that Kublai Khan ruled Cathay (the name for northern China given by Marco Polo. Marco Polo journeyed to China and came back with stories of China and names for north and south.) Kublai Khan was part of the problem in the story. He and two other people (Gou Bo, Haoyou’s great uncle; and Di Chou, the murderer of Haoyou’s father and lover of Haoyou’s mother, who doesn’t love him back) all want Haoyou as a servant, an earner of money, dead, or as a spy-in-the-sky. Haoyou escapes from them by running away and gaining life-long friendships.

 

 

Becoming Naomi Leon

 

By Katherine

I read a book called Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan.  It is about this girl named Naomi and her little brother Owen. She was left in the care of her great-grandmother when she was four by her mother. Her fjnather wants her, but her mother won’t allow it. The mother comes back seven years later and wants to take Naomi to live with her in  Los Angeles to babysit her new boyfriends daughter and get money from the state. Naomi doesn’t want to go, but her mother Skyla says that she would hurt Naomi’s great-gandmother. To escape from Skyla, Gram(Naomi’s great-grandmother), Owen, and Naomi go to Mexico to find Naomi’s father, Santiago.  They find Santiago and has many adventures and they get to compete in a giant radish carving contest. They come back and they have to go to court about Skyla’s case. You have to read the book to find out what happens next.  It is related to our Global Village Project is because it talkes a lot about Mexico.

 

 

 

The secrets of Kiribu Tapu Lagoon

 

By Brian

 

    The book that I read was called The Secrets of Kiribu Tapu Lagoon.

 

 

 

 

 

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