Children's Books in Multiple Languages

New book available at Lunchpail Books: (available in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Mandarin)

“Peep Peep Finds a Friend”

The child in all of us notices the superficial differences in everything around us; but from the standpoint of innocence-- diversity is neither good nor bad—we are just different.  Peep Peep’s new friend Gua Gua captures that diversity that draws us together, not apart.   Aren’t we more alike than we originally thought?  “Gua Gua” by the way is the sound ducks make in China.

“Peep Peep the duckling

Tries hard to obey,

But it is not easy

To be good all day.”

Don’t we all have trouble being good all day!

Peep Peep is the precocious duckling who stars in “Peep Peep Comes Home” and “Peep Peep Takes a Walk”.  This time while feeling a little bored meets an unusual looking duck named Gua Gua.  Peep Peep eggs Gua Gua along and before they realize it they are in the midst of another adventure.  Adventures when shared, bond acquaintances into friends. 

Not familiar with Lunchpail Books?  Lunchpail Books, specializes in early reader books….hmmm that doesn’t help—

What is an Early or Easy Reader Book?

Easy Readers are relatively new.  They really started in 1957 with The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel).  Before then illustrated books were mostly read-aloud stories designed to be read to children by adults or perhaps older children.  The Cat in the Hat was written with a controlled vocabulary limited to the 220-word Dolch vocabulary list.  This was ideal for the beginner reader.  This is what made Dr. Seuss so special and fun to read.  A trip to the bookstore or anywhere that is selling children’s books, you will still find a plethora of titles by the late author.  Very few other books offer such compelling story telling with such a controlled vocabulary

Lunchpail Books continues the tradition of fun, exciting easy reader books utilizing the same controlled or restrictive vocabulary.   Each book is careful crafted inside and out to provide children with sound foundation in independent reading.  We highly recommend that you start with the “Peep Peep” series and watch your early reader get excited about reading!

We are also pleased to announce that in keeping with the theme of diversity… we will be offering “Peep Peep Finds a Friend” in English, Spanish, French and Chinese…  Here Is a sample:

Peep Peep the duckling

Tries hard to obey,

But it is not easy

To be good all day.

小鸭很努力,

努力學乖乖。

乖乖不容易,

何況是整天。

Peep Peep la canette

Essaie de bien écouter.

Mais ce n’est pas facile

D’obéir toute la journée.

Diversity and Ziblets

As a follow up to the diversity blog, found an interesting related study. 
The original article was called:
Childlike wonder good for memory

In a study conducted by Ohio State University researchers, adults had better recall of pictures of imaginary bugs than familiar animals like cats. Why? When we categorize people and objects, it lowers our ability to remember individual differences between them. In the first experiment, adults and children were shown pictures of animals such as cats, bears, and birds, and later asked to identify which pictures they had seen before. The younger the child, the better he or she did. In a second experiment, the real animals were swapped for imaginary creatures. From OSU Research News:

...In this new experiment, adults were shown three different types of imaginary, insect-like creatures that (cognitive science professor Vladimir) Sloutsky calls "ziblets." In this experiment, adults performed as well as children did in the first study in remembering which ziblets they had seen before without having many "false positives."

The difference here was that the adults had no previous knowledge that allowed them to easily categorize the ziblets without paying close attention to each picture.

"They remembered them because they had to pay close attention," Sloutsky said. "They remembered the details."

So what does this have to do with diversity? Adults rely on that mental categorization of our environment… I believe in young children things are more or less equal.  Wow! You’re different!  Now let’s play.

Do you agree?

Diversity for Children?

What is diversity?  In the corporate world this usually refers to race-- Sometimes to physical abilities.  Isn’t diversity much deeper than that?  Isn’t the surface differences, color, size, abilities, etc…just that- superficial?  Isn’t background, perspective, personality, background add much more to the interaction?  How do children approach diversity?

During preschool years, children begin to notice physical aspects of identity. At about age 2, children become increasingly aware of gender. This is followed by curiosity about skin color, hair color and texture, eye shape and color, and other physical attributes. Awareness of disabilities tends to come later; however, some toddlers begin noticing more obvious disabilities, such as a person using a wheelchair. Usually between the ages of 2 and 3, children will begin to notice cultural aspects of gender influence. For example, they may take note of the fact that girls tend to play with dolls while boys play with trucks. They may also begin to recognize ethnic differences, noticing that children eat different foods and celebrate different holidays or, conversely, do not celebrate or recognize certain holidays. As they begin to notice differences, 2-year olds may show signs of "pre-prejudice"-they may act afraid or uncomfortable. Not necessarily possessing the vocabulary to express their concerns, they may avoid or ignore a child they perceive to be different.

Or perhaps, they really don’t care.  As adults we tend to look and judge things based on our world view.  That person is different… that is good or that is bad.  I don’t believe young children look at the world that way… we just project our adult perspective on them.   I think it is more like puppies… some are black, some are brown, some are white, some spotted, etc.  Don’t you think children view others like puppies?  They may learn from their environment to attach some judgment to individuals, but they pretty much start with a clean slate.

In “Peep Peep Finds a Friend”, I take that child-like perspective on diversity.  Oh, look at you… you look different than me… cool let’s play!  This is the third book in the series and Peep Peep’s new friend “Gua Gua” is an odd duck!  Literally, we never learn what kind of duck Gua Gua is or even if it is a male or female.  When you are a duckling, it doesn’t really matter.   Well, in reality baby ducks are imprinted on recognizing like kind, but for our story it doesn’t really matter.  A friend is friend.

Have you ever had a discussion with a child about diversity?  What were the circumstances and how did it go?

Johnnie