DAY 17 OF AMADI'S SNOWMAN GLOBAL VIRTUAL TOUR

Hello everyone,

Today, we are going back to Nigeria, and I will leave the keyboard to Amadi, after a brief invitation to visit Maw Books, where photographer, Master Gardener and mom Natasha Maw reviews every book she reads. Today, Amadi's Snowman is in the spotlight !

Hello, it's me Amadi. As Mama Katia promised, yesterday, we return to Nsukka to see Professor Virginia Dyke. We first met Pr Dyke at The Children's Center, on the third day of the tour. Since then, she has been working hard to introduce the book to more children in her area. She sent us drawings from the 5th graders at the Central School I. And here is what she wrote :

"It's been rough here with no light and no server and all sorts of problems. The children liked the book very much. They are convinced of the value of reading and those at Children's Centre knew about snow through their reading. Later we were able to share the book at a school in town. Those children didn't know anything about snow and were fascinated by the librarian's explanations. They also talked about their favorite books. This showed me the scantiness of reading materials available to them. Most cited stories in their English language reader or those in other textbooks."

Girl in snow in India

The drawing above, by Uchenna Ugwuoke, one of the 5th graders in the class that read Amadi's Snowman, is the illustration of the text below and refers to a book titled "Back to School," from their Macmillan English textbook :

"It was the first day of the school year. Emeka and his friends Wakama and Kunle were walking to school. Emeka was trying to read his book as usual. Kunle and Wakama were in front of him.

Come on! They called. We'll be late. Emeka closed his book and reading to catch up with them.

I was reading about Nigeria, he said. Do you know that only fifty years ago there were very few towns in Nigeria. Nearly everyone lived in villages. Only a few children went to school. They went to market but they didn’t learn to read and write. I know, said Wakama. My father said Port Harcourt town when he was a boy, he used to do his homework by the light of a kerosene lamp. My father used to walk ten kilometers to school."

Thank you, Uchenna. This is all true. And as Mama Katia mentions in her website, we still see children walking a long way to school nowadays, carrying their bench on their head. Thank you to Professor Dyke and to the children of Nsukka for their beautiful artwork.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"You may have riches and wealth untold - caskets of jewels and baskets of gold. But richer than I, you will never be, for I had a mother who read to me." Gillilan Strickland

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Tomorrow, we go to The Well-Read Child for the first of three visits, we have our Tuesday Quizz, here, and a truly heartwarming surprise from the community of children's writers and illustrators in Austin. See you then...