Children's Books Take Four: Madlenka

Madlenka ~ Peter Sis

Madlenka's tooth is loose, and she has to tell everyone. She runs around her city block in New York to share the exciting news. Through her journey, she encounters friends from several countries, and in the end, announces to her parents that she's been around the world, and she lost her tooth. It is a sweet story of our globally integrated society and the diverse nation we live in. And I personally feel that the illustrations are what really make this book so magical. The graphic layout that illustrates her run "around" the world and the fantastical pictures that show her exploring each friend's unique universe really enhance the beauty of the story.

Right this minute, I really love books that provide natural teaching opportunities that jump off the page. The more we read this book to Sofia, the more she wanted to read it. And the more that she read it, the more fun she had talking about how "Mommy went around the world" or "Sofia went around the world." We read in a library that's on one corner of a bit of a circle around our stairway, so as she kept laughing over this one phrase, I realized, we could really go "around the world!" So I quickly scratched out some little signs with the names of each continent and posted them up in the different spaces around our stairway. I grabbed Sofia's hand and announced, "This is Africa," ran to the next spot, "Now we're in Europe, let's fly to Asia" and so forth. When I came full circle, I could announce, "Sofia! We ran around the world! Just like Madlenka!" and her mind pretty much exploded with happiness. We run alot of laps now, which is great as we've been having alot of rainy days lately and need a way to get energy out indoors. It's not that I think a child under two needs to know her continents, but it has been a really fun way to act out a story she loves and get physical with our imaginations. And it is pretty cute hearing her try to say "Antarctica." Thank you, Madlenka, and Peter Sis, for inviting us into this beautiful adventure!