Saturday, April 28, 2012

International literature for Children "Big Wold and Little Wolf"


“Big Wolf and Little Wolf” written by Nadine Brun-Cosme, was originally published in France.  In the book, Big Wolf lives under a tree all alone.  One day, a little wolf comes to join him and begins to mimic all of the actions of the Big Wolf.  At first, Big Wolf is not sure what to do, and does not talk to Little Wolf.  Big Wolf does give Little Wolf some food and a bit of his blanket.  Big Wolf walks to the forest, but when he returns Little Wolf is gone.  Big Wolf realizes how much he enjoyed the company and how lonely he was without it.  Little Wolf comes back to the tree and both wolves decide to live there together to ease their loneliness.
I really liked the transformation that can be seen in the Big Wolf in this book.  At first he is stand off-ish and unwelcoming to his visitor.  As I read the book I witnessed him transform into a loving and kind wolf.  I enjoyed that this book’s main idea what that you should always appreciate what you have before you lose it.  It reminded me to enjoy the people around me while I have them, because I will miss them once they are gone.  Since the book was translated from its original language of French, there were a few ways in which things were written that I didn’t like.  The author seemed to use a choppy style that did not always sound fluent and cohesive.
I think being recently engaged affected me as I was reading this book.  It’s easy in this phase of life to just want to “get through” all that I’m dealing with, but I don’t stop to think about the fact that I will miss this phase of life once it is gone.  Although “Big Wolf and Little Wolf” is a simple children’s story, it really made me think about the perspective I’ve held in life over the past month.  I think that I enjoyed this book more because of the personal life lessons I was able to take away from the story.
This book did not remind me of other books I have read that were published in other countries.  Even though there were a few moments where the word choice was not consistent with the rest of the book, the overall story was powerful and easy to understand.  Since the book did not have any specific cultural references to French culture, it was easy to understand.
In reading this book, I realized that children’s literature holds lessons that are important for adults to learn.  I used to think that children’s literature had simple life-lessons for children to learn, but now I realize that it also offers deep life lessons that all people need to be reminded of.  The lesson that one should always appreciate what they have is a lesson that I need to be reminded of daily.

No comments:

Post a Comment