Private Wojtek - Soldier Bear

Very special to our hearts Iranian bear with a Polish soul - Private Wojtek, soldier in the Polish 22nd company during WWII. First Wojtek was just a mascot, but later he was enlisted in the Polish army and given a rank - Corporal and a serial number – 3522, so he could stay with his comrades.

Since he never known his mother, the bear copied what the soldiers did. And in the crucial battle of Monte Cassino Wojtek showed his worth by carrying live shells to the mortars along with his fellow soldiers. His combats asked for and received permission to have their company logo changed to an upright bear carrying a mortar shell.

Wojtek traveled to Scotland along with his comrades and many other Poles, when at the end of the war, they had no country to return to, Poland being under the rule of Stalin and the east.
His comrades eventually spread all over the U.K. and other countries. He couldn't be discharged. He couldn't be sent to Poland. He spend the rest of his life in Edinburgh Zoo. Private Wojtek died on December 2nd, 1963 in the age of 22.

Read a true story, very funny and heart lifting of Private Wojtek - “Soldier Bear” by Bibi Dumon Tak

 “Soldier Bear” by Bibi Dumon Tak

You can learn more about “Wojtek” on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear)

“Wojtek - The Soldier Bear” By Marianna Raskin, animated movie by marianna.

https://vimeo.com/133230287

Animated film recalls 'Soldier Bear' Wojtek by Steven McKenzie

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45625363

“Soldier bear” statue unveiled in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34748795

"Wojtek" by Katy Carr - song in English

https://youtu.be/-1uEn7dvne8

Lyrics:
“Wojtek, have you come to save my day?

The road is long and the river is so deep With Wojtek my love remains… Help me find my way

back to Poland I’m thousands of miles from home

Wypijemy jednego, drugiego, trzeciego za zdrowie naszego niedźwiedzia Pijącego, palącego i

walczącego żołnierza naszego niedźwiedzia Wojtka

[English translation : Let’s drink one, two, three, to the good health of Wojtek, Our drinking,

smoking, fighting Wojtek the soldier bear]

Wojtek, have you come to save my day?”

Good Writer - Lisa Schroeder - Realistic Fiction Recommended by 11 Years Old Reader

Lisa Schroeder recommended by 11 years old reader.

web http://www.lisaschroederbooks.com/

Books for ages 8-12

IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES
SPRINKLES AND SECRETS (a companion to the cupcake book)
FROSTINGAND FRIENDSHIP (another companion to the cupcake book)
CharmedLife #1: CAITLIN'S LUCKY CHARM
CharmedLife #2: MIA'S GOLDEN BIRD
CharmedLife #3: LIBBY'S SWEET SURPRISE
CharmedLife #4: HANNAH'S BRIGHT STAR
MY SECRET GUIDE TO PARIS
THE GIRL IN THE TOWER
SEALED WITH A SECRET (a companion to the Paris book)
KEYS TOTHE CITY (another companion to the Paris book)
SEE YOU ONA STARRY NIGHT

Books for Teens, ages 13 and up

I HEART YOU, YOUHAUNT ME
FAR FROM YOU
CHASING BROOKLYN
THE DAY BEFORE
FALLING FOR YOU
THEBRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU
ALLWE HAVE IS NOW

If you want to write a novel check top 10 things to do by Lisa Schroeder

http://www.lisaschroederbooks.com/2014/04/lisa-schroeders-top-10-things-to-do-if.html

How to Raise Unselfish, Empathetic Child

 Read “Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in our All-About-Me World” by Michele Borba.

Teenagers today are 40% less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Why is a “lack of empathy,” called by Dr. Michele Borba “the Selfie Syndrome” so dangerous? First, it hurts kids' academic performance and drives to bullying behaviors.

Furthermore, it leads to increased cheating and decreased resilience. Once children grow up, a lack of empathy obstructs their ability to collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve-all must-have skills for the comprehensive economy.

In “UnSelfie,” Dr. Borba identifies the forces triggering the empathy crisis and shares an innovative, researched-based, nine-step plan for reversing the process.

Empathy is a quality that can be taught and nurtured. Dr. Borba offers an outline for parenting that shows the results we all want: successful, happy kids who are kind, moral, courageous, and resilient. “UnSelfie” is a blueprint for parents and educators who want to kids shift their focus from I, me, and mine...to we, us, and ours.

If you are interested in discussing this topic with other parents, this guide could prove to be helpful clickhere  for PDF or on the link below

http://micheleborba.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Unselfie-Discussion-Guide.pdf

See some of Borba's other books and accomplishments by visiting her website click here or

http://micheleborba.com/category/unselfie/

Historical Fiction for Youth Adults - About Child Soldiers

"A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah

In this shocking memoir by a former child soldier, Ishmael Beah tells the harrowing story of fighting in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war, which lasted from 1991 until 2002. Ishmael Beah, writes about his traumatic experience and recovery. 

“Children at War” by P.W. Singer

"Children at War" is the first comprehensive examination of a disturbing and escalating phenomenon: the use of children as soldiers around the globe. P.W. Singer, an internationally recognized expert in modern warfare, introduces the brutal reality of conflict, where children are sent off to fight in war-torn hotspots from Colombia and the Sudan to Kashmir and Sierra Leone. 
Mr. Singer retells stories from U.S. soldiers having to fight children in Afghanistan and Iraq to juvenile terrorists in Sri Lanka to Palestine, the new, younger face of battle is a terrible reality of 21st century warfare. Indeed, the very first American soldier killed by hostile fire in the “War on Terrorism” was shot by a fourteen-year-old Afghan boy.
Mr. Singer explores this phenomenon, how and why children are recruited, indoctrinated, trained, and converted to soldiers and then lays out the consequences for global security, with a special case study on terrorism. With this established, he lays out the responses that can end this horrible practice. What emerges is not only a compelling and clarifying read on the darker reality of modern warfare, but also a clear and urgent call for action.

“First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army” 

by Peter Eichstaedt

“First Kill Your Family" is told through the voices of those who have suffered, this illuminating expose examines how a forgo tten region of one of Africa's most promising nations-Uganda, dubbed "the pearl" of Africa by Winston Churchill-has been systematically destroyed by a bloody, senseless, and seemingly endless war that has gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. For the past 20 years, the Lord's Resistance Army has ravaged northern Uganda and has been led by the reclusive Joseph Kony, a former witch doctor and self-professed spirit medium. Through the large-scale abduction and manipulation of children, Kony transformed his army into an efficient killing machine that has murdered nearly 100,000 and displaced two million people. Kony utilized the society's pervasive belief in witchcraft to instill cult-like convictions in his fighters. This insightful analysis delves into the war's foundations and argues that, much like Rwanda's genocide, international intervention is needed to stop Africa's virulent cycle of violence.

“They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers” by Roméo Dallaire

In conflicts around the world, there is an increasingly popular weapon system that requires negligible technology, is simple to sustain, has unlimited versatility and incredible capacity for both loyalty and barbarism. In fact, there is no more complete end-to-end weapon system in the inventory of war-machines. What are these cheap, renewable, plentiful, sophisticated and expendable weapons? Children.

Roméo Dallaire was first confronted with child soldiers in unnamed villages on the tops of the thousand hills of Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. The dilemma of the adult soldier who faced them is beautifully expressed in his book's title: when children are shooting at you, they are soldiers, but as soon as they are wounded or killed they are children once again.

"Soldier Boy" by Kelly Hutton

A true story from the Uganda Civil War

Child Soldiers In Africa" by Alcinda Honwana

"Children of War. Child Soldiers as Victims and Participants in the Sudan Civil War" 

by Christine Ryan

"Child to Soldier. Stories from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army" 

by Opiyo Oloya

Put Second Language in Action by Reading, Comprehending and Following Instructions

"Comprehending a second language is a complex process that occurs with a few external signs along the way." For example, when the reader is trying to follow an instruction in a foreign language.

 

Instructions in Polish Language

"How learners process new information and what kinds of strategies the learner employs to understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of the researchers dealing with the area of foreign language learning." 

Find more by checking the research and it's conclusions 

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED506763.pdf

 

Basia independently made a delicious King's Cake - Krolewiec
carefully using instructions in Polish language, August 2018

Why Read Historical Fiction?

The category of historical fiction in the field of children’s literature includes stories that are written to illustrate a time period or deliver information about a specific time period or an historical event. Reading historical fiction promotes academic equity and teaches psychology, geography, history, and English literacy.

"A Bird on Water Street" by Elizabeth O. Dulemba

In historical fiction, background is the most important literary element. Because the author is writing about a particular time in history, the information about the time period must be accurate and authentic. In order to achieve that the writer must research the time period comprehensively. He must learn how people lived, what they ate, what kinds of homes they had, and what artifacts were a common part of their lives. Historical fiction novels have characters who are either imaginary or who actually lived during the time period. Settings also may be real or imaginary. The plot events may be documented historical events or they may be fictional. If they are fictional, it means that the author created the events for the telling of the story. The fictional characters, settings, and plot events must be portrayed realistically as if they actually could have happened.

A classic example of historical fiction is “Johnny Tremain”. The primary setting is Boston in 1773. The book contains both real and fictional characters, real and fictional settings, and real and fictional events. The book is successful because of author Esther Forbes’s extensive historical research and knowledge of the time period and her skillful blending of history and fiction into a believable story.

Best Children Historical Fiction Books

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/650.Best_Children_s_Historical_Fiction

https://www.bookworm4kids.com/Historical_Fiction.html

"Johnny Tremain" by Esther Forbes

It is 75 years old book for middle grades but still 

one of the best historical fiction novels about the American Revolution.

Good Writer - Cynthia Kadohata - Historical Fiction

Cynthia Kadohata is a Japanese American children's writer best known for historical fiction books. Her young adult novel “Kira-Kira” won the Newbery Medal in 2005. She won the National Book Award in Young People's Literature in 2013 for “The Thing About Luck.”

Kira-kira by Cynthia Kadohata

NOVELS

The Floating World (Viking, 1989)

In the Heart of the Valley of Love (Viking, 1992)

The Glass Mountains (Clarkston, GA, White Wolf Pub, 1995)

Kira-Kira (Atheneum, 2004)

Weedflower (Atheneum, 2006)

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam (Atheneum, 2007)

Outside Beauty (Atheneum, 2008)

A Million Shades of Gray (Atheneum, 2010)

The Thing About Luck (Atheneum, 2013), illustrated by Julia Kuo

Half a World Away (Atheneum, 2014)

Checked (Atheneum, 2018)

Basia's favorite historical fiction by Cynthia Kadohata, 2018

Check the author’s web

https://www.cynthiakadohata.com/