“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer is an inspiring children’s book. It’s about a boy in Africa who needs to find a way to get water to his village. Because he’s so inventive, he learns how to make a windmill. The first connection I can make to this book is a “text-to-self” connection. Like the boy in the book, I like to think of myself as an inventive person. I, like the book, often wonder how things are put together and how they work. The second connection I can make is a “text-to-world” connection. This boy from the story doesn’t live in the only village in Africa that has been starving. This is a true story, and it doesn’t only apply to Africa. There are places in Ecuador, Columbia, and some other countries that are put in the boy’s village’s situation, rainless. It’s sad how because not everyone believes in children and their abilities, not every village has as a bright a boy as the village in the book does. The last connection I can make is a “text-to-text” connection. There was a book I once read called “The Kite Runner”. The boy from the Kite Runner was rich and lived in afghanistan, but he was just as bright as the boy in “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. The boy from The Kite Runner didn’t invent something that saved his city, but he did what he could, like the other boy, to help his community. I found “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” to be a lovely book and enjoyed reading. Therefore, I give it 5 stars.

“Wanted: The Perfect Pet” is a sweet children’s book written and illustrated by Fiona Roberton. It’s about a boy named Henry who wanted a dog. A duck saw the ad Henry had put out for a dog on the newspaper, and decided that he would dress up as a dog because he felt lonely. Henry was at first very excited, but the duck’s disguise fell off and Henry realized that the dog was a duck. However, Henry ended up keeping the duck even though he had originally wanted a dog because the duck still had many cool things about it. The first connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-self” connection. I remember feeling the way Henry did about a dog. I remember all I ever wanting to be a dog for about 7 years, until I reached grade 5. That’s when I finally got the perfect pet, except my perfect pet was a real dog, not a disguised duck. The second connection I can make is a “text-to-text” connection. I forgot the name of the book, but I remember reading a picture book about a duck who wanted a dog. Of course, the difference between the two books is that in “Wanted: The Perfect Pet” the duck is trying to be the dog rather thank wanting a dog as a pet, but both stories involve a duck and the topic of dogs, so they’re connected.  The last connection I can make is a “text-to-world” connection. The duck in the story is alone. Ducks all around the world are dying because of oil spills. The duck being alone in the story may be because most of the ducks in his world are extinct. The connection is that it’s possible that the duck from the story’s world is the duck-related future of our world, which is sad to think, but possibly true. Overall, this was a cute book and sort of funny, so I would think it deserves 4 stars.

“The Noisy Paint Box: The Colours and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art’ it a very touching story about a boy who follows his dreams even after it seems that his future has other things planned for him. Kandinsky was once as a child given a paint box from his grandmother that made sounds, some would even consider it music. However, even though he loved listening to music and painting, he grew up to be a lawyer, what everyone wanted him to be. One day as an adult, he went to a symphony and saw colours in the music. That’s how he had the inspiration, and shortly after, he became the first man to create abstract art. The first connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-self” sort of connection. I love dance, but dancing doesn’t have a future in my family’s mind. Of course, I like studying and getting a professional PhD in university, but when I look into the future and imagine myself as a professional dancer, it doesn’t seem too bad. A similar thing happened to Kindinsky with his art. The second connection I can make is a “text-to-world” connection. Ewa Juszkiewicz is an artist,  and she had a few obstacles on her journey to becoming an artist. But, she, like Kindinsky and many others persevered and kept her passion for art as she grew up. The very last connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-text” connection. Like Kindinsky, Leonardo Da Vinci had a special place in his heart for art, as mentioned in the book “Leonardo Da Vinci: Paintings and Drawings”. Both men had a love for art, and they pursued their dreams. I didn’t enjoy this book to much because as inspirational as it as, I found it sort of boring.

“After The Fall” is a motivating children’s book written by Dan Santat. The book follows the adventures of Humpty Dumpty after his great fall. Of course, when he falls, he is put back together with glue and bandages, but no glue or bandage can overcome the fear of going the a wall that Humpty has recently developed. His love for birds, however, winds him back up there because the plane he built to see the birds lands on the wall and he must go retrieve it. So, he climbs higher and higher, and when he reaches the top, he flies with his plane like a bird. The first connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-self” connection. As a child, I, like Humpty Dumpty, began fearing something. I feared that there were ghosts and that a specific ghost named Bloody Mary was after me. So, every night, I wouldn’t be able to go to bed or to the bathroom alone, and we must keep in mind that I was in fourth grade at this time so not being able to go to the bathroom alone was sort of humiliating. Anyways, one night I really had to go pee, but it was like 3 A.M and I didn’t want to wake my mom up, so I went to the bathroom alone and nothing bad happened. The next day, I made a story for Bloody Mary. I called it “Pickle Mary”. The story was that Mary would go around selling red pickles, but people always assumed that they were bloody pickles, and this story made me laugh at the thought of “Bloody Mary”. That’s how I, alike Humpty, got over my fear. The second connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-text” connection. I can relate this Humpty Dumpty story to the Humpty Dumpty story in one of the Puss in Boots books. In both stories, Humpty Dumpty loves birds, and in both stories, Humpty Dumpty creates a plane to fly with. The biggest difference between the two is that Puss in Boots Humpty is evil and the other is just another bright-minded, talking, walking egg. The last connection I can make to this story is a “text-to-world” connection. I know this happened a while back, but Malala Yousafzai’s actions are still just as brave as they were 7 years ago. I’m sure that, alike Humpty Dumpty, Malala had some fear of the Taliban, but she stood against them nonetheless and maybe even grew out of her fear at some point. Perhaps the biggest connection between Malala and Humpty Dumpty is that they both did something that was risky, even though they were afraid of doing it, for the things they loved. Malala did it for her rights and country, and Humpty Dumpty did it for his love of birds. Overall, I think this was a motivational story and I really enjoyed reading it.

The children’s book written by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick called “There” takes us through the thoughts of a young girl and her fears of growing up. She takes us on a journey to a place of thought in her mind, referring to her future as a place called “There”. She wonders if there are things like dragons and rainbows, once she reaches There. She wonders what life will be like once she reaches There. One connection I can make (a “text-to-self” connection) to this story, even as a 12-year-old, is the question of “what will I be when I grow up”? I don’t just mean “Will I be an astronaut or will I be a lawyer?”, I mean will I be a mom, and if so how many kids would I have? Will I find my prince charming or will I die alone forever? These questions sometimes scare me. They seem to scare the little girl as well because she doesn’t want to go to There today, she would rather postpone it until tomorrow, when maybe she’ll know a bit more about There. The next connection I can make to this little girl’s thoughts is a “text-to-text”  connection. A while ago, I read a book called “Growing Up”. It was about a little boy, about the same age as this little girl, and he was afraid of growing up. One day he realized that he would become an adult at some point, so he refused to get out of bed. He would hide under his blankets and refuse to see the sun because he was afraid that he was going to turn out like his real parents, dead. After a bit of talking however, his foster family convinced him that he could be whatever he wanted to be, and that growing up wasn’t that scary. Maybe if the girl and boy in the two books met, they would be able to help each other find their paths and realize what they’re meant to be. The last connection I can make is a “text-to-world” connection. On planet Earth, there are so many people who don’t know what their future holds. Some are afraid of their future, and others are excited. In the end however, real people in real places wonder what their future is going to be like, just like the little girl.

“Wangari’s Trees of Peace”, written by Jeanette Winter, is an inspirational book that warms your heart.  This true story is about a woman from Kenya, Wangari, who plants trees after seeing the old, tall trees from her childhood being cut down in the forest her village is located in. The most inspirational part is that even after she is abused and put in jail, she keeps fighting. She believes that it’s her village, and her village needs parks more than office towers. Although I’ve never been taken to jail or been abused by the government, I can make a few connections. The first is a “text-to-text” connection. I remember reading the book “I Am Malala” last year, and I learned that Malala is an amazing young lady. She stood up for what she believed was right even though some very influential people didn’t believe in what she believed in. Malala and Wangari both stood up for their beliefs and won a Noble Peace Prize for it. Both women have inspired me to do great things with my life. The second connection I can make to the book and its story is a “text-to-self” connection. A few years back my friend and I were doing a fundraiser for the bumble bees and the foundation we were fundraising for sent us a package of seeds as a thank-you gift.We took that package of seeds and planted 2 trees in my friend’s back yard.It’s true we didn’t begin planting trees deep in the forests of Kenya like Wangari did, but we tried to make the biggest difference we could with what we had. Another connection I can make to Wangari’s story is a “text-to-media” connection.A few months ago, I watched a documentary of two girls in Kenya who built a water filter for their village. They, like Wangari, saw an opportunity to make living conditions better and easier in Kenya, and they took it. The very last connection I can make to this true story is a “text-to-world” connection. In Wangari’s story, she pays women to plant trees, which at some degree is promoting feminism. That’s because she is giving the women around her a chance to have an income. I happen to have heard on the news about a few incredible women who tried promoting feminism in Iran. Unfortunately, they were told off by the government, but they tried to make a difference. In conclusion, there are quite a few connections I can make, but the one key thing they all share is that the different actions taken in the connections were all somehow impacting the world for the better.

There are a few connections that I can make to the book “Bat’s Big Game” by Margaret Read MacDonald. My first connection is a “text-to-text” connection. In “Bat’s Big Game”, the main activity is playing soccer.  Only, this activity is being done unfairly because someone keeps cheating *ahem, ahem* (Bat). I remember reading a book called “Judith the Player” that featured Judith, a rabbit, playing soccer and changing the score so that she would be winning. The two books are obviously connected because the two main characters are both playing soccer unfairly in order to win. Another connection I can make is a “text-to-self” connection. In “Bat’s Big Game”, Bat cheats sneakily in order to win, even though he knows it’s not right. If he thought it was the right thing to do, he wouldn’t try to hide his doing. Anyways, I remember playing the game Grounders last Spring Break with a few of my friends. One rule in the game is that your eyes must be closed when you’re on the playground equipment. I pretended to close my eyes, but left them a little open so I could see where everyone was, which meant I was cheating. Obviously, I tried to hide the fact that I was cheating, meaning I knew it was wrong to cheat. The only difference between Bat and I’s situation was that I never got caught. The last connection I can make to the title “Bat’s Big Game” is a “text-to-world” connection. The “king”of Iran is a good person to connect this to. (By the way, the following is not trying to be a politically insensitive opinion, it’s just the truth.) The Persian “king” pretends to be on the outside world’s side when it’s to his advantage. He will become allies with Iran’s neighbouring countries and give the Persian soil that Iran needs to them. On the other hand, he will tell the Persians in Iran that he is doing his best to fix the conditions in Iran even though he’s not, just so the people of his country choose to love him. This is a lot like Bat in the story. He says he’s loyal to one team, but when it’s  better for him to be on the other team, he switches sides. As you can now see, there are quite a few connections I can make to the story of “Bat’s Big Game”.

“The Fish Who Could Wish”, written by John Bush, is a unique children’s book. That’s because unlike most other children’s books, it doesn’t have a very happy ending. You see, the story starts with a lucky fish who can make wishes, and his wishes will be granted. He wishes for all sorts of silly things. One day however, he wishes to be like the other fish, but the other fish can’t make wishes come true, and so that was his very last wish. I think the theme of the story is equality. I think this because the fish who could wish wishes was born with this amazing gift, but unlike some others, he as ignorant and wasn’t careful for what he wished for. It’s like the world has a way of making lives as equal s possible. Someone will have one thing while someone else will have another. Obviously, this book was trying to teach us to be careful about what we wish for, but it also taught us that we should be grateful for what we have already. If the fish was grateful for all he already had, he would have never gotten carried away enough to wish to be like the other fish. Overall, I liked this book. It didn’t have as deep of a message as some of the other books we’ve read, but it was simple, and that’s in my opinion what made it read-worthy.

Today I complemented someone’s forehead. Foreheads aren’t something we think about much in our daily lives, but sometimes people feel self-conscious about their foreheads like some people do with their ears. I complemented Cameron’s forehead today, and he said “thank you”. It may have not been the biggest act of kindness, but it’s the thought that counts, right? I think it made him appreciate his forehead more because not many people think about it and knowing that you have a nice feature on your face raises confidence. The previous statement is proven by science. It made me feel nice and positive, and made me think about my simple, random action. It’s an odd thing to do, I realize that, but this is after all a RANDOM act of kindness.

Today I helped Zeyad with a dance step in dance/P.E. He was standing in the line behind me and was struggling with a pivot turn. I stepped aside and helped him get it right because he kept landing on the wrong foot, which messed up the rest of the dance’s footing for him. It was easy for me because I dance outside of school, and I think it made him less frustrated. It was obvious that he was annoyed by the footwork, yet he had a smile on his face after I helped him. I think it made him feel more able to do difficult things. It made me feel great because I got a chance to use my dancing skills to good use and I helped someone. I might have just made his day.