Kid Reading: Crow Boy

Crow Boy (Picture Puffins) by Taro Yashima was on my list of books that I should read my son.  I was at the library with my son so I decided to find the book.  He is currently very interested in the Japanese Ninja Warrior (an obstacle course show) which he watches on You Tube.  I thought that he might be interested because of the Japanese connection and the seeing the writing on the blackboard.  I had never heard of the book before so I wasn't sure what it was going to be like.  I did skip a few of the names that the boys called the main character because they were nice things to say but I still enjoyed the book.

In this book, Chibi, meaning little boy, attends school and is left to be by himself because the other children think that he is strange and different.  He pays attention to different things in school like the ceiling and the window.  On his sixth and final year of school, he gets a new teacher, Mr. Isobe, who takes interest in the things that Chibi does.  The teacher convinces Chibi to participate in the school talent show imitating crow sounds.  He makes lots of different sounds and both the adults and the kids are moved to understand that Chibi travels from early in the morning until late at night to get to school and remembers all of the noises of the crows that he hears on his travels.  He graduates from school and earns money in town selling his drawings and buys things for his family.  The people now call him Crow Boy because of the talent show and he is more respected after they got to know him better.

There are a few activities that you can do along with the book, as suggested in the Games with Books by Peggy Kaye (review of book here).  The first one that we did after reading it in the library was a version of I Spy (my son's favorite game).  We looked in the library and on the way home for things with the color blue.  When he was ready to change, I suggested looking for the letter "P" but he wanted to look for things that were green.  Make sure that you mix things up and look for colors, shapes, numbers and letters.  It is a great activity to distract kids and get them to move forward (like a transition to leaving the library).  I was really surprised when my son brought the game up days later when we were in the car so it is good to do even when they forget where the game came from!!

Another game is to copy sounds like Chibi does with the crows.  Since we can't all make crow sounds, it is fun to make up nonsense words and have the kid repeat the word.  Once they have done it once, give them an opportunity to make up a word and you copy it.  The words that you make up have to be shorter for the kids to remember and repeat.  The words that they make up might be a little longer but as long as you give it a try, they are getting the point of copying sounds.

The next is a great idea where you give the kids a shaker which is something you can make or use something you already own.  Your shaker could put beans or rice inside a toilet paper roll and cover with tissue paper cinching the ends with curling ribbon.  Here is ours and it has really held up well since I was expecting it to only last one day but we have had it for months!

You could add the same rice or beans into a cleaned glass jar from something you finished like spaghetti sauce.  If you want to try different sounds, put something in a metal can and attach something at the top to seal up the part that is opened.  Use the shaker to shake when you hear the sound in the word.  Shake when you hear the Mmmm sound.  Monkey (shake), Tiger (no shaking), meatball (shake), and hum (shake).  Change letter sounds and try to make the preschooler listen for the sound at the beginning or the end of the word.  With the older kids, you can try to put the letters in the middle like hammer (shake) because it is a little more tricky then the beginning and the end of the word.

I hope that you try this book and a few activities after you read it.  I know that my son enjoyed the book and the activities afterwards.  I am hoping to bring up a few different activities in the next few days to talk more about the book.  Reading and enforcing what the child learned through games is the perfect way to expand their learning and keep them entertained.  I hope that you enjoy this one as much as we did!!

Shared on Kit Lit Blog Hop #23