5. The Girl Who Lost Her Smile by Karim Alrawi
July 1, 2009 at 9:14 am 2 comments
Retell: One day in Baghdad a girl named Jehan loses her smile. Her father searches the world for someone who will help his daughter find her smile.
Topics: Baghdad, art, folk tales
Units of Study: Fantasy, Creating Community, Geography
Tribes: Personal Best, Mutual Respect
Reading Skills: envisionment, making connections, prediction
My Thoughts: This is a very quick read aloud which could be good for discussing the expectation of doing one’s personal best and the satisfaction it brings. Throughout the book Jehan’s father brings her the most beautiful art in the world to cheer her up. However, it is not until she participates in the arduous process of making a wall gleam that she finally finds her smile. It woule be nice to use this as a community building mentor text. We can discuss how Jehan’s family did their best to cheer her up and how we should try and give our friends encouragement and help them find their smiles when they are down. Her father brings art from around the world to cheer her up. I could see asking students to find those places on a world map to practice their geography skills.
Entry filed under: Islamic Authors, Male authors, Picture Books. Tags: art, Baghdad, community, envisionment, fantasy, folk tale, geography, hard work, making connections, mutual respect, personal best, prediction, social justice.
Teachable Texts 
1.
Beth Hickey | July 2, 2009 at 8:29 am
Perhaps this book could also be used to talk about social justice. When we see things that don’t make us smile. we do something about it!
2.
dgunders | July 2, 2009 at 9:11 am
Ooh I didn’t think of it that way. Great idea. I just added that to the tag cloud. Thanks for commenting.