"AN EMPOWERING INDIGENOUS TWIST ON A CLASSIC WOLF TALE." This children's book is about a girl who got lost in the wild while helping her mom pick berries. She finds her way back to her mom with a little help from a wolf she met in the wild.
Within this book, the themes that came across me as I was reading were self-powering, courage, and trust. The girl had courage to approach and follow the wolf even though it may have been a dangerous animal. She trusted the wolf to lead and guide her through the wild, and the wolf also trusted in her as well to believe in herself. As the wolf kept saying, "Yes you do" to the little girl, she slowly became more confident in herself which illustrates how the character started to develop a sense of self-powering. The wolf did not guide her through the wild. It was actually guided through the forest with the help of the little girl. All she needed was to believe and gain self-confidence in herself like how the wolf saw in her. I think that is the beauty of this children's book. It teaches kids to have self-powering, courage, and trust in times that may seem dark for them. The answer is always inside yourself if you truly believe in you, and I think that itself is very empowering for children who may not feel empowered in their world. "I don't know about you, but I found that unfair, and I thought of the other stories I had been told where the wolf wasn't just evil or hungry. That's where this story comes from. It is inspired by traditional stories, yes, but in no way taken from one." ~Katherena Vermette Going along with that, this book reminded me of how I slowly built my confidence growing up as a little girl. The world was a frightening thing to me as my English was slowly developing. Even knowing the language, it was still scary not knowing when I would make a mistake that people would stare and point at me. My relation to this story were my memories of relating to an unfamiliar environment just like the little girl. The only difference was not having a voice that believed in what I already have inside of me. An experience that helped me gained more confident in myself was getting lost and finding my way back home again. I was 18 years old at the time and have never drove on the highway before. I was making my way back home by following the GPS, however, I kept making the wrong turns, not knowing how to properly read the GPS yet. With those multiple wrong turns, I ended up lost in a dark, unfamiliar road. Just like the little girl, I was scared of how dark it had gotten and not knowing how to get back home. However, I trusted in myself and kept following the GPS with confidence that I would make it back, and I finally did. It was such a relieving feeling, and a self-powering experience that helped shaped my courage and trust in myself. Therefore, I hope that children who read this book would also make a similar connection like how I did with the little girl. I think that is an important message that was conveyed in the story. We may not always have that "someone" who trust us and help remind us of how empowered we already are, but we don't always need to rely on others. The wolf could have easily lead the girl the way back to her mom, but it didn't. Why? Because it believed and trusted in the little girl. It taught the little girl a lesson to believe in oneself and not to rely on others. If we teach children to realize that they are already empowered in themselves, and that if they believe in that, they can do anything that they want. Therefore, I think this is a worthwhile message or theme that students in Elementary or even middle-leveled students can learn from and apply it to their life. This book, "The Girl and the Wolf" meets aspects of my criteria of a good book. It has pictures that can help illustrate the story line of the book. The text is not too complex, and it has high frequency words that students would not struggle in as much; therefore making it an appropriate text for children to read and comprehend. I was also able to make connections to the book and with the emotions of the characters in the story. Vermette, K., & Flett, J. (2019). The girl and the wolf. Penticton, British Columbia: Theytus Books.
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AuthorI love books, writing, and music. Life's too dull without books. Archives
November 2019
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