Maybe we need a boar or two as well

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We love Asterix and Obelix comics, the brilliant comic series about a tiny Gaul village that over and over outwits their would-be Roman conquerors. In fact, our oldest son became a reader the summer between kindergarten and first grade trying to decode all the words in one of our Asterix books.

We have landed squarely into the land of Asterix and Obelix here in Auvergne. Just outside of Clermont-Ferrand is the field where Vercingetorix, who grew up here in town, defeated Julius Caesar with his hardscrabble army of peasants. The revolt didn't last long--in less than a year Vercingetorix had surrendered to Caesar--but Vercingetorix is a French hero.

The body Vercingetorix is trampling in this statue in the central town square here is presumably a Roman soldier.

I thought all we were missing was a menhir or two, but then we saw one (in someone's yard!) in a village near here.

Libraries on the itinerary

Every European city has its tourist attractions--ancient ruins, Renaissance churches, medieval castles. They're cool to visit. But families shouldn't discount the charm of visiting the public library, either.

In my experience, European children's librarians are warm and welcoming to any patron who comes through the door. They love having kids paw through the books on their shelves. And a children's library is a great glimpse into the culture of a place--the Bosnian children's library is tiny with lots of black and white books by local publishers and usually full of kids playing; the Dutch children's library is large and sleek and clean with large holding in languages other than Dutch.

We spent part of last week in Lyon, France and spent two afternoons, exhausted from our other adventures, in the children's section of the library. There is a robust publishing French language publishing industry, it appears. The library had a large collection of gorgeous full color picture books and even a special room with toddler books (about where our French language skills are). There was also free and easily-accessible Wi-fi for me and Emma Lucy.

One of the kids found the book "Le journal secret de la Sorciere Camomille." Iin it, the witches all get together for a big party. In addition to eating and drinking, they play petanque.

Which I guess pretty much proves it is the national pastime!

Riddle me

On a long car drive, Emma Lucy read aloud a book Aunt Joanne gave us for Christmas, Luka and the Fire of Life, by Salman Rushdie. It was delightful! Funny, inventive, absorbing.

The protagonist has to duel an adversary with riddles. The scene captured Isaac's imagination, and he has become fascinated by making up riddles. He stands with his legs a little apart, his hands behind his back, makes his voice as deep as possible, and tries to stump us all with his latest creation. We have heard many, many, many riddles recently. Here, winnowed from the torrent, are some of his best:

I'm graceful but fierce. Who am I? (Hint: directly inspired by the inhabitants of the local park, Jardin Lecoq.)

When it's light I'm dark. When it's darkest I'm gone. What am I?

The rest of us have gotten into the spirit of it, too. Here's David's best one:

It's best not to have me, but if you do have me, you'd better not lose me.

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Answers: A swan, a shadow, temper.

"If you want to win, you must not lose." --Number One

One of the most disorienting things about living in another country is discovering whole corners of the world that I didn't even know existed.



After I published a post about a whimsically-painted RV, one of my kind-hearted Bosnian readers (thanks!) told me that the pictures were not only not random but also a very central part of Bosnian, and Yugoslavian, popular culture. They pictures were of characters from Alan Ford comics.

Alan Ford?

Originally an Italian comic strip, it was only mildly successful in Italy, but the Serbo-Croatian translations were wildly successful. The spoofs of James Bond and Western culture appeal to the Yugoslavian sense of humor. Alan Ford characters (like crotchety old Number One), phrases, and jokes are part of the language and the culture here. I asked our tutor about Alan Ford, and she told me she has a painting of an Alan Ford character hanging in her house!


This site allows you to read the comic strips online. My favorite part of it, though, is the gorgeous cover art.

I'm either going to have to quickly improve my Bosnian language skills or wait for the English translation.

Enjoy!

Dreaming

Isaac dreamt that he was in Hogwarts, exploring shifting hallways and stairways with Ron and Fred and George Weasley.

The same night Eleanor also had a Harry Potter dream. She dreamt she was a chocolate frog.

No April Fool.

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Little House in Sarajevo

Another blogger is occasionally illustrating passages from favorite books with photos from her own life. I like the idea. She gets her passages from serious novels, but the books I'm loving the most and spending the most time with are children's books. From our current read-aloud, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods:

For breakfast there were pancakes, and Ma made a pancake man for each one of the children. Ma called each one in turn to bring her plate, and each could stand by the stove and watch, while with the spoonful of batter Ma put on the arms and the legs and the head. It was exciting to watch her turn the whole little man over, quickly and carefully, on a hot griddle. When it was done, she put it smoking hot on a plate. 

Shakespeare in the Balkans

This site and this site (and 17 others!) claim Macbeth is performed somewhere in the world once every four hours. A competing claim (from the birthplace museum at Stratford-upon-Avon) says that Hamlet is the play that is so often performed. I'm not sure how they arrived at these specific figures, but the playlist of the National Theater here in Sarajevo does point out the continuing and international importance of Shakespeare. A few weeks ago they were performing Richard III.

Now there's a comedy, based on Hamlet, called "Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja, or Hamlet Knows What the Nation Doesn't." Oh, how I wish my Bosnian were up to snuff (or that they showed English supra-titles).

In praise of libraries

Isaac is reading Eleanor the second Harry Potter book, thanks to the shelves of the American Corner library. We love having access to books in English and are grateful for a ready source.

The Mystery Texan

During (Muslim) Faith class at school, Isaac and the other Christian girl go to the library where Isaac reads from their small selection of English books. Recently a big kid, at least nine or ten years old, was in the library too. He recommended Isaac read "Bunniculua."

"Does he read English well enough to read it?" I asked Isaac.

"Of course he does. He's from Texas."

What?!? There's another American kid at Isaac's school?

Isaac loved the book. Maybe the Texan will be there next week to make another recommendation.

Library story time

About ten years ago, the Department of State started opening "American Corner" libraries around the world. They are intended to be a spot where locals can get reliable information about the US through books, magazines, DVDs, and programming. Here in Sarajevo, the facility has a small selection of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and a lovely and welcoming physical space. Patrons can use the library's computers to access the internet, and the library puts on programs about American culture.

The librarian invited me to do a weekly English language storytime for children. I've been doing it for about a month now. I love it but it does pose a couple of challenges.

First, I don't have that many picture books. And neither does American Corners (not surprising--their primary audience is adult readers). Luckily, the local international school lets me check out books. And I have discovered some great websites (and here) that have downloadable pictures that allow me to make some of my favorite picture books into flannelboard stories.

The second challenge is that my audience so far (except for my own children) has been non-English speaking Bosnian children. For an English language storytime. I'm finding it challenging to find books simple enough to be understandable to kids who don't speak English but not so babyish that they insult kids 4-6 years of age. Here my whiteboard is set up for quick retrieval of the flannelboard pieces to tell Audrey and Don Wood's The Napping House. Some other books that have worked really well are Jan Brett's The Mitten and Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. I'd love suggestions of other books or stories that lend themselves to audiences with minimal English language skills.

Doing storytime has give me a good workout of my basic Bosnian introducing the stories and giving the kids basic instructions for fingerplays and games and songs. Mostly, I am amazed at how attentive the kids are to stories in another language! I keep wondering how my kids would have responded if I'd taken them to Jacksonville Library's French language storytime. I think I should have. I guess in any language, a story is a story is a story.

Eleanor's new "school": the public library!

Kindergarten was just made compulsory in Bosnia, but it's not part of the school system. Bosnians are incredulous when I suggest it might be. Kindergarten here is firmly entrenched in the world of preschools and day care.

We've struggled to find a good fit for Eleanor, who wants more than anything to be in school and who needs some structured way to meet and play with children her age. She did okay in the first kindergarten we placed her in, but it was never a perfect fit since all the other kids were there for day care and she would just show up for a couple of hours a day.

We think we may have found the right spot for her now, though. The public library's children's division offers a daily drop-in kindergarten/preschool. The librarians dart between the check-out desk and the 7-15 children (ages 3-6) who come every day for stories, games, songs, and crafts.

I think children's librarians are a special breed--energetic, fun, passionate about books and about children both. Hooray for librarians!

Read-alouds with big sister

If your big sister is going to come and visit for a month, what to do with her but read books? (And play games--but more on that another day.)

So far, in addition to assorted picture books, Ruth has read Isaac and Eleanor James and the Giant Peach and A Long Way from Chicago. Today they started the first Artemis Fowl book. She also read Eleanor the surprisingly delightful Stuart's Cape.

She has captured imaginations: this is David's whiteboard at work, his notes for an upcoming article decorated with pictures of James and the lovable insects from James and the Giant Peach.

Love.