Discussion of books

We met in a chat room on Tuesday, Feb. 10 to discuss 2 of our 3 group selections: "The Cat in the Hat" and "A River Ran Wild." We all liked the rhythm of Cat in the Hat, rhyme and repetition of this book for beginning readers was excellent. It stuck in our heads and flowed almost muscially. I found myself actually speaking the same way as the book read when I was finished reading it aloud to my dogs. We then discussed the illustrations. We found it interesting that the same 4 colors were used throughout the book. I believe that this was so illustration did not get in the way of the words. The simple words that children could use and almost predictable words beacuse of the scheme. It was mentioned that the fish probably represented an authority figure. Constantly saying "no" and your mother would not like this. Perhaps, we all thought, the cat and thing 1 and thing 2 were products of the childrens' imaginations on a boring rainy day with no parents around. Cat's are known to be mischievious and sly, so maybe that is why a cat was chosen. We also noted, that the Cat came back and cleaned up his mess, a good lesson for children to learn that even a playful cat cleans up after himself. Also, we noted that this book was written in the 1950's when children were seen and not heard. 2. A River Ran Wild Well, we ran a little wild in our discussion of this book as well. This book was based on a true story of the Nashua River and its history. Native Americans originally settled on this clean and pure river. They only took from the river what they needed. Some traders came along and they lived in harmony with them. However, eventually white settlers came with different ideas about nature and is uses. They built dams for farming and mills. They dumped all kinds of pollutants in the river which got worse as the industrial revolution came about. Eventually there were paper mills and the river not only stunk but died. All wildlife in the river ended. Then came a special lady who made it her mission to clean up this river and was successful. This book portrayed history, i.e. the industrial revolution and all the amazing innovations. It also discussed the cost of innovation. We did not like that the white man claimed the Native American's land as their own. We loved the lady who worked to clean this river. She was an early environmental activist. She started her cleanup mission in 1962 before there was a Clean Water Act(1965). So you could say she was a pioneer. The book taught about historical periods as well as how individuals can be proactive and leave eco footprints on the world they live in by taking on one project at a time. We all agreed that the illustrations were beautiful and the borders on every other page were very interesting in their depictions of people, places, animals and things from the story. Definitely a learning experience for kids. We then went on to reflect about our own lives and how we use natural resources,( hunting, gardening, canning). We talked about all the research that went into the book. And touched on a place in Catawba County, called Hart's Square which is a rebuilt village from the 1800s that is made up of cabins and structures found throughout western NC that represent that time period. It would be a great place for a field trip to show children how life used to be. A lot of hard work but no pollution! We all truly enjoyed this book and it did make us think.