BOOKS; As Children Take on Oldmen and Heroes

Book Club was awesome, yeaaaah...as usual.

Makcit aka purple diva starts with a confession by saying 'I may still be high on some of the super hero motivation we got, but nonetheless It was exciting'.

It was a cool day, a welcome change from the heat of past days. The rain caused late arrival, but we started the day with an ice breaker (The Concentration Game) which Salma won before splitting to our respective classes.

The younger kids got to read a superhero book, almost like a Comic, made specially for kids learning to read.

The 5-7year old kids took turns reading and it pleased me to note that they are getting better at observing punctuations especially commas and full stops.

The story we read centred on how the Marvel Avengers came to be and how the Wasp suggested the name Avengers.

Five superheros including Thor, Iron man, The Wasp, Antman and The Hulk, made up the avengers who thwarted Loki's plan to create a league of Super Villains and dominate the world.

We ended our story where Loki escaped the Avengers and returned to Asgard, but we wonder what the god of mischief and evil will do next...

For the older children, who are aged 8-12, We began Saturday's meeting with some games and icebreakers to warm up. 

When we sat down for review of ERNEST HEMMINGWAY'S THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA half of the class confessed that they hadn't finished the book because they got bored, or in some cases, didn't understand the story.

 The ones who finished the book notwithstanding these issues, we agreed to call the elite because they had completed their first Hemingway.

The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway is a truly deep book about an Old fisherman who had not caught a single fish for eighty three days and was tagged unlucky by other fishermen. The parents of his apprentice even stopped their son from fishing with the "unlucky old man", attaching him with other successful fishermen.

The sometimes delusional old man with his twinkling eyes nevertheless kept going to the sea trying to catch fish, never breaking his mood with his loyal apprentice who kept coming back to care for him and keep him company.










On the eighty fourth day, the old man caught a two feet Marlin fish, so big that it pulled him into the water while he tried to pull it into the boat.
He struggled to stay alive and drag the fish by cutting some of it away, but while he managed to get back into the boat, he couldn't get the fish in. All night he toiled trying to sail back to shore dragging the big fish in the water and fighting off sharks, as he fantasized about how much he would make from the fish and how many people it would feed with it's size.

By the time he got to shore to be discovered by other fishermen, sharks has eaten most of the fish leaving it's head and bone.

The other fishermen after measuring the bone of the fish, concluded that the old man was the luckiest fisherman ever as none of them had caught a fish that big. The old man went back home to his loyal apprentice who was of course saddened by the loss of the fish and worried about the old man.

The book ends with the old man lounging and reminiscing about his days in Africa.

After explaining that this book regarded as boring by members of the club was a Pulitzer winner, they seemed to see the book in new light.

We explored the character of Santiago, the old man's apprentice who catered for him and kept him company. After hearing what all of the children do for the old people in their lives, we concluded that keeping them company is most important, observing that many old people like to talk like the old man in the book.

At the end of our book review, majority of the members learned lessons on perseverance like the old man who didn't stop going to fish because he didn't catch fish for eighty three days. Some members related this to subjects they are not passing in school, and promised not to conclude that the subject is not for them, but keeping trying till they pass.

The others learnt lessons on the beauty of spending time with old people.

According to Bryan, it is better to take care of them now, so that when we're old like them, someone will take care of us. Nice.

We finally learned the importance of saving money from Uncle Cyril from Fidelity Bank, and got Savings Account forms to show parents as well as souvenirs of jotters, biros and hand fans