Passport to the World
Traveling Around the World Through
Children's Literature
Events
Passport to Japan at the Leon-Saxeville Library in Pine River, Wisconsin
The Meckelberg Family of Wautoma, WI, greeted with a very deep bow of honor by Friend of the Library, Maureen vanAmerongen, wasn’t sure what to expect as they arrived at the small library in Pine River on Saturday, March 1, 2008 for the Passport to the World: Traveling Around the World Through Children's Literature program. Encouraged to jump into the experience with both feet, they and other visitors were asked to remove their shoes at the entryway.
After having their photos taken for their personal World Citizen Passport, young visitors were shown the world travel-sized suitcase full of dress-up clothes and unusual wooden sandals (geta in Japanese); each child was encouraged to join the library staff, dressed in kimono, and pick something fancy and fun to dress in. Even Brandon Meckelberg balanced and clip-clopped his way through the morning two inches taller wearing traditional wooden geta.
VanAmerongen started the morning by introducing the Meckelbergs, who will be leaving for Japan in two weeks. Brandon Meckelberg, a Wautoma High School senior, has been chosen as a member of Team USA to play football in the Global Challenge Bowl in Japan; his family will follow him to Japan.
Introducing the Passport to the World program, vanAmerongen read Tokyo Friends by Betty Reynolds, and animatedly relayed pertinent information the Meckelbergs, or any visitor to Japan, might encounter. Discussed were simple things like how to bow and drink a cup of tea properly, how to identify the Kanji, or Japanese character, for the men’s bathroom, or more accurately, toilet room, from the women’s, and how to take a Japanese bath. “It’s amazing how fun and different it is,” remembers vanAmerongen who spent a year teaching English in Japan as a member of the JET cultural exchange program sponsored by the Japanese government. “It’s ok to make noise slurping noodles or tea, even in the best of company. The amount of noise you make means how much you like it, that you don’t want to miss a single drop! And bowing is very serious business, it shows respect and honor, the deeper the bow, the greater the respect. And in Japan, the toilet and bath are NEVER in the same room. Yuk! ”
Everyone
was able to try their western hand at using chopsticks (hashi).
Mrs. vanAmerongen even had a trick for making training chopsticks, like
training wheels, for beginners. Raw tuna
sushi rolls (tekka maki),
fried tofu (inari) sushi, rice crackers wrapped in seaweed—being an
island country surrounded by sea, many traditional Japanese foods come
from the sea—green tea (ocha), sweet rice cakes with sweet red bean
centers (mochi), boiled soybeans (edamame) and a crowd favorite Japanese
potstickers or dumplings (gyoza) were all available for the tasting.
And there was much slurping to be heard!
Those with new World Citizen Passports received the visa stamp for the country of Japan verifying and documenting their visit to be pasted in their passports. Some children who have traveled with Mrs. vanAmerongen before added to their already abundant collection of visa stamps. Travelers were encouraged to check out other books from the Passport to the World available at the library, read them, and then pick up the visa stamps for the countries they visit through the stories, reading until their passport is full. Literally, a literary trip around the world through all 7 continents is possible.
Eventually, with new library cards and children’s Passport to the World books on Japanese characters in hand, and a craving for more Japanese food in their stomachs, the Meckelbergs headed off, soon to depart on their REAL Japanese travel. Not only the Meckelbergs, but each world citizen traveler, new passport in hand, expressed their gratitude and excitement at the amount they learned from the simple children’s book, Tokyo Friends, and the morning visit to the Leon-Saxeville Library.
The Friends of the Leon-Saxeville Library know what a treasure they have in the Passport to the World: Traveling Around the World Through Children’s Literature book collection and program and look forward to sharing it more with others. The Friends have recognized the best of the Passport books as World Citizen Award Winners. The award winners and many more Passport books, for both young and old, are may be available for check out at your local Library. For more information about the Passport program, visit the Leon-Saxeville Library in Pine River, www.pineriverlibrary.org, or www.passporttotheworld.org. Or call 920-987-5110.
Passport to the World
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