YAISHWARYAJ: {Awareness} Alert but not alarmed - Lola at the Library [2 Attachments]

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Pedagogical Project

"The Joy of Reading"

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Dear Readers,

We would like to invite you to take part in a new project called "From Stories to Books".

The Stories for Everyone Team have been, for some time, gathering and selecting books that provide some sort of reflection on the fundamental ethical principles of our society, such as solidarity, courage, honesty, respect for differences and a sense of justice, matters that have deserved the attention of writers from various nationalities.

Therefore, the Stories for Everyone Team proposes to send, together with the usual weekly stories, and also free of charge, full texts of selected books.

In case you are interested in receiving each week, by email, a chapter of an extensive reading book, all you have to do is answer this message by writing the following sentence in the subject field:

"Yes, I am interested in participating in the project From Stories to Books."

Hoping that this new proposal will meet your utmost interest, we look forward to your reply.

The Stories for Everyone Team

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Dear Reader,

In order to reach a wider audience, the Stories for Everyone Team is now sending, along with the weekly story, another one, shorter and more suitable for early ages, so that younger children can also benefit from beautiful stories that will help them dream.

So you will receive not one but two stories every week.

We hope that our initiative will be useful for all that are in touch with children.

Best regards

Stories for Everyone Team

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This week's stories with PDF attachments:

- Alert but not alarmed

- Lola at the Library

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Alert but not alarmed

It's funny how these days, when every household has its own intercontinental ballistic missile, you hardly even think about them.

At first they were issued randomly. Back then it was exciting: someone you knew might get a letter from the government, and the truck dropped off their missile the following week. Then every corner house had to have one, then every second house, and now it would look strange if you didn't have a missile next to your garden shed or clothesline.

We understand well enough what they're for, at least in a broad sense. We know that we need to protect our way of life in an increasingly dangerous climate. We know that everyone must participate in upholding our national security (by taking the pressure off arms-storage facilities) and, most importantly, be rewarded with the feeling that we are doing our bit.

It's a modest commitment. We only have to wash and wax our missile on the first Sunday of every month and occasionally pull a dipstick out the side to check the oil level. Every couple of years a tin of paint appears in a cardboard box on the doorstep, which means it's time to remove any rust and give the missile a fresh coat of gunmetal grey.

A lot of us, though, have started painting the missiles different colours, even decorating them with our own designs, like butterflies or stencilled flowers. They take up so much space in the backyard, they might as well look nice, and the government leaflets don't say that you have to use the paint they supply.

We're now also in the habit of stringing lights on them at Christmas time. You should go up the hill at night to see the hundreds of sparkling spires all around, twinkling and flashing.

Plus there are plenty of very good practical uses for a backyard missile. If you unscrew the lower panel and take the wires and stuff out, you can use the space to grow seedlings or store garden tools, clothes pegs and firewood. With a more extensive renovation, it also makes an excellent 'space rocket' cubby house, and if you own a dog, you'll never need to buy a kennel. One family has even turned theirs into a pizza oven, hollowing out the top part for a chimney.

Yes, we all know that there's a good chance the missiles won't work properly when the government people finally come to get them, but over the years we've stopped worrying about that. Deep down, most of us feel it's probably better this way. After all, if there are families in far away countries with their own backyard missiles, armed and pointed back at us, we would hope that they too have found a much better use for them.

Shaun Tan

Tales from outer suburbia

Dorking, The temple company, 2009

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Lola at the Library

Lola loves Tuesdays.

On Tuesdays Lola and her mommy go to the library.

The library opens at nine o'clock, but Lola is ready to go long before that!

She puts all the books she borrowed last week in her backpack.

Her library card is also very important.

The library is not very far away, so Lola and her mommy always walk there.

Lola and her mommy give back the books from last week. The librarian buzzes them through the machine.

There is a special section in the library just for children.

It is really cool. Nobody ever says, "Shhh!"

Sometimes there is singing.

Lola knows all the words and the hands for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Sometimes there is story time. Lola loves that.

After story time Lola chooses her books. In the library she can have any book she wants.

Lola likes stories with bears and anything with shoes.

There are so many, it takes ages to choose!

Mommy has some books, too.

The librarian buzzes them through the machine, then stamps the date inside.

Lola must bring them back in two weeks.

But she will probably be back for more long before then!

Lola and her mommy always get a snack after visiting the library.

Mommy has a cappuccino, and Lola has juice.

Whenever Lola has been good, her mommy lets her taste the foam—mmmmm!

Then it is time to go home again.

Every night, after Lola is tucked in bed, her mommy reads her a story.

It is the best way to end the day.

Anna McQuinn, Rosalind Beardshaw

Lola at the Library

Watertown, Charlesbridge, 2009

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You can visit us on Facebook where you can find more interesting stories about several different topics.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stories-for-Everyone/125862557478585

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Sir/Madam,

We are a group of people with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.

This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.

We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).

If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, let us know by sending their emails to us.

Please let us know your opinion about the project.

Yours faithfully

The Pedagogical Team

sg@storiesforeveryone.com

stories4ev@gmail.com