Summer 2008 – Beijing Olympics – Chinese/Asian Stories For Kids and Other News!

Semi-autobiographical story of lesson in freedom

 To watch the youTube video of Little Leap Forward (Barefoot Books first entry into YA – Chapter books) by the author with his own flute music background and in his own words < Author Go Ye > you can find it here!

Teachers – Need Current Facts About China?  <Click Here> for pdf on “Today’s China”.

 Find This & Other Asian Folktale Books At My Barefoot Books site HERE! <<<< Or Asia for Kids HERE! <<<< 

Oooh! It has been way too long since my last post! Let’s see what all has happened since I last wrote here.

• I spent 2 & 1/2 months organizing and running an American Legion Youth fundraiser ( a golf tournament, 3 meals, with a silent & live auction) to buy uniforms and equipment for Pony League Teams and provide scholarships for 2 Boys & 2 Girls (high School seniors) to go to Boy’s State and Girl’s State for a week to learn all about how government works. I have to say that charity org stuff is a heck of a lot of WORK – in more ways than one. My hat is off to those professional fundraisers; listen people – I wouldn’t want to do that for a living! However, if I do say so myself (ahem) we rocked! We raised over $32,000 dollars for a one day event; the most ever for any American Legion in Texas history. Oh! BTW – I will never, ever be responsible for that much admin of an event again!
• Had lots of Grandbabies birthday parties in the Spring & Summer. Way too much cake & ice cream ( I have gained ten pounds) and there is still one more for the year tomorrow evening at a park for the NASCAR kid. I don’t know if there is anything licensed by NASCAR that he doesn’t already have; so guess we will be shopping Friday morning for something!
• I have started another online store at Talulas Wagon but it will probably the end of August before it looks presentable enough to really market. It will expand the children’s book offerings of multi-cultural and environmental subject matter and I will be adding some of the links from here and other sources for parent & teacher tips & products. I want to add other toys, games, gift items and more companies to shop for childrens books. So many parents and teachers had asked for items I didn’t have; that it pushed me into expansion mode!
• On that note; I have dropped my Barefoot Books website; although I am still selling Barefoot Books. For now, at least; it was not getting the traffic I had hoped after 2 years, so I decided to build my own site. As it will take me a while to change all the linked buttons from here at Talula’s Blog; please bear with me. If you have any questions when a link doesn’t work – just leave me a comment and I will try to jump on that one for you.  I hope to see you there!
• Lastly — The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are off to a great start this week. China and the U.S.A. are in a neck-to-neck battle for the most gold medals. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Chinese government will handle all this spotlight on their country. I do hope for all the athletes & coaches (from all the countries) the problems will be minimized so their individual & collective efforts shine through.

To honor the host country of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and to help children learn about the Chinese culture while it will be in the news and in peoples conversations for a few months; Barefoot Books is highlighting their titles with Chinese stories.   Teachers; these will make great additions to classrooms for units on China! Add the Red Dragon puppet for story time fun!  Teach your classes about Chinese culture AND enjoy the 20% Off Barefoot Books listed price for my limited time offer!*

To Purchase These Titles – Click On Talula’s Wagon above!

Follow the ancient trade route

Follow the animals of the Chinese zodiac

Simple Yoga for Kids

Great addition to story time

Great “Dad” Story

Heartwarming adoption story

From many cultures

Lullabye music for little ones

Small boy’s lesson about freedom during China’s cultural revolution

Just wondering! Musings on the day after (U.S.) Thanksgiving holiday.

As i sit here tonite checking on my businesses after the Thanksgiving holiday and camping trip; I long for a simpler time. I had thought last week that going camping with my grandchildren would translate into a simpler version of this uncomplicated holiday; however it turned out to be just as complicated and tiring as the usual “Turkey Day” with all the trimmings (family rifts and all). How can we undo this chaotic American life  that goes by with warp speed everyday and is considered “normal” in today’s mainstream American society?

I know of individual folks whom have stopped and gotten off the merry-go-round with intention; but for most of the rest of us, it is still a constant struggle to find a rare moments peace from this hectic pace. I am beginning to see much evidence in the damage it is doing to our young children that have simply forgotten how to be in their natural state of curiosity. They are so used to being taken from one planned activity after another (school, sports, lessons, playdates); that they have to learn all over again how to relax, observe & learn from  nature around them when it is not totally organized FOR them.    I actually fear for their future after realizing this. How will they survive on their own in a few years as young adults if they cannot function without totally planned & organized days. I fear that they will only function well in institutions like the military.  Alas! I cannot change this path for them; their parents must do it within each family. but who will show the parents? Again; I am no longer in education; so I cannot make much of an impact anymore: except one child at a time! Won’t you try to re-assess your priorities to show your children how to slow down and learn to observe nature, find ways to help the earth and/or its inhabitants and to communicate well with each other? The ultimate goal here is a peaceful world, not a totally filled daily planner book!

I was also on another blog today and ran across posts and comments  about Adoptive parents of bi-cultural or multi-cultural children who treat their  adoptive children badly for being ungrateful that they “saved” the child from their original culture and family tragedy and deny the children any access to their original culture or ancestral information. To me as an educator; this is a horrible situation that unfortunately happens much too often with adoptive families. Children some sort of cultural information base upon which to build their own identity. They must figure out who their “I” is; before they can figure out their place in a family and then society as a whole.   Relationships which give them an achor of love, human kindness  and compassion help children learn who they are by helping know their past relationships, their beginnings and eventually their future as a person.   It takes a strong heart to allow a child to question and challenge our beliefs, agendas and behaviors as they learn how to form their own personality & belief systems. My heart goes out to all kind and loving parents (natural & adoptive) who are in this struggle to help their children grow into beautiful human beings who will grace this earth and all of it’s inhabitants!

On the subject of adoption; my company has a new title out that might help some of the adoptive parents to communicate the connection to their birth culture in general and in particular; the Chinese culture for adopted children from China. Since there are many Asian children adopted here in America; I thought this would make a good starting point for many families.

The name of the book is “Motherbridge of Love” written by Chinese activist Xinran, published by Barefoot Books; with part of the profits of the books going to her organization for Chinese women & children.  Perhaps this book could open discussions on issues surrounding adoptive & birth families. If you are interested you can go to my online bookstore to have a look to see if it could be helpful to you. Click on the Barefoot Button below!