Story Time: The Tale of Rodney Ram (31/01/2015)
| Venue | ： | Causeway Bay Kiddyland Basement, 68 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay, H.K. |
Review
The Year of the Horse has galloped by and we have started the countdown to Chinese New Year with Sarah Brennan's The Tale of Rodney Ram.
On 31 January, Sarah quickly grabbed the attention of our audience at Kiddyland with her signature energetic charm, introducing them to her entourage of toy animals which represent all the animals of the Zodiac that feature in her Chinese Calendar Tales series.
There is always so much information to glean from Sarah's books in addition to simply enjoying the highly imaginative and original stories. She told the legendary Five Rams of Guangzhou and explained how it inspired her to create The Tale of Rodney Ram. Rodney is a gorgeous ram from the tips of his ears to his toes; he is also artistic and dearly loved by his owner. But he's so shy that he simply can't be a leader even if he is the only male amongst the flock of pretty sheep! Poor Rodney gets ousted in disgrace!
Sarah always has the knack of making children join in as she tells the story. On hearing that Rodney was good at drawing and writing poetry, the children happily told her what they were good at! They also keenly took part in a vote of who they would like to have as leader on the farm if they were one of the flock. They had to choose from the cow, the dog, the rooster, the cat, the mouse, the pig, the duck and the horse! There was great excitement as they cast their votes! Hands were shooting up quickly as each name was said! Surprisingly, the duck won in the end beating the pig in the last round.
What followed Rodney's plight was quite a surprise to everyone; with a change in environment he left his doubts behind! While the audience delighted in Sarah's dramatic telling in her rich and exuberant rhyme, the brilliant illustrations by Harry Harrison on the screen behind added to their enjoyment as they saw Rodney tumble down the slope, past meadow, road, valley and foothills until he ended up in the great Pearl River Delta! With an awful lot of luck, he stumbled across the grain which put an end to the famine in Guangdong Province! Rodney finally found his place in the world! What a wonderful lesson it was for children who are shy like Rodney!
In closing, Sarah talked passionately about the alarming effect of exposing young children to screen-based technology and its effect on social and physical development, citing a warning by the Teachers and Lecturer Association UK. She added that a growing number of children aged just three or four could "swipe a screen" but had little or no dexterity in their fingers and that older children couldn't compete in traditional written tests. She encouraged all the parents present to spread the word that reading to children regularly would lay the foundations of learning and help them to be 2 years ahead in literacy compared to children who have not been read to.
So keep reading! It's a fantastic way to bond with your child too! Happy reading!
