A Celebration of Diversity Through Literature

This year, I am delighted to announce that I am taking part in Multicultural Children’s Book Day, which is celebrated each year in a bid to raise awareness of books that celebrate diversity, and which aims to get such books into the hands of both young readers and teachers.

As part of this, it has been my pleasure to review books by Greek authors. I have never made any secret of my support of multilingualism, and I believe that teachers could support multilingual children by encouraging them to read in their minority language. For those that have Greek-speaking children in their classrooms, here is a book to recommend.

Captain Rake and the Ocean Pirates   –  Ο Καπετάν Τσουγκράνας και οι πειρατές του Ωκεανού 

by Argyro Mountaki  –  Αργυρώ Μουντάκη

This is a book for early readers who have got past the basic stage and are ready for something a bit more challenging, while still enjoying a wealth of illustrations.

It is a lovely story, encouraging children to think of kindness and what it really means to be courageous, and find one’s inner strength, through a fun pirate story. Building on these themes, there is an undercurrent of suggesting that children should not judge by immediate appearances, with both monsters and pirates not being quite as they seem at first, not to mention the hidden potential of sandwiches!

Children can set sail with Captain Rake, an unusual pirate whose problem is that he is afraid. Along with his friend Christopher, they can follow through his adventure as he overcomes this problem. On discovery of a message in a bottle, he sets off in search of a monster, who he hopes will give him all his courage in return for a joke. However, the tale is not entirely straightforward, and there are lively twists and turns to give depth to the tale and keep children’s attention.

It will stimulate the young imagination through its fresh and different approach to the genre: unlike many other pirate stories aimed at this age group, this one is not stuck in a pseudo-Middle Ages environment without technology, but even mentions TV cameras and other modern devices that children these days can relate to. The writing flows beautifully, in a light and playful tone with a varied language, from words to sentence structure, to help young readers to enrich their vocabulary and consider alternative ways to express themselves.

The illustrations by the talented Christine Menard are bright, cheerful and colourful, full of a vibrance that will appeal to children and which suits the story very well.

The book is available here

Argyro Mountaki

 

Argyro Mountaki is a Greek author of children’s literature, born in Chania on the island of Crete. She is also a teacher of German language in public schools in Greece. She runs an internet site for parents and she writes book reviews published in distinct newspapers and internet sites.

She has studied German Language and Philology and also she has two Master Degrees, one MBA and one in Literature, and is soon to finish her PhD Thesis in Philology. She has taken part in many conferences as a speaker concerning philological matters. She has been writing books since 2005. Her books are published by Patakis, Metaixmio, and Minoas Publications and are beloved by children. She is married and has two children.

 

 

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents, and educators.

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board

Medallion Level Sponsors Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org. Super Platinum: Make A Way Media GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press, SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls, BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul,Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board

Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini, Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm,Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana andA Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing,Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Claudia Schwam, Lori DeMonia, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE. Co-Hosts and Global Co-HostsA Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms,Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read,Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup, Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!

MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.

FREE RESOURCES From MCBD Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

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Leek

There are many recipes for the humble leek; from pies to soups to risottos and much more. It is even an emblem of Wales, and its popularity has long been established.

So it is unsurprising that it should appear in many forms in Middle English in which we see lēk, lec, leike, leick, leok, lī̆k, leac and other similar spellings. The common feature to all is the presence of /l/ and /k/ phonemes.

We have an example from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from 1389:

Wel loued he garlek, oynons, and lekes

(He greatly loved garlic, onions and leeks).

In this particular quote, all the words are easily recognisable to speakers of Modern English. But let’s compare a sentence from 1150, a little earlier.

Nim piper and alewen and sealt and leaces sæd and meng eal togadere.

(Take pepper and aloe and salt and leek seed and mix it all together.)

This comes from the Peri Didaxeon, a twelfth century medical tract. The title is from Greek and means ‘On Teaching’. Already at this time, the language is harder to recognise.

Going back a little further, to Old English and the ninth century, Aelfric’s Grammar, a work designed to help students learn Latin, helpfully includes the example ðis leác hoc porrum (this leek).

Following on from that, there is a quote from Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of early England, a collection of works in Old English also from the ninth century, but published in the eighteenth century.

Ðæt greáta cráuleác; nim ðes leáces heáfda

(the great crow-garlic, to take the chief of leeks)

There are cognates of the word in other Germanic languages, such as Old Norse laukr, meaning leek or garlic; Modern Icelandic leki – ‘leek’; Danish løg, Swedish lök, meaning ‘onion’; Dutch look, meaning ‘leek’. Old Saxon had lok; Modern German gives us Lauch. All of these point to a root in Proto-Germanic: *lauka.

Unfortunately, this is where our trail ends. There are no indications of another source, and words in Finnish (laukka), Russian (luk) and other Slavic sources appear to have been borrowed from Germanic. Suggestions that it may be related to ‘lick’ cannot be supported.

Cheese, the food of the gods

Cheese comes in many varieties and there are a range of flavours and aromas associated with it. It has long been part of our diets, as attested to in texts such as by Hippocrates from around 400 BC. But of course, Hippocrates spoke Greek and his writing was in Greek, which means that he used the word τύρον [tyron]. What of the English word; cheese?

What a small but smooth word this is. It flows beautifully off the tongue and onto the plate. Or perhaps indeed onto the palate!

And it too is not a modern invention. This word has been with us for a very long time. Let’s take a look at the Peterborough Chronicle from around 1160.

Þa was corn dære, & flec & cæse & butere.

(There was corn there, and meat and cheese and butter.)

At that time, in the period of our language known as Middle English, ‘cheese’ was cæse, as you can see above, but also chese, cyse, chise. There are references to it in many places, in diverse texts and it appears to have been quite popular. The only thing we cannot be sure of is the flavour!

However, the word did not arrive in English fully formed during the twelfth century. Its history goes back further than that, and can be found in Old English texts.

 

In West Saxon it was generally cyse, while in Anglian it was cese, both meaning ‘cheese‘. Here is an example from the Anglo Saxon version of Medicina de Quadrupedis by Sextus Placitus, a fourth century work that was rendered into English during the ninth century. It was printed in Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of early England during the eighteenth century.

 

Níwe gáte cýse

(new goat’s cheese)

 

This seems very recognisable. Little has changed in the intervening centuries, you might think, except the numbers of varieties!

 

But can we trace its history any further? The Old English words came from a West Germanic source; *kasjus, which itself came from the Latin word caseus, which of course also meant “cheese”. This word has spread around the continent, with Käse in German, kaas in Dutch, queso in Spanish, caws in Welsh and also càise in Scottish Gaelic, to mention just a few.

On theory suggests that it might derive from a Proto-Indo-European root *kwat, meaning “ferment, become sour”., although there seems to be some dispute about that. Whatever the truth of this theory, in my humble opinion this is where the ancient Greeks made a huge mistake. Forget nectar, forget ambrosia. The food of the gods is cheese.

Step

This is dedicated to Lynn

Yesterday I heard that my articles containing phrasal verbs were very much appreciated. I stepped up to the challenge straight away, barely missing a step, to write this.

In step with what has gone before, I thought to myself, it is easy, after all, to tread in one’s own steps! It is falling into step that poses more of a challenge, although once you are in step, it is simply a matter of habit to keep step, rather than breaking step.

When dancing, you must keep in step, and it is also a good idea to mind your step to avoid stepping on people’s toes. You should also mind your step in a new workplace when you are not sure how to behave, especially when you have the feeling that everyone else is one step ahead. If they give you knowing glances and raised eyebrows as you step into the room, this could make you feel out of step, but if you take a step back, you might see things differently.

You might however realise that you are in fact out of step and everyone else is thinking along different lines, perhaps stepping in a different direction. This seems to happen often in politics – the main candidate is out of step with the younger generation and has to watch her step to avoid causing offence, as, step by step, she gets closer to stepping into office.

Stepping into the shoes of the Prime Minister is not an easy task, and one can only hope you won’t be forced to step down, or indeed step aside, having climbed the steps to such a position. One you are there, it is time to step up to the plate. But take your time: there is no need to step on it!

On Radical and Radishes

Radical

These days, if we think of the word radical, various organisations might come into mind, of religious or political significance. A quick look at the dictionary (I used the Merriam Webster) gives the meaning as:

very new and different from what is traditional or ordinary

 

            very basic and important

 

            having extreme political or social views that are not shared by most people.

It came into English in the 14^th century, but at that time it had quite a different meaning. Let’s take a look at an example from 1398. This is taken from John Trevisa’s translation into English of Bartholomaeus’s On the Properties of Things, (De proprietatibus rerum) which was a kind of early encyclopaedia.

Þe onyoun..haþ þer vnder oþere rootes..and þerby..radical humour is ysent in to al þe herbe.

The onion has other roots underneath and thereby a radical feeling is sent through all of it.

Here, the word is used to mean ‘pertaining to roots”. This makes sense, as the word was taken from Late Latin radicalis, meaning ‘of roots/ about roots/ having roots’. This comes from Latin radix, meaning ‘root’, and was formed from the genitive form radices.

As the roots are perceivably where a plant starts, it started to take on a more figurative meaning of basic’ or ‘origin’ as time went on.

To trace our word further back in time, we will go to another word that also has the same <ahem> root. This is of course radish.

Radish

Radish, meaning the vegetable, can be found in Old English as rǽdic. An example is in Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England:

Syle ðane rǽdic tó þicganne

A radish takes in a muddy place

The source of rǽdic is the same as that of radical: Latin radix. There are a number of cognates in other languages which have allowed us to trace it to Proto-Indo-European and the root *wrad, meaning none other than ‘root’. We can see examples in Greek ρίζα [riza], Gothic waurts, Old English wyrt and wrotan, Welsh gwraidd and others. You can read more on the word root here.

So, does this mean that a radish is radical? Or that if you are radical you are really a radish?! On the first point, given that a radish is a root, you could describe it as radical in the sense in which the word first entered English, although perhaps not with today’s generally understood meaning. The jury is still out on the second point!

A Springtime Poem

Season’s Turn

A chill lies upon the silent ground

The last tendrils of winter, ruling still.

But a sound breaks through the air,

A flutter of wings, a twig falling from a beak,

In a flash of blue-black and white

The swallow chirrups, calling in the change

And Change answers!

The sun peeps from behind the clouds

Green shoots burst up from below

A freshness is upon us, banishing the chill

With the promise of brighter skies,

Young buds, nests of feathered song

A warm dance of life;

Spring

This is my entry for this month’s Salt and Caramel Writer’s Workshop

Jumping into Books!

I did tell you that launch was used to mean Jump! How very appropriate for our new venture with Jump Magazine, which is now launching its first books! Check them out here!

Let’s start with my own:

Fed up with passive literary girls? Had enough of stereotypes? Try this girl-positive story, featuring Lucy, who is limited only by her mobile signal!

By Millie Slavidou

Lucy Evans, InstaExplorer

Book One: The Olympias Clue

Book Two: Dragon’s Rock

Book One: Follow the adventures of Lucy, our hi-tech explorer, as she wields an i-Phone through exciting archaeological discoveries in sunny Greece, in a corner not much frequented by the British tourist.

Book Two: Lucy goes on holiday to sleepy Wales. Only it’s not as sleepy as she expected, and a chance find sends her into the heart of a thrilling kidnap case

Release date: Monday 9th December

 

Also coming soon on Jump Mag!

 

By Samantha Gouldson

12 Science Words

That don’t mean what you think they do

This is a great little vocabulary booster, aimed at explaining to children that words they may already know, such as “proof”, can have a different meaning from what they have learnt when used in a scientific context. Written in a clear, concise manner, this is a great way to introduce children to this concept.

Release date: Monday 9th December

 

Forthcoming in 2015 via Jump Mag: 12 Women Explorers You’ve Never Heard Of

A great look at history via less well-known figures. Well-researched and written in a style designed to attract children and interest them in the past, in language that they can understand but that does not patronise them.

The Contronym

Contronyms, words that have separate meanings that are the opposite of each other, can be a great source of amusement. There are many in English, but I have selected just a few in my article for Jump Magazine. You can read all about them here:

 

The Contronym, a Word that Bends Over Backwards

Blue Moons

Once in a blue moon

The first question to ask on examining this expression is simple; what is a blue moon anyway? And why call it blue?

The first part is not too much trouble to answer. A blue moon is very simply the second full moon to occur in a calendar month. Not something we see very frequently.

So why do we call it blue? Perhaps because it sounded absurd and added to the sheer unlikelihood of something happening. However, although of course the moon doesn’t turn blue if it happens to be a full moon twice in one calendar month, there are some things that can make the moon appear blue.

Massive volcanic eruptions can throw dust or smoke high up into the Earth’s atmosphere, and as the moonlight passes through the tiny dust or smoke particles, it can appear bluish. Fortunately, these volcanic eruptions are also very rare, which only adds to the effectiveness of the expression!

There are some lovely expressions in other languages about rare or unlikely events. Here are just a few. Welsh has unwaith yn y pedwar amser, which means “once in the four seasons”, or once a year, if you like. German is a little less optimistic, with Das kommt alle Jubeljahre einmal vor, translating as “it comes around in the Jubilee year”. You can also use Schaltjahr instead of Jubeljahre, in which case it would be “leap year”.

I have to admire the gloriously humorous expressions from Spanish and Italian; cada muerte de obispo; “every time a bishop dies” from Spanish, and going higher up in authority; ogni morte di papa; “every time a pope dies” from Italian. Just wonderful!

From Slovenia comes a lovely expression which really implies that it will never happen, even if it could, a feeling I am sure we are all familiar with; ob svetem nikoli, which means “On Saint Never’s.”

Finally, in Greek there are two expressions that spring to mind. The first is του αγίου ποτέ, (tou ayiou pote), which means “on Saint Never’s Day”, just as the Slovenian expression does. The second expression is στη χάση και στη φέξη (sti hasi kai sti fexi). Although the word φέξη is no longer used outside of this expression, its meaning is still clear. It is the only expression outside of English on my list to refer to the moon. It means “at the waxing and waning”.

 

Many thanks, as ever, to @KnightGhost for her help with the Slovenian