Thanks to The Book Chook, I found out today that Saturday was World Hello Day. It’s hard to keep track of all the different special days now commemorated throughout the year but this is one I will stick on the calendar and try and remember for next year: and I shall probably go back and read The Book Chook’s excellent post too!
So how many languages can you say hello in? One book immediately springs to mind that might help, and that is Hello World by Manja Stojic (Boxer Books, 2009), which presents 43 different children saying hello in their language. It’s a vibrant book that we’ll be reviewing soon on the PaperTigers website; I’ll link to the review when we do. In the meantime, just looking at the cover certainly gives a taste of the joys in store… And I’ve just noticed that Rosemary at Rosemary’s Reading Circle has included it as her reading choice too.
The other book that popped into my mind is Michele and Richard Steckel’s photographic feast, The Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood Around the World (Random House, 2004), with images taken from the staggering 23,000+ in the Milestones Project’s collection. I am also one of the lucky 124 million people who has come across the Milestone Project’s traveling exhibit, which is certainly a joy to behold at a noisy, crowded airport…
Both these books bear testimony to World Hello Day’s tenets for diversity, tolerance and peace; and even if the day is already past, those are values that we aspire to every day of the year: so I hope you will also tell us of any recommendations you might have too.