Educational Use: Empathy for Others
We need to stop thinking about children’s books as child’s play and acknowledge that the body of children’s literature reflects issues that reside at the core of our culture. Children deal with these issues seriously through their reading and learning.
(Burke, Carolyn L., Copenhaver, Joby G. 2004. Animals as People in Children's Literature, Language Arts, 81:3.)
Talking about the story with school children: For Parents, Teachers, Librarians
Using this book in the classroom provides students with an opportunity for the articulation of inner life and the exploration of empathy that are central to social-emotional literacy.
As a teaching tool, this book’s range is broad. Even children who have not suffered the kinds of family and relational insults as Littleprints may certainly have shared some of his fears, confusions, and curiosities. Reading Where’s Home? they can question what children deserve, what they need, what they feel. They may then come to reflect on their own stories.
The following ideas are to promote discussions about the inner world of feelings. No feeling is right or wrong, but being able to name our feelings gives us a power over impulse and confusion. To slightly paraphrase Viktor Frankl: Between having a feeling and responding to it, there is a space. “In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
SOME IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION:
What does Littleprints mean by “filling up with sunshine”? Why didn’t he know the name for the way he felt? What does he do/ other kittens do when he’s/they’re afraid/upset/confused? What did Littleprints do when he was afraid at the beginning of the story? What did he do at the end when he was afraid? Why didn’t he do this at the beginning?
Think about times you’ve been really scared. Who helped you in your fear? What did they do? What helped? What kinds of things do people do when they feel bad inside? How do you know the difference between different yucky feelings?
What do you do when you’re upset? Angry? Others in your family? What is okay and isn’t okay? How do people/kids learn these things? What do children need and deserve? What is a family? Why do people need to belong in a family of some sort?
What is empathy? Where in the story do characters show empathy for each other? Why does it make a difference? What about Bucky? What could help him?
Can you feel more than one thing at a time?
Why does the narrator keep reminding us that nobody “knew what to expect?” What is the purpose of expectation? What kind of expectations could the kittens form in their early lives? What are ways that the Cools give some structure and predictability to their kittens’ lives? Do you think this helped Littleprints? What did they do that was different from what he’d known?
Other questions arise:
What does HOME mean to you? What does it mean to Littleprints?
Why does the story end by inviting the participation of the reader?
What makes the Nice Mice think something is wrong at the Bob Cats’?
Why do you think Ma Cat was in such a bad mood?
Many children have fantasized about living with someone else. Have you? Make up a story about how you would go somewhere else.
How do you understand Littleprints’ dream?
Why do you think the characters have the names they do?
How can relationships get broken?
What does the green box mean to Littleprints?
What does the marble symbolize? Do you have a special object or treasure that feels magic to you in some way?
What is a story about you?