The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule
Author: Ilene Cooper
Illustrator: Gabi Swiatkowska
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 081090960X
ISBN-13: 978-0810909601


Recommended for Kindergarten-Grade 5.

This gentle little story is about a little boy who asks his grandfather what it is the Golden Rule. His grandfather’s explanation as well as the boy’s deeper questions make up the book. I loved that the grandfather’s explanation was so simple, yet detailed. He tells the boy that the Golden Rule is mentioned in many religions and cultures, from Christianity to Hinduism to the Shawnee tribe, have their own variations and proceeds to cite where that rule can be found.

The nameless boy questions is grandfather more, wondering what the world would be like if everyone, even whole countries practiced the Golden Rule and that got me thinking. What if? Wouldn’t it be wonderful? The grandfather’s answer “It starts with you” got me thinking even more. I think I’ll be a lot more careful after reading this book.

The beautiful paintings of the boy and his grandfather with their solemn faces that gaze at you are reminiscent of those old icons in churches. The boy looks positively angelic. The pages have a golden tinge and everything is simply stunning. The Golden Rule is a beautiful way to help parents teach a very important lesson and be reminded of it themselves. The fact that the book is deliberately non-denominational makes it all the more compelling.

Book Description from the publisher:

This book is a gentle reminder of a timeless rule for parent and child: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.Everyone knows a version of the Golden Rule. But what does it really mean? And how do you follow it? In this gorgeously illustrated book, a grandfather explains to his grandson that the Golden Rule means you “treat people the way you would like to be treated. It’s golden because it’s so valuable, and a way of living your life that’s so simple, it shines.” And though it may be a simple rule, it isn’t easy to follow. Fortunately, following the Golden Rule is something everyone can do, which means that every person—old or young, rich or poor—can be a part of making the world a better place.

Books for Young Learners

Usually I write reviews of books that I’ve liked and wanted to recommend but today I have a whole series of books to recommend – Books for Young Learners by Richard C. Owens Publishers. This is also the publisher of the marvelous Meet the Author series (see full reviews on three of them on this site).

I have it on good authority, my grandchildren that these books are absolutely wonderful. Jasmine carries hers in her little book bag all the time and is never without her favorites, Perlitas, Mama Cut My Hair, Play Ball and The Changing Caterpillar. Aiden loves Poco’s Garden, a charming tale of a little boy, his grandmother and the garden they are working on.

The books are small for little hands, colorful and bright and the stories are simple and upbeat. Highly recommended!

Description from the publisher:

This ever expanding collection currently contains 168 titles in English in and 82 titles in Spanish. Each year we will publish additional titles in English and titles in Spanish. Books for Young Learners in Spanish are authentic adaptations from English. The English/Spanish Companion Sets, provide the same book in English and Spanish so Spanish-speaking parents can read along as their children learn to read. They are ideal for ESL, LEP and bilingual programs.

The Books for Young Learners collection is a broad literacy frameworkfor developing readers and writers who think critically and communicateeffectively. The collection comprises stand-alone books that increase incomplexity and concepts and complement each other. The individual titlesin the Books for Young Learners collection support teachers in developingthe five essential components for effective reading under Reading First guidelines, as identified by the National Reading Pane.
Books for Young Learners are charming valuable books, appropriate for instructional use with emergent, early, and fluent readers in primary grades.The Books for Young Learners Teacher Resource by Margaret Mooney offersa wealth of information on the unique features of each book. Sample questionsand prompts help teachers introduce and support students through some of the content and some of the skills and understandings that they need whenreading for meaning. Before publishing a book is first trialed in a black and white version with teachers and children in American schools. Results of the trialing lead to refinement in text and illustrations.

The trialing also provides data used to level each book for shared, guided, and independent reading. That information is reflected in the teacher friendlyleveling bar on the back of each book and in the levels and approaches chart.For more detailed information about each book in the collection see the Levels and Approaches Chart. Books for Young Learners offers variety of trim size and formats across many genres of writing. The books are uniformly high quality exploration of topics of interest to young children worldwide. Each month we will include the full text and illustrations of one of our books. Go to the Feature Book Showcase for the sample of our work. Although most of the Books for Young Learners are written by North American authors and illustrated by North American artists, we welcome manuscripts from authors everywhere. See the guidelines for submission before sending manuscripts.