Lonely children often withdraw inward and create imaginary worlds of their own. Wesley, the main character of Weslandia, created a safe haven and a private kingdom as a summer project. Wesley is misunderstood by his parents and hassled by his classmates because he refuses to conform to their expectations.
Unlike Jess in the Bridge to Terabethia and Harry Potter from the books by J.K. Rowling, Wesley approaches his fantasy kingdom without fear. He does not empathize with his fears nor does he fear their teasing. Wesley is a true pioneer in a child’s world.
Wesley’s transformation from class nerd to a junior Bill Gates is illustrated in bold colors. After all, he is one bold kid! Wesley is innovative as he creates an entire civilization and culture.
I was pleased to find a number of web sites on the Internet that contained lesson plans for Weslandia. One web site in particular, http://web.syr.edu/~jjvizthu/weslandia.htm, is very thorough, and I plan to try it with my students. Additional ways to use Weslandia in the classroom could be vocabulary study, a unit on respecting diversity or promoting individualism, or having the courage to resist peer pressure.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I really enjoyed this book for the message it had to offer about how it's not bad to be different and that we need to accept everyone's differences and respect eachother. This book would be a great addition to any classroom. I'm glad you provided a website that has possible ideas to relate the book to the classroom as well as other ways you came up with to use the book in the classroom. I'll have to check out the website!
Post a Comment