The French Kindergarteners have been discussing the topic of gender identity in class. They explored and shared their ideas about what qualifies as boys’ clothes or girls’ clothes, boys’ haircuts or girls’ haircuts. The students talked about this social construct and how it is important to be open minded when meeting people who look and dress differently.
As part of their discussions, the class recently read the book My Princess Boy, by Cheryl Kilodavis, to the class in English. At the end of the book, one student suggested that the class buy and read the French version of the book. Since there were none available for purchase, the class decided to recreate the book in French as a class project and spent a week bringing this idea to life.
The students were each assigned a page of the book to work on translating; then, they typed up their text using an iPad. Finally, they recreated the illustrations for their pages before putting it all together and donating the book to the Library.
“The French Kindergarten class proudly surprised me with their gorgeous handpainted version of My Princess Boy. I was so moved to hear them explain how they collaborated and divvied up the jobs, between creating the beautiful illustrations and translating the text. It is remarkable how much careful attention the children paid to staying true to the style of the original illustrations. The students eagerly asked me if I could put their book in the Library and, naturally, I agreed. I will catalog it, making sure that their names are accessible as authors, and barcode it. I am quite impressed by this project and proud of the students.” Maria Falgoust, ISB Librarian
