'A Forest of Fables': The Journey<\/p>\n
The process we went through in making our book A Forest of Fables
\nwas very interesting, but also long and involved. The project was
\noriginally designed as a meaningful class activity for my class
\nof Grade 5 students at SD Mentari, South Jakarta, which
\nintegrates English, science and geography.<\/p>\n
The project's aim was to encourage the students to write
\ncreatively about Indonesian animals and to learn about the
\nprocess authors go through in writing and publishing a book.<\/p>\n
The students read a wide variety of fables from around the
\nworld, and they began to understand that a fable is a story with
\nanimal characters that has a message or a moral to help children
\nlearn right from wrong.<\/p>\n
They then researched the animals that live here in Indonesia
\nand chose which animal characters they would like to feature in
\ntheir very own fables. Following this preliminary work, the
\nstudents wrote their original fables based on a moral of their
\nchoice.<\/p>\n
Having written the fables, the students illustrated their
\nstories themselves and we went on a visit to Jakarta Books to
\nlearn about book-making and to collaborate with them in
\npublishing A Forest of Fables.<\/p>\n
The book was published upon the generous donations from
\nparents and our school board, and we agreed that all the proceeds
\nfrom the book would go to charity for children in Aceh, who have
\nsuffered so greatly from the tsunami.<\/p>\n
Once we had the go-ahead to publish our book, Jakarta Books
\nand I sent rough drafts of the book back and forth several times,
\neventually ending up with the version that was printed.<\/p>\n
We sent it to the printers in April and started to sell it at
\nthe end of April to people in our school community. We are very
\nproud of the book, because it is our way of being able to help
\nchildren who are much less fortunate than ourselves.<\/p>\n
The entire process of producing A Forest of Fables has been a
\ngreat learning experience for us all, and hopefully, this book
\nwill also inspire other children to love reading and want to
\nwrite stories of their own.<\/p>\n
-- Ann Hutchinson
\nTeacher, Grade 5, SD Mentari<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-forest-of-fables-the-journey-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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