Option #5: Choose Your Own Text
I translated into BookBuilder a children's book that I wrote during my undergraduate senior year for a class called "Anthropology as Public Engagement". The book is called "A Deep-Ocean Ordeal: Whales Like Different Meals!," and its purpose is to get kids thinking about how their social landscapes affect the ways in which they perceive and interact with others.
In summary of the book, a group of orcas holds a party and serves a banquet of fish. The blue whales at the party become offended because they don't eat fish. With the help of a sea turtle, the blues realize that they were being culturally insensitive, since the orcas had no way of knowing they didn't eat fish and were trying to be gracious hosts. The blues use an anthropological lens to realize that the differences in the species' cultural backgrounds caused the mix-up, which allows them to retain their friendship with the orcas.
The goal of the book is to help kids recognize the role of culture in shaping their relationships. Ideally, they will use this as a lens for understanding why people might act in ways that seem strange to them and that this should not necessarily alienate them from each other.
In considering the composition of this book, I tried to employ principles of Universal Design for Learning such that a wide audience is able to access this text. I used large text (this can accomodate low-vision readers and also students who are newer to reading and like to be able to see individual words clearly) and every person has the option of using the voice-reader to access the text. This could be helpful to a student with dyslexia or anyone who enjoys or needs to be read to for some reason. Students on the younger end of the suggested-age spectrum might benefit from having this book read to them because they might recognize more of the words if they were spoken to them than if they encountered them in text.
I used the coaches in a few different ways-- for one, they help explain some of the plot elements of the book, such as the rhyme scheme. This allows students to not just learn what is happening in the story but how the book was written. I also employed the coaches to ask questions, the goal of which is to keep kids engaged, thinking critically, and exploring the ways in which some of the ideas in this book relate to their own lives.
Users can click on some of the more difficult words (which are underlined) to access the definition. I am also hoping that the colorful, bold pictures are helpful in representing the text; this could be useful to students who best process information visually but aren't proficient readers.
Copyright © Debbie Merzbach 2011
It was a big day far out in the ocean
The orca whales started a giant commotion
“We’re throwing a party!” they hummed to the whales
“Everyone is invited! Please come; set your sails!”
A deep ocean party is really quite fun
There’s music and dancing-- and food?
There’s a ton!
Whales get so excited; they love celebration
Just being a whale causes much jubilation
They fancied up quick; polished fins,
brushed baleen
No one wants to show up to a party unclean
To the grotto the whales all purposefully swam
It looked like an oversized-fish traffic-jam
The orcas greeted their just-arrived guests
With a wave of a flipper welcomed them to the fest
The party was off to a very good start
With whales swimming and talking
of seaweed and art
A little bit later, an hour at least
The whales gathered together in time for their feast
There were platters stacked high with piles of fishes
The orca whales’ very most favorite of dishes
There were fish that were purple
and fish that were blue,
Fish that were large
and a dolphin or two
The blue whales whispered “no!” and “this cannot be right”
They’d never had fish, never eaten a bite
Blue whales only eat krill filtered through their baleen
To be served a dolphin they thought was plain mean
They nibbled the tails and smiled politely
But inside, the blue whales had stomachaches slightly
Back at home, later on, the blue whales were whining
“How could they provide us with such awful dining?”
They were mad at the orcas and kept on complaining
Until a sea turtle swam by for explaining
A very old creature, wise and shell-plated
Helped tell them about the fish that they’d hated
“You see,” said the turtle, in a voice deep and slow “Orcas love fish; it’s their favorite, you know”
To an orca, some tuna’s a delicious snack
You love your krill, but they love amberjack
The orcas weren’t trying to insult or offend you
The opposite’s true, their goal was to befriend you!
Then the turtle glided away with one last knowing wink
The blue whales gathered together to think
They had no reason to gripe anymore or feel cruddy
Their cultural backgrounds were an object of study
In why each group’s taste preferences differed, alas
Blues had always liked krill, orcas always sea bass
“Aha!” Thought the blues, “we can be good pals”
They’re different from us, but we all still are whales!
We all want to swim around happy and free,
If you like to eat marlin, that’s OK by me.
The End
Facts: Orcas
Orcas are also called “killer whales”
Orcas are 23 to 32 feet long—about as long as a small bus
Orcas can weigh up to six tons
Orcas eat fish, seals, sea birds, squid, and even other whales
Facts: Blue Whales
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on earth
Blue whales can be 100 feet long and weigh 160 tons
Blue whales make a lot of different sounds or “calls” to communicate with each other
Blue whales can swim as fast as 30 miles per hour
Blue whales can live to be as old as 90
Blue whales eat about 4 tons of food every day
Facts: Sea Turtles
There are many different types of sea turtles
Sea turtles are reptiles
Green Sea Turtles can grow up to five feet long
Green Sea Turtles can weigh as much as 600 pounds
Sea turtles eat plants, algae, sponges, crabs, and jellyfish
The largest type of sea turtle is called a “Leatherback.” Leatherbacks can dive to depths of 4,200 feet.
About the Author
Debbie studies anthropology at Colby College in Maine. She loves running, bicycling, hiking, and snowshoeing! Another one of Debbie’s favorite activities is sea kayaking, and she thinks it would be cool to kayak with whales someday.