The Big Wave

Abby's school had a "No TV Challenge" during the Literature Week about a month ago.  To participate it, the students need to try to last a whole week without television.  The family also should try not to watch any TV programs in front of the students.  If the students successfully accomplish it, the parents would sign a form to certify it and the students would be rewarded with a book of their choice.

The schools in United States encourage students to read much more than I could remember when I grew up in Taiwan.  Instead of teaching the students to understand the very details of the meanings of the literatures, they encourage the kids to just read more.  They teach the kids how to choose interesting books and the books that fits their reading level and skills.  I wish I had that kind of environment back then.

Anyway, Abby chose this book called The Big Wave, written by Pearl S. Buck.   It was a famous story of a Japanese boy who must face life after escaping the tidal wave destruction of his family and village.  The book won 1948's Children's Book Award of Child Study Association.  It's an interesting story, but might be a bit too cliche for people who grows up in Asia since we have heard too many stories about how people fight against the nature and always live positively.  Pearl S. Buck also won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel The Good Earth, and in 1938 received the Nobel Prize for literature.

In the book, Abby put a sticker in it and gave the book to me.  Thanks girl.