Now challenges are everywhere and the all the stakes have been heightened. A playground bully might pull out a gun and sex education includes warnings of how unprotected sex could lead to death. There's so much more children need to know about just to survive. Issues as weighty as juggling the challenges of individual students in overcrowded classrooms, placating overbearing parents. Not to mention the bother of small, aggravating challenges like making your allotted paper last until the end of the year.
Books can help.
They can open discussions so that children can voice the worries they have about the challenges that face them. They can show heroes and heroines who take on difficulties and persevere. Maybe most important they can provide an island of safety where for a short time, classes can forget the challenges surrounding them, and find comfort together. When the men of Nanta's Maasai village search for a lion, young Nanta initiates a hunt of her own. The book is a great teaching tool, as Masaai habitats and animals are presented within the context of story.