Migrations: Open Hearts. Open Borders.

Migrations: Open Hearts. Open Borders.

“Hope is the thing with feathers – that perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words And never stops – at all”

Migrations: Open Hearts. Open Borders, is a small selection of hundreds of illustrations sent in by postcard by children’s book authors from all around the world.

Intended for an exhibition, the call was put out to authors and illustrators to design a postcard that represents how they see the issue of migration. Many of these postcards were first shown in September 2017 at an exhibition in Bratislava.

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Each postcard shows a bird of some type, on the move. This bird shows the importance of those hundreds of thousands of migrants who must move away from their homeland every year to find somewhere safer to live – not always knowing where that might be.

 

The book is broken up into two sections: Arrivals and Departures and each picture and message that follows in that chapter shows what hope, change and the unknown can do.

Each double page can be mused upon and used as springboards into discussions, lessons and action.

You can question the importance of grassroots action, small kind gestures and people power.

You can look at how a simple image or quote can resonate within your soul and invoke hope, protest or desperation.

Children will love seeing the different interpretations of this concept and reading the quotes that match. 

They may feel inspired to find out more about who the migrants of the world are and how they can help them.

If anything, bringing about an awareness that people like this do exist in our world is important, and this book does just that.

Avoid the supermarket and buy fresh, organic produce here:

 

Lesson ideas

  • Create your own postcard using the theme of migration. 
  • Explore the different pathways migratory birds around the world make each year. Explore what is threatening their movement and safety. Compare this to the people of the world.
  • Explore who is migrating each day in our world and why. 
  • Ask: Is migration necessary? And ponder the statement: Migration should be stopped immediately.
  • Compare and contrast the different ways people migrate and explore why these exist. Create the best way for migration to occur after understanding why people need to migrate each day. 

Testimonials – Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Vanessa Ryan-Rendall
2021-05-17T03:33:47+00:00

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra. Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Author Visit: Jack and Jill Kindergarten Berowra

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2021-04-21T02:54:08+00:00

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 


Georgie Donaghey

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book.

Georgie Donaghey

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2020-08-01T07:42:45+00:00

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book. Georgie Donaghey