Monday, May 17, 2010

Book Sharing Monday - Wee Gillis

We are beginning a small unit on Scotland to go along with the formal introduction of the music of Mendelssohn I have in mind for June.  Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Hebrides (or "Fingal's Cave") Overture are the two pieces I'm planning to highlight first.  So I've been searching for children's books from or about Scotland, and have come across some fun books so far.



The Story of Ferdinand is a favorite in this house, so I was happy to find that that tale's author also wrote a Caldecott Honor book about a boy who tries to decide if he wants to be a Highlander or a Lowlander.  The book begins thusly--
Wee Gillis lived in Scotland.
His real name was Alastair Roderic Craigellachie Dalhousie Gowan Donnybristle MacMac, but that took too long to say, so everybody just called him Wee Gillis.
Like Ferdinand, Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf is a charming book, even if the above sentence took a bit of practice and still made me stumble through it.  : )

Book Sharing Monday is hosted by Serendipity Homeschool.

1 comment:

Jacqui said...

Gosh - I am almost ashamed to admit not knowing this book - despite living in the middle of Scotland, and my father being a piper! I don't think it is a Scottish publication though.
I will be very interested in your Scottish project - I have been to Fingal's cave, and in fact we just recently were in the Hebrides, so there are some photos under that tag on the blog.
check out the Red Hot Chilli Pipers music sometime - maybe Wee Gilles is in there :)