About

Kidview World Books uses literature as a platform for children to engage with other children in the global community.  The second grade children at Tsinghua International School, Beijing, China, the first grade children in House 46 at The Dalton School and the second grade children at The Bombay International School each selected a book that is representative of their culture and will comment about them throughout the year.  Their comments are guided by the following questions:

1. Who is your favorite character, and why did you like the character?
2. What was your favorite part of the book?  Why did you like this part?
3. Did any character change over the course of the story?  If so, how?
4. If the book continued, what would happen next?
5. What did you learn from this book?
6. Did you have any text-to-self connections?

The children at each school read the books selected by the other schools.  Then they read the comments made by the children at the school that selected the book and respond to the entries.  The blog allows for a “comment thread” so that a conversation may ensue.

Kidview World Books interactions have the potential to lead to social-emotional growth.  Participants are exposed to different cultures and ideas through literature and conversation.  By sharing their feelings and ideas about books with a community of readers beyond the walls of the classroom, the children learn to be respectful of other people’s opinions.  They discover that by being open to the ideas of others, they have an opportunity to learn; they also discover that as members of a global community, they have much in common.  Blogging about books is an empowering experience; by commenting about books on the internet, children learn that their thoughts, opinions and ideas matter.

There are academic benefits to Kidview World Books, too.  Publishing comments about books develops critical thinking skills and writing skills. Children are motivated to produce their best work because they are writing for the world. As the children share responses, they broaden their understanding of literature.

It is our hope that Kidview World Books helps children recognize that thinking about books and writing about them are valued endeavors and inspires in them a life-long love of reading.  Most of all, we hope that Kidview World Books will foster an appreciation of other cultures.

Kidview World Books is hosted by The Dalton School, an independent, coeducational school (kindergarten through 12th grade), located in New York City, and created and managed by Camille Ehrenberg, a First Grade Head Teacher.  For more information about The Dalton School, visit our website at http://www.dalton.org.