A Belated Happy World Hello Day!
Thanks to The Book Chook, I found out today that Saturday was World Hello Day. It’s hard to keep track of all the different special days now commemorated throughout the year but this is one I will stick on the calendar and try and remember for next year: and I shall probably go back and read The Book Chook’s excellent post too!
So how many languages can you say hello in? One book immediately springs to mind that might help, and that is Hello World by Manja Stojic (Boxer Books, 2009), which presents 43 different children saying hello in their language. It’s a vibrant book that we’ll be reviewing soon on the PaperTigers website; I’ll link to the review when we do. In the meantime, just looking at the cover certainly gives a taste of the joys in store… And I’ve just noticed that Rosemary at Rosemary’s Reading Circle has included it as her reading choice too.
The other book that popped into my mind is Michele and Richard Steckel’s photographic feast, The Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood Around the World (Random House, 2004), with images taken from the staggering 23,000+ in the Milestones Project’s collection. I am also one of the lucky 124 million people who has come across the Milestone Project’s traveling exhibit, which is certainly a joy to behold at a noisy, crowded airport…
Both these books bear testimony to World Hello Day’s tenets for diversity, tolerance and peace; and even if the day is already past, those are values that we aspire to every day of the year: so I hope you will also tell us of any recommendations you might have too.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
“Children from Australia to Zimbabwe,” a Global Fund for Children book, reminds us that “if we were to travel around the world, from the largest cities to the most remote corners, we might hear “hello” expressed in more than 2,700 languages!” For a quick lesson, see here.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Wow, that is an amazing number – thank you for those links, Aline.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Great suggestions here – thanks! I’ll try to remember for next year too!
December 14th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Thanks for the mention! I am glad you enjoyed~
December 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Thank you, Book Chook and Rosemary, for helping me find out about World Hello Day in the first place!