Ok, you guys - you know what time it is! It’s time for Mrs. Lisa to read another book to your sweet little bookworms! And this week I pulled a book out of my super-special-uber-precious-mommy-stash to share with your little ones. I think they’re gonna have a great time laughing at with me this time! If there’s one thing I’m good at - it’s the goofiness! So let’s just get on with it, shall we?

It’s time for our second installment of Bookworm Storytime! This is fun - I’m having fun making these videos! I hope your kids enjoy watching them. Let me try to explain why this is so cool for me. When you order a My Very Own Mail package from me for your child, I do my very best to talk ‘to them’ in my letters. And I very much enjoy that, but, it’s not the same as if they were with me. And sometimes I find myself trying to explain something or convey something in the letters that would just work better in person. Do you know what I mean?

So in making these videos, the surprising thing for me has been that I am loving getting to really talk to your kids! It is so cool! I knew I wanted to do this on the blog for a while, and I knew it would be neat for you and your kids and maybe even for me, but, I just didn’t realize that it would satisfy the urge I have to really communicate with ‘my bookworms’! So that rocks! And I think I’ll be doing it for a while, whether it goes over big or not, simply to fulfill that need that I have!

This week’s book is called What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz and my reading of it is dedicated to a special six year old girl - JK’s daughter!

The HERO Youth Ambassador Program is a great program that teaches young people unbelievably valuable life lessons that will stay with them forever and may possibly have a big impact on the direction their lives take! And the program is now looking for twenty students from the USA and Canada, ages 16-19, to be selected as 2008 HERO Youth Ambassadors. Young people have until March 1st to apply for the program.

The kids who are accepted will travel to Africa to provide support to children living in AIDS/HIV-affected areas. They will work in the schools, building kitchens, painting murals, and teaching the children. They will also do things like build fences and take over necessary things that might be difficult for the children to get over there - even such simple things as pencils.

You can read more about the program here: Rockin’ Teen Ambassadors! These kids are really awesome, and I am very impressed with all of them. And they are great for giving up their summers for the program, and for the African children. I also think, however, that one of the teens said it perfectly when she said that they would not only be giving, but, also receiving! So true, so true. These teens will come back changed, for sure!

And if you don’t know any teens that would interested in applying, there are many more ways to get involved and be a HERO at home!

The part that really got me excited about the program was watching the HERO Ambassador Webisodes on Youtube - it was really neat to get to know the kids and actually see the work they were involved in. And you get to see what the journey was like getting there. I found it very interesting, and I’m glad that they documented it - there’s no better way to get kids pumped about joining than letting them see what is involved.

A lot of these kids are about to start college. Can you imagine a better way to start your college years? So many kids go nutters once they leave high school/go to college - I’m pretty sure these kids come back and have their feet firmly planted on the ground - what do you think?

I recently watched this DVD, The Jewish Americans, and I absolutely loved every minute of it! And it was six hours long! It is a 3-part series, that is why it is so long. And I have to say, that I am rather embarassed, about how much I actually learned from the documentary. I’m thrilled to have learned so much about the history of Jewish people in America, but, I am quite disappointed that I knew so little about their experiences here in the ‘new country’.

I do not remember having learned about Jewish people inhabiting the early-American colonies, but, Sephardic Jews began coming to America in the mid 1600’s. The Jewish people coming over here wanted to assimilate themselves into the culture here, and yet, they also wanted to hang onto and still practice their Jewish faith and way of life. Many of them found this process very difficult - they felt as though they were being pulled in two directions, but, they adapted to their new lives here, even wearing American clothing.

They began to build synagogues, and that I found very cool. (I actually have a synagogue near me that is over 100 years old - it’s very beautiful.) One of the synagogues, though, I think in Rhode Island, was built to match the style of the buildings in the town. And then on the inside, Judaism was ‘loudly’ celebrated in the design and the layout. I was a little saddened by this, as they were working so hard to blend in, they felt they could only be themselves on the inside. I thought that was kind of a bummer.

Another interesting thing that I learned about was the participation by the Jews in every war that America has been through. During the civil war, the men who joined the military in the North, didn’t really know too much about slavery and they didn’t join to fight slavery. As they traveled farther north, during the war, though, they began to experience the horrors of slavery first hand. They realized how awful it was, and wanted desperately to free the slaves. And during the first world war, they didn’t know anything about the concentration camps. Someone told one soldier, along with his fellow soldiers, there is a ‘Jewish camp’ over there, the way they were directly headed. They wondered what the heck that person meant when he said, ‘Jewish camp’. When they came upon the first camp, they were absolutely horrified. I can’t imagine having found out like that. I had never thought about how Allied soldiers first found out about the concentration camps. Of course, finding out in any way had to be just terrible, but, I think being there, out in the field…oh, it’s just awful.

After the war, though, the most WONDERFUL thing happened. It was just four short months after the war, and a lovely young lady from New York, who just happened to be JEWISH - won the title of Miss America. I absolutely had chills watching this part of the films. This was, of course, the first time that a Jewish girl had won. What a wonderful affirmation of American Jews being fully integrated into our society - and welcomed, loved, and supported. Yes, it’s not of earth-shattering importance - the Miss America pageant, but, it was a symbol. And it meant a lot - to a lot of people.

That last paragraph reminded me of another thing I learned, too. A lot of Jews in America prefer to be called American Jews, and not Jewish Americans. One lady explained that, even though she loves the USA, she could picture herself living in England, or in Australia, for instance, but, she could never picture herself not being Jewish. They said - “It’s the noun!”

I really, really loved this documentary and I know that I will watch it again and again and learn something new every time. And I will have my children watch it with me, because, I’m sure that American history taught in schools just does not teach much of the Jewish American experience, if at all. I will let them watch it in separate sittings, though. I am sure they would protest six hours. I just loved it so much, though, that I did not want it to end. I was soaking it up like a sponge! And I could go on and on here and tell you about a hundred and fifty more things that I learned, but, you might get sleepy. So I’ll just let you just go watch it yourself. You will love it - there are many interesting people interviewed, and I think that is part of what kept it so interesting. There are regular people, and Hollywood stars, and all kinds of people. Just go watch it - you will see, you’ll love it!

I’m going to try something new around here. We’ll just see how it goes. We might just all have a blast with this! I am going to be reading books to your little sweeties on video! This first book I’m reading is for your itty bitty kids - your preschoolers. My kids used to love this book! You can tell in this picture how much they loved it from its wear and tear.

Snoopy’s Friends/Board Book
The quality of the video gets downgraded when you upload to YouTube, so I’m afraid the kids might not be able to see the pages as well as I would’ve liked. I’m going to definitely have to do some research on that and see if I can make that better.

And now, without further ado, Snoopy’s Friends/Board Book ….

And just for an extra special treat for our “Storytime Grand Opening”, we’ve got a goofy teenager reading the book, too! Who knows, your kids just might like his version better than mine!

I’m going to try and aim for a little bit older of a crowd with my next book! I’ve got a special six year old girl in mind! I’ll have to go digging in Sammie’s room and see what fun books I can find!