Eyes that Kiss in the Corners
Written by Joanna Ho
Illustrated by Dung Ho
East and South East Asian Heritage Month (U.K.)
It’s East and South East Asian (ESEA) Heritage Month in the U.K. This month invites you to explore your historical “roots” by delving into the fascinating stories of your ancestors and the family journeys that have brought you to where you are today. It’s also a month to reflect on your unique “routes” – the journeys you’ve taken or the ones you’ll take.
- – It’s a time to honour and celebrate the diverse and vibrant tapestry of experiences.
- – It’s a time to explore your identity and culture.
- – It’s a time to connect and contribute to your ever-evolving communities.
Looking for events and more information? Visit: ESEA Heritage Month 2023
Book Review
Okay… let’s dive into September’s Book Club Pick!
- 6+
‘Eyes that Kiss in the Corners’ is a book I needed to hear when I was younger. Not too dissimilar to the main character, I grew up in a small town in Australia with my beautiful friends who have “big eyes with long lashes” and “eyes like sapphire lagoons.” My wonderful friends and family have shaped who I am today and I’m so grateful to have them in my life.
This poetic book delves into the path of self-love and self-discovery. It’s a story of love for your family, culture and their journeys.
A young Asian girl realises that her eyes are different to her friends’ eyes. Hers are shaped like her mother’s (Mama), her grandmother’s (Amah) and her little sister’s (Mei-Mei). They have “eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea.” Listening to the stories about her heritage, culture and family, she discovers her path to self-love and feels empowered as she recognises her own beauty. She shares that her eyes carry “tales of the past, and hope for the future.”
This family’s journeys come to life with beautifully detailed illustrations with warm hues and the use of descriptive and figurative language in lyrical prose. This story truly embodies the East and South East Asian Heritage Month’s theme of “Roots/Routes.”
Speech, Language and Communication Areas
Find speech, language and communication areas that you can support using the book “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners.” This month, there’s a focus on higher-level language skills:
- – Fancy vocabulary
- – Inferencing
- – Predicting
- – Explaining and justifying
- – Figurative language
Start with focusing on 1-2 targets that you’d like to focus on and model the chosen targets while looking through the book together. Explain the meaning behind the figurative language and how you draw your conclusions.
If your child is interested in a particular picture or they comment or ask questions, follow their lead by acknowledging their communication, pausing and making your own comments.
Meet your child at their language level. If the text is too lengthy and/or abstract, talk about and describe the pictures using simplified language rather than reading the book word for word. The beautifully illustrated pictures can be used to make up your own story.
Themes
- – Self-love and self-acceptance
- – Female empowerment
- – Family
- – Culture, heritage, and traditions
- – Diversity
- – Asian Representation
Language Areas
10 Vocabulary picks
- Sapphire: deep blue colour
- Lagoons: a small lake next to the sea
- Crescent: a curved c-shape
- Miracle: a wonderful thing
- Serene: calm and peaceful
- Disappear: go missing
- Gazing: lovingly looking or looking in wonder
- Toddles: wobbly steps young children take when learning to walk
- Crinkle: lines in the skin
- Revolution: a sudden change in power
Grammar
- – Present tense verbs: sweeping, dancing, sparkling
- – Plurals: eyes, lashes, mountains, tales, moons, stars
- – Negation: not
- – Possessive nouns: Mama’s, Amah’s
- – Prepositions: on, in, into, onto, beneath, up, through
- – Pronouns: they, their, I, my, her, she, we, ourselves
- – Conjunctions: when, and, until, but, because, while
- – Contractions: don’t
Higher Level Language and Questions
Be mindful of meeting your child at their language level. Try modelling the answers to questions using “I wonder…” statements rather than asking lots of questions. Asking too many questions or placing high demands on your child such as “say [item]” stifles interactions and enjoyment.
Inferring meaning
- – What do you think this book is about?
- – Who might this person be? (e.g., friend, mum, grandma)
- – How are they feeling?
- – Where are they?
- – What might Amah’s stories be about?
- – What season is it?
- – What does the girl think of her family?
- – What’s the main idea?
Make Predictions
- – What might happen next?
- – What happened before this?
Explaining and Justifying
- – How can you tell they are friends?
- – How do you know it’s warm?
Figurative and Descriptive Language Examples
- Smilies: “lashes like lace trim on ballgowns” “glow like warm tea” “eyes sparkling like starlight” “lashes curve like the swords of warriors”
- Descriptive Language: “crescent moons” “two-tooth smile” “big lashes”
- Metaphors: “her eyes are filled with stories” “eyes kiss in the corners” “mountains that reach for the sea”
- Hyperbole: “sees all the way into my heart”
Speech Sound Targets
Pick 1 of the speech sound targets below and ask your child to listen for the particular sound while you talk about the book together. There is no pressure for your child to say the words if they don’t want to. The focus is on developing their attention to the chosen speech sound. The examples below target speech sounds at the beginning of words.
- – g: gold, gazing
- – k: kiss, corners, king, come, carrying, curve, kingdoms
- – f: filled, fall, feel, future, find
- – w: warm, work, window, whirl, warriors
- – s: sapphire, some, sun, see, sitting serene, same
- – l: lagoons, lashes, lace, like, long, laugh, lotus, lychee, look
- – r: reach, read, rise, revolution
- – s clusters: sweeping, swim, starlight, stories, stars, stops, sparkling, scoops, sky, school, smile
- – other clusters: trim, twirl, glow, crinkle, crescent, clouds, floor, flecks, fly, blink, present
Story Areas
Story Stage: 2. Sequence stories
- – Characters: young Asian girl, Mama, Amah, Mei-Mei
- – Events: Relationship with her mama, relationship with Amah, relationship with Mei-Mei, relationships with herself
Book details: Published by Harper Collins
ISBN: 10 – 0062915622
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