TORRANCE, CA—Halldale Elementary students and faculty were prepared for visiting author Brigitte Benchimol's arrival on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. Benchimol's visit with her first book, Jadyn and the Magic Bubble, Discovering India was sponsored by the Wonder of Reading Visiting Authors Program, which donated books to interested students.
French-born Benchimol varied presentations to the enthusiastic group and provided an opportunity for students to ask questions. Here are a few questions from the interactive sessions.
Halldale Student: What inspired you to write the book?
Brigitte Benchimol: One Saturday morning, I was in my bathtub, reading a magazine and came across this picture in the magazine. I looked at this picture. I thought, wow, where are those bubbles going? What is going to happen? What if he was going with them in a different country, in India? Then the whole story came, the whole series came up at once. I got out of my bathtub, took my robe, ran to the computer, and wrote the whole story. That is how this happened, just because of this picture.
HS: Why did you write the book?
BB: Because I wanted to share my story with you. I wanted to share the story of how fun, how fascinating, and how much we grow when we travel. Some of you didn't travel yet. Maybe it will trigger in you the desire to travel. I want to inspire you to travel. (Benchimol has traveled to 25 countries and speaks three languages fluently.)
HS: Why did you choose India to write about?
BB: It came. It's called inspiration. It just came. I could see the colors of India. India is all about the colors and the smell. I could sense that the moment before I was writing this story.
HS: How come you decided to put love in this story?
BB: Because love is a very important part of life, of my life for sure. The most important part of anybody's life. We love our parents. When we are born, the first thing we do is love someone.
HS: Why did you add the little girl? (shoeless)
BB: Why did I add the poor little girl? Poverty is part of India. I don't want to show you only one side. I want to share as much as I could about India. It is very important when you write a story, there is always conflict. For me the conflict is not outside, it is inside very often. The conflict is that he is fearful; his challenge is to conquer his fear.
HS: Is the silk real?
BB: Yes, this silk is real, 100 percent real. I wanted to give you real silk. The printer sent me a sample. He said, "Do you like that?" I said this was not silk. He said, "This was silk like." I told him that I did not want silk like. I want the children to feel real silk.
HS: Where was your favorite place to go?
BB: My imagination. That's my favorite place to go. I go everywhere. I don't have to make plane reservations or wait for the lines or the security stuff going on.
Benchimol's book has a pull out image of the Taj Mahal, a map showing where India is located and its flag. It also provides questions at the end of the story to help students learn and remember important aspects.
It has samples of silk, paper scented with curry water, recipes, a CD with the story recorded to read along, and three songs from India. The name of two of the main characters, Jadyn and Anil, came from Benchimol's preschool called Love 2 Learn.
Benchimol's next book is titled, Jadyn and the Magic Bubble, I Met Ghandi. The third is about Kenya. The first book is available at the U.N Bookstore in New York. You can find out more about Brigitte Benchimol, her series of books and purchase the book at her website: http://www.jadynandthemagicbubble.com .
Sponsor of the Event
"Books are on the bottom of the list of funding," says April Wind of the Wonder of Reading. Wonder of Reading is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles that inspires struggling children to read, not teach them how to read. They provide assistance to Los Angeles and San Gabriel area schools.
This assistance can be in the form of matching funds for a renovated library or can be in donating books during their Visiting Author Program where students are awarded books by their teachers if they show interest. Students in their reading program, some who may have never had a book of their own, are given three new books at the end of the year.
Wonder of Reading will celebrate their 200th library opening in November 2008.You can visit their web site at http://www.wonderofreading.org to learn how to volunteer to help inspire children to read or to become a donor to help fund their programs.
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