"33 Family Conversations about the World" offers conversation starters for fun and meaningful family time. Familiar, everyday objects help parents discuss topics like Atmosphere (Apple Peel), Biodiversity (Honey), Agriculture (Perfume), Art (Urinal), Moral Values (Mirror) or Dignity (Camera).
The goal of the book is to show children how everything in the world has relevance for them and how all the things are interrelated. All articles use a "thing" as a hook to start the conversation. The description of the object shows that there is always more beneath the surface than what is immediately obvious. Questions, interesting facts and a graphic at the end of each article let children reflect about how one object is connected to another and initiate discussions about how the world works.
READING SAMPLES
ART
About a hundred years ago, an artist from France named Marcel Duchamp submitted a piece of art to an exhibition. It wasn’t a painting or sculpture, like most works of art at the time; it was a porcelain urinal! Duchamp did not even create it himself — it was purchased from a store. He merely turned it on its side and painted a fake signature on it. What on Earth was he thinking?
EDUCATION
Think about what windows are for: they let light and fresh air into a room, and they let you see the world outside, and when you open them they can make the whole world accessible. Do you feel education does the same? Is school like a window? Will the things you learn open windows for you and let you reach out to the world?
BIODIVERSITY
Can you guess how honey is related to about one third of all the foods we eat?
Honeybees are the main species that helps food-producing plants to pollinate, which means to reproduce. When bees collect honey for the winter months they fly from flower to flower and bring pollen that sticks to their feet from one plant to the next. Bees (along with birds and butterflies) thereby ensure that we have fruits and vegetables to eat. And they ensure that other animals like cows, pigs, and chickens, also have food to eat. Bees keep the world fed!