Children’s Book Week and spreading knowledge

The first children’s book week in the 2021-2022 school year has officially begun. This is an opportunity for students to spend more time exploring and building a love of books so that reading becomes a habit.

At PennSchool, a reading culture is encouraged to help students understand the benefits of reading and build a love of reading at an early age.

One of the activities implemented in the Reading Week is the Book Review. At different ages, students will have different book choices, however, all students are aware of the importance of reading.

With Doan Hoang Bao Thy – B7, reading books has many benefits. “Gustave Le Bon – a French psychologist once said: “A good book gives us a good thing, as a good friend also makes the same one”. From time to time, books are the endless treasure of human knowledge. Reading is a good habit for everyone. The values of each book page will help people to expand their understanding of the world, humanity, or train each individual’s thinking.

And the book that Bao Thy would like to share with everyone this week is titled “Atomic Habits” by author James Clear. “… surely everyone will be wondering about the element “Atomic”, does it have anything relevant to human habits?… When I first saw the title of the book, I thought this was a book about Chemistry. But it is not! Interestingly, the author uses the name of a Chemistry unit to indicate people’s habits in life. Atomic are small particles that exist in all forms of matter…

… From borrowing the name Atomic, the author would like to compare it with small activities, repeated daily in our lives. If done only a few times, those positive actions will make almost no difference… The book doesn’t talk about what habits you should have but focuses on how to establish these habits. And although the improvement of 1% is only a small change, just increasing 1% per day, the effect of the habit will improve up to 37 times after a year. He writes, “Habit is the dual benefit of self-improvement” and “You are what you repeat.” On the contrary, if your good habits fall down 1% a day, your failures will become worse… Besides, Atomic Habits also teaches us how to build good habits and decline bad habits. James Clear says that all of our habits follow a 4-step habit loop, including suggest, desire, response, and reward. He explains practical techniques for us to achieve lasting personal change…”

Through this book, Bao Thy can receive its value with useful lessons and provides great value, while helping readers develop and improve themselves.

Different from book categories about the life skills of Bao Thy, a cute girlfriend with the nickname “nerd” Huynh Ngoc Cat Tuong, class 4A immersed her passion with novels. During this reading week, Cat Tuong chose for herself the English series Dragon Masters by Tracey West. “The book series tells the adventures of kids and dragons. I have read almost the entire book series because I find it very thrilling. I often read a few volumes at night before bedtime. Every time when I finish reading a volume, I feel like dragons, adventures… are appearing in front of my eyes. I’m always thinking about the ending, so I try to read it as fast as possible.”

Through reading books, Cat Tuong has learned a lot of interesting things. “Reading books really helps us a lot. It helps develop imagination, besides, the style of the book you read will help you write better. Reading is also a great entertainment tool, not inferior to any computer, iPad or game. It also helps you relax and provides a lot of useful information. You should let your mind follow the words in the book. Since then, you will begin to imagine screens on each page. That’s also why every time I read, I forget everything and almost be attracted to the book. If you want to read books effectively, you should start with a book that is short, funny and has lots of pictures. Do not choose books that are too difficult to read because they can make you bored quickly. You should relax and think about your story.”

With Nguyen Ngoc Thien Kim, class B5A, she chose Vietnamese fairy tales to introduce in the Reading Week. That is the story “Snail Fairy” by author Phan Thi Thanh Nhan, a story about kindness.

“Through this story, I understand that only when everyone treats others sincerely, then we can live happily. You can see that books give us knowledge and valuable lessons, helping us to become more and more mature. Hopefully, after reading my sharing about Vietnamese Fairy Tales, you will find motivation in reading the book.”

Former US President Barack Obama once said: “Reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you.” The world from books always gives us beautiful souls, life lessons through many different perspectives. Books are like invisible teachers that guide us to learn and grow.

Through these activities, PennSchool students will become people with beautiful souls and build a lifelong love of books.