Exploring cultural differences with picture books
Books are a fantastic way to broaden your experiences and walk a while in someone else’s shoes, as it were. Even children’s books, often thought to be simplistic, can have a deeper meaning and help people of all ages make sense of the similarities and differences we see in the world around us.
Chinchilla Library Officer, Renee, was reading a picture book to her son a few weeks ago, and had her world view altered! Read her story below about her realisation of cultural differences that can make such a difference in the meaning of such a simple story:
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd is a firm favourite in my household – and probably yours too! I’ve shared it many times at Storytime sessions and love the rhymes, especially the dogs’ names. And yet, never had I realised that ‘dairy’ has a second meaning!
My husband (a Kiwi, which I promise is relevant) overhead me reading Hairy Maclary to our son and explaining that a ‘dairy’ is farm where they milk the cows. At this point, my husband interrupted –
Husband: “Well actually, what you’ve got to remember is that Lynley Dodd is a Kiwi. In New Zealand, what you’ve just described is what we’d call a ‘dairy farm’. A ‘dairy’ is a corner store.”
Me: *mind blown*
Me: “But why does it look like Hairy Maclary is coming out of a house?”
Husband: “Because dairies are usually, or at least used to be, a shop front connected to the owner’s house.”
Me: …Madly flipping through the illustrations and re-evaluating everything I thought I knew…
Me: “This actually makes so much more sense.”
Did you know this?! As one of my colleagues commented, “I guess that explains why he’s so close to a bunch of other dogs and the butchers!”.
Have you ever had your mind opened or life altered by a book? We’d love to hear about it!
Dairy
Also a dairy