THE SEVEN CHINESE SISTERS by Kathy Tucker is a storybook written in the spirit of the Olympics. Each sister excels in something different, although each sister has 'shining black hair and sparkling eyes. Each stood straight and tall, except for Seventh sister, who was just a baby.'
I love the illustrations by Grace Lin. The story's setting is China, where 'far away, across the bridge, through a forest, and up a mountain lived a terrible dragon.'
The talents of each sister save the baby from being eaten by the nasty dragon, who in the end is befriended by the sisters. (Hint: 'Sixth sister could cook the most delicious soup in the world.' )
I know you are wondering what the other girls could do. 'First sister could ride a scooter fast as the wind. Second Sister knew karate --- kick, chop, hi-yah! Third Sister could count --- to five hundred and beyond. Fourth Sister could talk to dogs. Fifth Sister could catch any ball, no matter how fast and high it was thrown. (Sixth Sister could cook the most delicious noodle soup in the world.) And Seventh Sister? No one was really sure yet what she could do, as she was so little she had never spoke.'
There's lots of surprises in this book. Kenz and I both enjoyed it enough to read it several times. Now she knows it by heart. I also like this book because I have four sisters, counting me there's five of us. And we all shine in our own way. BTW, this is my birthday week and the gifts I've received from them reflect their uniqueness. (More on my sisters in tomorrow's post.)
I stayed up late last night watching men's gymnastics in Beijing. Something the commentators kept emphasizing was that although these guys are all super athletes, there is usually one or maybe two events within the sport where they are the best. One Chinese fellow was strong on the horse and weak on the floor work, nonetheless he won.
This goes to show, even if you excel in an area, you might not be excellent in all parts of it. Still you do your best at it, because it comes with the game, it's part of the territory.
When it comes to my Nursing career, this holds true. Some of the challenges of the job come gracefully and in other tasks where I am less talented, well, I do my best. This way I keep going for the gold.
How can you apply this to you life? Where do you excel?
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4 comments:
You've sold me on this book. I think Elora and I would love it. I also like the concept that we are all different but all have something to offer.
Sounds like a great book. Maybe a bit young for my two, but one Lindsay might enjoy anyway. I like the lesson it teaches. Will have to see if our library has it.
I like how you personalized the lesson. I can think of many ways that it applies to me. In my crocheting for example, there are some things I just can't seem to keep my tension so those are the type of projects I tend to avoid for the most part. There are plenty of other types of patterns I do great with so I'll just leave the personally problemetic ones to others ;-) Then there's cooking. I can cook or bake most anything, but for some reason I haven't been able to master the Angel Food cake. I still try on occasion, but for those times it just has to be perfect, well... fortunately Albertson's isn't too very far away LOL
Good post!
Thanks Jill and Kim's mom for your comments. (I like how you respond to comments Ma Boondock, so I am going to start doing it, too.)
I used to crochet, but I gave it up completely after making a super jumbo afghan for my bed, that I ended up hating. It was itchy and it kept getting bigger, because my stichers were too loose. Before that I made hats and blankets for Kenz. One of the pics on the side of my blog has a picture of her all bundled up in Nana's yarn. Poor thing! Crocheting was not my thing, but I do admire the work of those who love to do it.
Funny thing, just this morning I have been pondering what my talents or skills are. I've been pondering what I do best in life, what I want to be remembered for.
At my age, you'd think that I would know by now . . .
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