Through their eyes
Gary Moskowitz
Asked to create a children’s book illustrating a specific
historical event or person from the 20th century, Mikkel Aranas went
out of his way to make a book that younger students would remember.
His pop-up book, “Gods of War,” illustrating the Battle of Britain
during World War II, has images of buildings, airplanes and people
that stand up at the turn of each page.
Mikkel, 16, was one of 68 sophomores in Chris Davis’
English/history/humanities class at Clark Magnet High School who
visited classrooms at Dunsmore Elementary School on Thursday as part
of a class project to teach younger students about history by making
children’s books.
“I kind of waited until the last minute to make it, by mistake,
but they really like it,” Mikkel said.
Clark students rotated between several classrooms, hand-made
children’s books in hand. They read the books then answered
questions.
Topics ranged from stories of German families being reunited after
World War II and Korean families being united at the end of the
Korean War to historical figures like Gandhi.
Vivian Cho and Grace Yi, both 15, talked to Dunsmore students
about the life and times of Eva Peron. Their children’s book was
called “A Lost Love.”
“She was the first woman to have such a strong influence in her
country, and she did so many good deeds,” Vivian said.
Grace added, “It gives them a different learning situation for us
to come here. I think they look up to us a little, so it can make it
significant.”
While second-grader Yung Chung, 8, prefers to read on his own, he
and most of his classmates were anxious for the Clark Magnet students
to arrive.
“I really like to read, especially mystery books, because you
never know what’s going to happen next,” Yung said.