Confidence

[Kallen]

The book The Magic Fan by Keith Baker is about a man named Yoshi. Yoshi built everything for his village, in return the villagers were so thankful. One day Yoshi ran out of things to build, and the villagers worried as they waited for Yoshi to think of something. Out of nowhere Yoshi found a magic fan, the fan revealed ideas to build, soon Yoshi depended on the fan to tell him what to build next. After a Tsunami passed in his village, the fan was lost, and Yoshi felt as if his magic was gone too. Suddenly he decides to build his village from scratch, as once he had built the bridge that saved everybody. Through this action, Yoshi found his own magic. This short story contributes to the central theme of confidence as Yoshi was able to realize that his own magic is to build. Through this reading a reader can be encouraged to embrace their own strengths and possibly reflect their own negative thoughts about their level of skills. A reading that relates to this short story book is “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors”, as it discusses the idea of how aware children are and how influential books can be. The reading states “Books can also introduce readers to the history and traditions that are important to any one cultural group, and which invite comparisons to their own” (pg.2). I think this book does a great job with this concept as different cultural values can be represented, such as the value of community and giving back. Although it isn’t mentioned, a reader can understand how different cultures might view social capital and other values differently compared to the dominate perspective.