Cover of Free as a Bird
Free as a Bird
📚
Courage 5th & 6th Grade
By Lina Maslo

Book Guide

Free as a Bird

A story that explores courage and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families
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♥ This book teaches: Courage. doing what is right even when it is hard.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Courage is the willingness to go beyond fear to face a healthy (not foolish) challenge, even though it  could be painful, risky, or end in failure.   In short: Do good, try hard even when it’s scary. Summary: Malala is a world-famous young woman activist from Pakistan. When she was school-age, she had big goals to become a doctor. Those dreams were tragically interrupted when extremists gained control of the government. The new leaders in Pakistan interfered in education for girls, and Malala was violently attacked when she tried to go to school. She recovered, moved to England where she pursued an education and gave speeches to leaders around the world, defending basic human rights, especially the right to an education for all.    Lesson Objectives: 
  1. This story could be linked to a unit on social studies comparing human rights in Pakistan to human rights where the student(s) lives.  
  2. Students discuss why opportunities for education are important to all children, including themselves.  
  Guiding Questions: 
  1. Why do you think people thought it was more important to be born a boy than a girl in Pakistan? Do you think that’s fair? 
  2. How did Malala’s father encourage her? 
  3. What was life like for girls and women in Pakistan? 
  4. What happened in Pakistan that interrupted Malala’s schooling? 
  5. Why were Malala and her father threatened? 
  6. Why did Malala move to England? 
  7. Describe what Malala talked about in her speeches.
  8. If you’ve ever had to speak in front of a group of people, what was it about and were you nervous? 
  9. Imagine you aren’t afraid anymore of giving a speech - all your nervousness disappeared magically. What would you like to talk about? 
  10. Do you think that all boys and girls in every part of the world should be able to go to school and get an education? Explain your answer. 
 
🌿   Virtue Connection: Courage means acting on what is right even in the presence of fear.

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

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