The Storyteller | Mary Vee

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie I heard an excellent presentation given by novelist Chimamanda Adichie on NPR. If, by the end of this post, I have intrigued you to want to listen to her 18 minute presentation, click on this link:  Novelist Chimamanda Adichie's presentation This post is based on that interview. Chimamanda Adichie grew up in Nigeria, Africa. Her parents were educators and passed their love for learning on to their daughter. At a very young age, Chimamanda showed a love for reading and writing.  The books she read were mostly English books containing characters with yellow hair, who saw snow, rejoiced over a day without rain, and drank ginger beer. These stories formed her first impressions of what to write in her own books including characters with yellow hair, who saw snow, rejoiced over a day without rain, and drank ginger beer. Yet, Chimamanda and those around her had beautiful chocolate skin and black hair that could not be pulled back in a...

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.com Last Sunday, in a local buffet style restaurant packed with patrons fresh from church or other activity, a young family sat at a table across from us.  The mom helped her children get their plates and food, while the dad filled his plate. He then sat with the children while mom went back for her food.  The two curly top little ones did not have an interest in eating. The twelve-month-old twisted in his seat and sang, gibbered, bubbled raspberries, and looked around. The three-year-old played with his food. Mom came back to the table and smiled at her crew. She leaned over to her three-year-old and said, "Would you like to have a cheeseburger?" He replied "Like to I would have a cheeseburger," using the same question tone his mother had. He smiled, took the cheeseburger she offered, and ate.  His imitation of mom earned a ten on the cute scale. Imitation is a form of learning ...