Rami's Book: The Inner Life of a Child. - book reviews

Rami's Book: The Inner Life of a Child

Rami Vissell

This is a beautiful book. It has pictures on almost every page -- photographs of Rami (who is II) and her animals, as well as her own crayon drawings of plants, animals, and angels. The first letter of every chapter is decorated, and there are little fairies scattered all over the place.

The nine chapters are about nature, learning how to be brave and how to talk to strangers, fairies, gnomes, angels, Rami's sister "in the heaven world," families, and the importance of loving yourself.

Rami's sister Mira (who is six) wrote and illustrated a page in the "Families Are Wonderful" chapter. Rami's parents, in their foreword, put quotation marks around the word wrote when explaining this, but it is my opinion that she wrote it as truly as most lawyers and businessmen write their material. Because Mira did not know how to put her words on paper, she dictated them to her mother, who wrote down exactly what she said. After all, what is writing if not using words to communicate our thoughts to one another?

I hope the examples of Rami and Mira will inspire other children to write books such as this one. Children writing about their lives helps adults remember their own childhoods. Also, as more children write about themselves, adults will start to realize that we are not all the same and should not be treated as though we were.

Rami has already illustrated her parent's book, The Shared Heart, and helped write and illustrate their Models of Love. I hope she will continue to write and illustrate in the future.

Reviewed by Vita R. Wallace (14), a homeschooler who lives and learns with her family in Ithaca, New York.

COPYRIGHT 1989 Mothering Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group