Nicolas Where Have You Been?

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Nicolas Where Have You Been?

written and illustrated by Leo Lionni (English original

When the young mouse Nicolas sets out across the great meadow alone in search of ripe red berries, he is grabbed up by the claws of a huge bird and carried high into the sky. Through Nicolas’s adventures, he learns to trust the very creatures he thought were his enemies. The story invites us to examine stereotypes, and to listen and think carefully before responding in anger.

Family Activities

Video

Borzok the Mouse goes out to look for ripe red fruits for his mice friends, because there have been shortages recently. His journey turns into an adventure, leading him to meet those creates who he has always assumed were his enemies --birds. Borzok discovers that not all birds are vicious and cause harm to mice and that there is an the two types of animals can co-exist if they listen to each other and try to keep their feelings away from madness and hatred.

Dear Parents,

We share with you some ideas for book-related conversations and activities with your child.

Family Activities

The mice accuse the birds of eating the fruits, so they start shouting and cursing. You can discuss the mice’s hasty assumptions and hot-tempered reaction. What did the mice react as they did? Can you and your children remember some situations where you or they reacted angrily before they understood a situation? How did they or we feel then? And what were the consequences of our hasty reaction?
Borzok's experience with the field mice and with the big wild bird, made him see all birds as vicious until he nested with the birds and became their friends. We can reflect with our child on an experience at home or outside when he/she changed their mind regarding a person or a group.
At the end of the story, both sides shared the ripe red fruits in the field. What can the mice share with their new friends?
Autumn is the birds’ migration period in our country. Perhaps take you child to a garden or into nature to watch migrating birds and also to search for abandoned nests.
What do birds like to eat in our surroundings? Let us design a “restaurant” for the birds and hang it on the tree. We can put in it food (such as seeds, fruit or vegetables), and then check what our garden’s visitors like best.
Author/Illustrator Lio Lioni's special technique is using parts of leaves to form the characters in his books. We may want to examine this technique with our child by letting him create his favorite characters from the story!

المربّية العزيزة

"أين كنت يا برزق" كتابٌ يعجّ بالمضامين التربوية والاجتماعيّة التي يمكن أن تفتح بابًا للحوار الشّيق مع الأطفال، والمحفّز على التفكير والإبداع. أحد هذه المواضيع هو ردّ الفعل الغاضب والعدائي لدى أغلب النّاس لموقفٍ ما، دون أن يعرفوا التفاصيل ويروا الصورة كاملةً. موضوع آخر هامّ يتعرّض له الكتاب هو التعايش بسلامٍ مع المختلف عنّا- خاصّة مع من نعتبره عدوًّا لنا. الكتاب متميّز أيضًا بأسلوبه الفنّي الذي اشتهر به "ليو ليوني" والمعتمد على استخدام مُزق الورق لتشكيل كولاجات مختلفة.