Ossiri and the Bala Mengro (Travellers Tales)

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This tale of ‘Tattin Folki’ – or rag and bone people – vividly conjures a ‘Traveller’ way of life inside Britain that few ‘settled people’ know, and it comes from a collaboration between a Romani storyteller and a picture-book writer to capture oral stories before they are lost.

Here are four key things that everyone looking to celebrate GRT history month in their schools should think consider: Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team is on a mission to change all of that. A Traveller girl creates her own musical instrument from a willow branch and lots of recycled objects. She plays it enthusiastically, but it sounds terrible! Ignoring warnings not to awaken the ogre in the hills, Ossiri goes there to practise playing her instrument. Will she wake the ogre, and will it appreciate her playing? This original tale offers a fascinating insight into Travelling lifestyles and cultures. Co-authors Richard O’Neill and Katharine Quarmby wrote Yokki and the Parno Gry and Ossiri and the Bala Mengro in the hope that positive representation of GRT characters can help change attitudes. Find out more here and buy them here.Ossiri and the Bala Mengro tells the tale of a young Traveller girl, Ossiri, whose family worked hard as ‘Tattin Folki’, or rag-and bone people who recycled old scrap metal.

I was extremely intrigued when I first spotted this story, as I have not read or heard of any tales for children told from within the Romani community. I am so glad that O’neill, a renowned Romani storyteller, partnered with Quarmby and Tolson to authentically give voice to a lesser known way of life. Use this lesson plan developed by Amnesty International to organise a class debate between ‘a group of travellers’, the local council and other interested groups. Be sure to encourage all pupils to reflect on the perspective of the Travellers trying to organise a safe place to live.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is in its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. Richard O Neill was born and brought up in a large traditional Romani family in the North of England. He is an award-winning storyteller and writer who tells his original stories in schools, museums, libraries and theatres throughout the UK. A sixth generation storyteller, he grew up in a vigorous oral storytelling tradition, learning his skills from some of the best Traveling storytellers in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Richard is the author of eleven children s books, and his stories and plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio. His digital stories have been enjoyed throughout the world, and in 2013, he was the recipient of the National Literacy Hero award.

Overall, the littles and I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the books Child’s Play sent us. She has spent most of her working life as a journalist and has made many films for the BBC, as well as working as a correspondent for The Economist, contributing to British broadsheets, including the Guardian, Sunday Times and the Telegraph. She also freelances regularly for other papers, including a stint providing roving political analysis for The Economist, where she has worked as a Britain correspondent, during the 2010 general election, with a similar stint for Prospect in the 2017 snap election.

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Stories representing Gypsy and Traveller communities are so important, they need to be heard and told,” says Keira Martin, adding that it was her “absolute pleasure” to be involved and to be trusted with such an old traditional story. Think about the GRT pupils in your class. You might think you don’t have any but given that there are at least half a million GRT people in the UK, a large proportion of whom are under 18, and 75% of whom don’t declare their ethnicity, it’s very possible that you do but don’t know it. If you do know you have GRT pupils, you might want to let them know beforehand and perhaps ask if they have any thoughts on your plans or want to share anything themselves. They and their families might even want to get involved in helping you plan though you should also stress that there is no pressure on them to represent their entire community or culture. Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.... Avoid stereotyping. Teaching about the culture of an ethnic group means walking a fine line between highlighting group traditions, while avoiding making out that everyone in that group does or is those things. As stereotyping fuels further prejudice, children and young people should always be pushed to recognise the groups’ heterogeneity.