Micah Beatty and Malloreigh Cook are students at Pre-Cam Community School. (Submitted photo/Aleyna Morin)

By Derek Cornet

new book

Pre-Cam students involved in international literacy project

Mar 6, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Two students from La Ronge’s Pre-Cam Community School were part of an international literary project about gender equality, inclusion and overcoming distances.

The students, Micah Beatty and Malloreigh Cook, were two of 80 children featured in the Italian author Massimo Baraldi’s book Il Giro Del Mondo in 80 Bambini, which translates in English to Around the World in 80 Children.

They became involved with the project by their former teacher Aleyna Morin, who found out about it through a her cousin Song Ratt about two years ago.

“I thought about it and I was teaching Grade 1 and 2 at Pre-Cam at the time and I had a group of students who were working on writing,” she said. “They do writing programs throughout the year, so I showed them some of those steps and it was basically like drafting. It did take a lot of work.”

Students from 40 countries around the world were invited to participate and write about the sun, moon and stars, how they see those things or what it means to them. It took a couple years for the project to be completed and Morin was able to deliver the books to the students last week.

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“It’s just really exciting to give these children their books,” she said.

“I also wrote them a letter about being proud of being a published author because that’s sort of a big thing and I feel this is something they can share with their families and friends. There’s one big thing, though, we need to figure out is it is in Italian language. I worked with the author who translated their piece. I printed it off and I put it inside of their books.”

Students from 40 countries were involved in the creation of the book. (Submitted image/Massimo Baraldi)

The book consists of 96 pages and it features illustration by Ida Mainenti. In an email to larongeNOW, Baraldi explained the book is about human connections. It features the writing of children between the ages of six and eight with one boy and one girl serving as ambassadors of their town and country.

Students from other countries involved with the book are from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Finland, Iran, Mongolia, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, United States and more.

“From the words of the kids, we cannot see their colour, nose or ears,” Baraldi wrote. “It does not matter if they’re tall or short: they are perfect just as they are, with a special beauty generated by their sense of poetry and imagination.”

Baraldi wanted to give a special thanks to the Métis Peoples of the region and to the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com