Journal Entry 1

Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed

By Emily Pearson, Illustrated by Fumi Kosaka

“Emily Pearson deserves a huge thank-you for writing such a life changing story. I think everyone should read this children's book. We can change the world one deed at a time. We can make a difference.”   - Sheri Duffy, mother

For my first journal entry, I decided to write about Emily Pearson's Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed. When I first read this book, I immediately fell in love. It has such a touching storyline and I felt a deep connection after hearig its message. As a quick overview, Pearson has created an inspiring story of generosity through an "ordinary" little girl named Mary, who picks some "ordinary" blueberries and leaves them for her neighbour on her stairs. The simple act of generosity sets off a chain reaction of kindness as each involved person feels inspired to do something nice for another five people. The book shows that in only 15 days, everyone in the world has been touched with a kind deed and the world is a happier place, all because of one "ordinary" girl.

Although it may be a children's book, everyone should be encouraged to read Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed. Being an adult, I experienced a personal connection to the book and would recommend it to anyone at any age! When reading the book, I felt empowered to be a kinder, more patient person. Now I want to make a difference, to change the world one small deed at a time! There are a lot of people in need out there, and something as small as a smile or hug can brighten their day. It shows us how far a small deed can go and that ANYONE can change the world. I think the book has the ability to inspire children to be nicer to one another and to understand that even 'ordinary' people can do great things.

The book also encourages us to stop and take a look at ourselves, to think about the world in which we live. We are living in a time where people are so caught up in their own lives that they forget to be kind to strangers and to have empathy for others. In the book, kind deeds reached out to people all over the world. A woman gave money to a man who could not afford groceries, a boy bought a homeless woman some lunch, a businessman helped a woman carry her luggage, etc. The characters are all very believable, "ordinary" people and anybody who reads it will find a character that will be self relatable.

The book is written from a third person's point of view. It has a neat font appropriate for children and is written in a way that makes the page look "clean". It has elements of repetition throughout the entire story that I know children love. For example, they keep repeating the word "ordinary" to emphasize that one does not need to be outstanding in any way to make a difference in someone's life. It also repeats the same sequence of events: someone acts kind towards an individual, that individual is inspired and in turn does something nice for five more people, each of whom does the same, and so on. The book keeps repeating in this fashion, until it comes full circle and Mary herself receives an act of kindness because of the trend she started. The style, in this sense, will be predictable for young readers who will have fun predicting what kind deed will happen next. The writing also has elements of figurative language that children tend to like such as: alliteration: "This made Mrs. Bishop berry, berry happy, so she baked a big batch of blueberry muffins..." and rhyme: "Oh yum, yum, yum, he ate every crumb". The writing also plays with a lot of emotion. There are moments when you want to laugh: when the paper boy no longer throws his papers in the bushes; moments when you want to cry: when a homeless woman finds a wallet but returns it instead of keeping it; and moments when you feel inspired to take initiative and change the world. So in my opinion, the book is written beautifully and should be able to interest anyone who hears its inspirational message.

Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed is illustrated by Fumi Kosaka and I think that she did a great job. The illustrations are both amazingly simple and quite colorful. Kosaka uses a lot of round lines and shapes which imply a "warm" and "happy" environment. The pages have a 'gritty' look which emphasizes a lot of texture in the pictures, allowing us to imagine the feelings of grass, the different types of hair (curly, straight), the graininess of wood, etc. Most pictures do not take up the full page, leaving a lot of white space. I believe she does this to emphasize (without taking attention away from) the important message of the accompanying text and to avoid giving great detail to parts of the story that are not as significant, such as what is in the background. It directs our thought and attention to the part of the text that has great meaning. The white spaces allow us to concentrate on what is important because the illustrations are not too "busy" or filled with unnecessary illustrations that would take away from the powerful images created through the words on the page.

Example:

Classroom connections:

I believe that this book helps introduce the themes of generosity, giving, citizenship, having sympathy, and learning to be empathetic. Teachers can use this book in the classroom in an endless number of ways by developing a unit on one of the above themes for example. There are also connections to multiple subjects that can be made. For example: citizenship (social studies), relationships & generosity (health), and even math:

Above is a photo of two pages near the end of the book that show if everyone continued the cycle by doing five kind deeds to five more people, within 15 days the entire population would be a happier and more loved place!

As a final thought, after some research, I found that people all over the world have been inspired by Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed. Below is a video from the author herself and various links that will take you  to websites devoted to showing how Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed  has impacted classrooms all over:

 

http://www.ordinarymary.com/index.php

http://ordinarymarysextraordinarydeed.blogspot.com/