Kusikiy: A Child from Taquile, Peru by Mercedes Cecilia

Cecilia, Mercedes. Kusikiy: A Child from Taquile, Peru. Keepers of Wisdom and Peace Books, 2010.

Lexile Level: 650L

Book Trailer: 

Kusikiy: A Child from Taquile, Peru tells the story of young boy named Kusikiy. He lives in a small village on the island of Taquile, in the center of Lake Titicaca. The village's community has been living a traditional life of farming, crafting, and animal husbandry, as was taught to their ancestors by the great spirits that watch over the island. This year, the rainy season is late on arriving, causing many of the island's inhabitants to fear that their crops are in danger. Kusikiy's grandfather tells Kusikiy about the Great Mountain Spirit, giving Kusikiy the idea to ask the spirit for help. Kusikiy sets off on an adventure in order to help his village by restoring the rains that they so desperately need.

Learning Activity

After reading Kusikiy together as a class, students will take some time to answer a few questions about the book in written form. For example: What are some folktales/myths that you heard during the reading? How did those myths/folktales affect the people of Taquile? How did Kusikiy use the folktales/myths of his culture to help his community? How do some of the folktales/myths compare to stories/folktales that you have heard before? After collecting our thoughts, we will reconvene as a class to discuss what we found and share our ideas.

Learning Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2 - Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

Goal

Kusikiy: A Child from Taquile, Peru is essentially a folktale about a child embracing the folktales of his culture. The author uses the elders of the village to describe several Taquile fables and folktales to Kusikiy. The goal here is to encourage students to consider the legends and fables of a different culture, ideally in comparison to similar ones from their own culture.

Objective

The objective of this activity is to help students process the various folktales told in the book, as well as to organize and identify them, as well as compare them to folktales they have heard from other sources.

Outcome

During our discussion, students should be able to identify multiple folktales from the story. They should also be able to describe how the island's residents, as they are portrayed in the text, have modeled their lives after the lessons taught by their folktales. Finally, students should be able to link the folktales heard in the story with folktales that they are already familiar with, primarily in terms of the lessons that they teach.