Welcome to the “What We’re Reading” ongoing series where Volunteers talk about the books they’ve been reading at site. Here you’ll find PCVs sharing their thoughts, reflections, and reviews on books of any genre. Leave us a comment below if you’ve also read any of these books!
Cover image courtesy of Goodreads
Bianca Palese, 134 TESS
As you could probably deduce by the cover art, Ribbit! is a children’s book. Ribbit! is written by Argentine children’s author Rodrigo Folgueira and illustrated by Poly Bernatene. It is available for free as a story-time video on YouTube. This book was included in the library donation my school received from Darien Book Aid (PCVs, check out their website to learn how to apply for a free package of books for your school!). My counterpart picked out Ribbit! to read to our students one day. She read it in English and translated into Thai as we went along.
Ribbit! is about a group of frogs that wake up one day to find a pig sitting on a rock in their pond saying “Ribbit!”. The frogs are bewildered, they wonder if the pig is making fun of them and why it is there. The chief frog tries to ask the pig what it wants and the pig just keeps ribbiting. Why would a pig want to be a frog, they wonder. With all the other curious animals around the frogs go to the wise old beetle to ask it for advice. The beetle responds that maybe the pig is just trying to be their friend. When the frogs return to the pond the pig is gone. They then notice the pig is now in a tree, chirping with the birds. The frogs and other animals all climb the tree, sit with the pig, and start chirping too.
It might seem silly, but I genuinely had to hold back tears as I heard this story for the first time. It was the perfect metaphor for my life: I just want friends. I try to speak their language but they don’t understand me, and instead of trying to communicate with me, people just find my counterpart, my wise old beetle, and ask her about me instead. I am a pig in a community of frogs.
But there is a happy ending to this story! The frogs eventually realize the pig was just trying to be friendly and they then accept the pig as their friend. That is the true story of my service also. It took a long time to feel like I could fit in here. I will always stand out in a crowd, sure, but my ribbits are getting clearer and the frogs friendlier.
After reading the book to the students, my counterpart and I asked them some questions to see if they were paying attention. I asked the students what they thought the moral of the story was. They said: the moral is we can try to talk to and be friends with everyone, even if they are different from us. I agree.
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