In Around the World With Mouk: A Trail of Adventure, Mouk, a young bear, goes on worldwide trip visiting other countries. He writes postcards to his friends in America describing what he experiences. Each page has interactions between animals (with human traits) in the specific country or region. Mouk has friends in each area portrayed who are often using a piece of the culture in the pictures.
Looking at the readability lexile, I would place Around the World With Mouk: A Trail of Adventure in the early elementary to (early) middle elementary level because there simple sentences in the text bubbles the characters use but the postcards Mouk sends to his friends are written in a slightly advanced but conversational manner. Cognitively, I would place the text in the early elementary level because Mouk’s story is simple to follow: he is traveling around the world and interacting with his friends. Each page is a different location as evidenced by the people, setting and colors. Socially, the text is at a preschool/kindergarten level because children enjoy excursions to new places, much like Mouk’s adventures.
When examining the characteristics of higher quality literature, Mouk faces some minor problems like trying to learn other cultures. He is often amazed and playfully confused at the culture and how it is different from his American culture. While in Madagascar he is served a large cockroach to eat which surprises but ultimately delights him. This is relatable to young readers because they may be curious about other cultures and may experience the same sense of wonderment and confusion at our differences.
Mouk overcomes his problems of cultural differences by having a positive attitude, trusting in his friends who live in each country/region and learning about unfamiliar parts of the culture. Mouk’s main weakness is that he is a bit too naive just taking everything with a smile on his face and not objecting when something may bother him. He doesn’t seem to retain much of himself as he goes abroad, basically being at the mercy of the other cultures, which is good to a certain degree.
The settings or places Mouk travels to allow the reader to gain insight into cultures and the traits that define them. Each page is a vignette for the young reader and story within the larger framework of cultural differences. Within this framework, the multileveled themes I saw were friendship, acceptance/tolerance of others and sense of community.
Throughout these themes the literature requires the reader to use one main higher level thought process in evaluating what they have read in Mouk’s postcards and how that is shown in the detailed illustrations. The postcards off to the side of each page set the stage and the pictures extend what is explained.
With so much going on in the illustrations, I found some evidence of negative stereotypes under the surface. Many of the animal characters are doing what you think people typically do in each country, which borders on being stereotypical but also possibly accurate. For example, in China animals are sumo wrestling and doing karate. In Africa there is a definite tribal motif in the animals characters and in India there is an elephant that has Gandhi-esque glasses on. These aren’t a slap in the face to a culture and in a way this might be what students associate with each country on a surface level.
Since Mouk’s experiences are all positive and opportunities for learning, I think the book motivates students to understand other cultures and the world. Given the age group the book is suited for I think the information provided in Mouk’s postcards home is simple and educational for young readers. The text is written in a conversational manner that students can relate to. The information contained in the book contributes to the academic field by teaching students about other cultures, at least on a basic or early elementary level.
The literary elements I found were setting as a mood, the theme of personal development and point of view. With setting as a mood, each page and place is a different country. Mouk’s travels are starting at Western Europe and traveling east. Each page reflects the colors of the country’s environment and the cultural touchstones that help define it. The theme of personal development is shown through the information Mouk learns about each country. In Greece he learns that you can eat octopus; in India he learns that cows are scared and vanilla is extremely important to Madagascar. These firsthand lessons allow him to learn and appreciate the differences throughout each country and the world as whole. Also important was the element of point of view. Mouk sees the world as an American. What is commonplace in other countries is new and unfamiliar to Mouk, however, if the roles were reversed the situation would be similar to a foreigner.
The illustrations in the text have so much going on. Each page has at least ten animals partaking in activities, often related to the country. They are also talking to one another and interacting like humans would. There are major and minor events happening such as in Japan where a festive parade is going through the middle of the page but then on either side secondary events such as two ducks playing Mah Jong and two mice looking for the dragon constellation are taking place. I found that if you examine each page more and more of the country’s information would reveal itself.
One idea for a mini lesson would to have students research a country and write a postcard to their friends back home in America. The postcard would have important information about the country and some facts they may not know. For the “picture” on the postcard students could draw a popular or little known landmark in the country and then have a cut out picture of Mouk that could be added in their drawing.
After reading Around the World With Mouk: A Trail of Adventure, I would place the text at an early elementary to middle elementary level. The different cultures may be harder for younger readers to grasp but the animal character presentation and main focus on the illustrations may make it more digestible.
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