
Let's go "Beyond the Book" with A Little Girl Named Miriam.
Last but not least in the series of the "Little Greats" is Little Miriam.
As a little girl, Miriam had a "knowing"--- that a great leader was to come from her family. She had to fight the logic of the times--that argued against bringing children into the Egyptian world of enslavement and torture.
She fought the edict of the all-powerful king of Egypt, who did not want the male babies to survive! She believed in herself and in her "knowing", that, after casting her brother into the river, that somehow from the water her brother Moshe would be drawn to safety.
The author is careful to describe Miriam's voice in all of her dissenting opinions as "Little Miriam" spoke up. Going beyond the book with Little Miriam gives parents and teachers an opportunity to teach children how to express their ideas so that they will be acknowledged by the adult world. It is paramount for children to identify with this heroine and come to feel confident that expressing opinions to grown-ups is "safe."
This is the stuff from which a child's self-esteem is born.

