TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR:

How Far Do You Love Me?

By Lulu Delacre
Illustrations by Lulu Delacre

Synopsis
Based on a bedtime game author/illustrator Lulu Delacre played with her daughters when they were young, How Far Do You Love Me? is an “I love you” book with a twist. With every expression of love, readers visit one of thirteen different locations around the world, each depicted as a beautiful scene of adults and children in a place of natural beauty.

The game in this book highlights the universal reach of adult/child love while taking readers on a journey to the seven continents on Earth. How Far Do You Love Me? will spark children’s curiosity about diverse areas around the world while delivering the comforting message of unconditional and limitless love.

The intimate size of the book is just right for sharing and snuggling up close with a child. As any quiet time approaches, readers will want to gather close and let their imaginations take them on a journey around their home, community, or the world as they embark on a game of “How far do you love me?” The possibilities are endless.

BACKGROUND
From the author: I used to play “How far do you love me?” with my daughters. That game was the inspiration for this book’s journey to the seven continents on Earth. I have traveled to some of the world’s most breathtaking places and found that their serene beauty makes me feel connected with the universe and loved by it. Play “How far do you love me?” with a special person in your life and let your imagination soar to place after place full of love.

Places featured in the book: All seven continents on Earth are represented in the artwork. Author/illustrator Lulu Delacre has been to all the places shown in the book, except Antarctica. She grew up in Puerto Rico and attended schools in Argentina and Paris, France. As an adult, she has continued to travel extensively all over the world.

Illustrations: Author/illustrator Lulu Delacre wanted the illustrations for the book to be “soft, poetic, and beautiful.” She found the perfect medium—pastels—to convey these feelings after viewing an exhibit of pastel works at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris titled “Mystery and Glitter.”

BEFORE READING
Prereading Focus Questions
(Reading Standards, Craft & Structure, Strand 5 and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 7)
Before introducing this book to students, you may wish to develop background and promote anticipation by posing questions such as the following:

1.    Take a look at the front and back covers. Take a picture walk. Ask students to make a prediction. Do you think this book will be fiction or nonfiction? What makes you think so? What clues does the author/illustrator give to help you know whether this book will be fiction or nonfiction?
2.    Think about your bedtime routine with a special adult in your life. What book(s) do you read together? What bedtime games do you play? What do you say or do to show you love someone?
3.    What is a continent? How many continents do we have on Earth? Can you name all of them? Which continent do we live on?
4.    Why do you think the author/illustrator wants readers to see adults with children from all around the world talking about their love for the children?
5.    Why do you think I chose this book for us to read today?

Exploring the Book
(Reading Standards, Craft & Structure, Strand 5, Key Ideas & Details, Strand 1, and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 7)

Talk about the title. Ask students what they think the title means. Then ask them what they think this book will most likely be about and who the book might be about. What do they think might happen? What information do they think they might learn? What makes them think that?

Take students on a book walk and draw attention to the following parts of the book: front and back covers, title page, illustrations, the last illustration with the multiple languages, map, author’s note, author’s bio, dedication, and acknowledgments (thanks).

Setting a Purpose for Reading
(Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 1–3)
Have students read to find out:
•    how to play the game “How far do you love me?”
•    the names and locations of the thirteen places and seven continents featured in the book
•    how to say “How far do you love me?” in another language
•    to what the title How Far Do You Love Me? refers

Encourage students to consider why the author/illustrator, Lulu Delacre, would want to share this bedtime poem and game with children.

VOCABULARY
(Language Standards, Vocabulary Acquisition & Use, Strands 4–6)
The story contains several content-specific and academic words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to students. Based on students’ prior knowledge, review some or all of the vocabulary below. Encourage a variety of strategies to support students’ vocabulary acquisition: look up and record word definitions from a dictionary, write the meaning of the word or phrase in their own words, draw a picture of the meaning of the word, create a specific action for each word, list synonyms and antonyms, and write a meaningful sentence that demonstrates the definition of the word.

CONTENT SPECIFIC
corals        eagle         glacier        lavender    mountaintop    water lily
dunes        blossom    eucalyptus tree

ACADEMIC
morning    depths        seeps        gliding        rim         curve    
crests        mist        desert        marsh        lace        slopes    
valley         length        happily        rooted        crannies    peaks    
ocean floor    nestles        slowly        rough

AFTER READING
Discussion Questions
After students have read the book, use these or similar questions to generate discussion, enhance comprehension, and develop appreciation for the content. Encourage students to refer to passages and/or illustrations in the book to support their responses. To build skills in close reading of a text, students should cite evidence with their answers.

Literal Comprehension
(Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 1–3)
1.    How many places are featured in the book? Name some of them.
2.    On how many different continents are the places located? Name some of the continents.
3.    Describe how to play the “How far do you love me?” game.
4.    Who is (are) speaking in this book? To whom are the speaker(s) talking?
5.    How do the speakers feel about the children? How can you tell?
6.    How does the author/illustrator, Lulu Delacre, use different places to show the amount of an adult’s/parent’s love?
7.    What does the author/illustrator want the reader to understand after reading the book?

Extension/Higher Level Thinking
(Reading Standards, Key Ideas & Details, Strands 2 and 3 and Craft & Structure, Strands 4–6)
1.    To what does the title, How Far Do You Love Me?, refer?
2.    What do all the families and cultures featured in the illustrations have in common?
3.    What makes this book good for a bedtime story? What makes it a fun game to play?
4.    Why might the author/illustrator, Lulu Delacre, want to show children and adults/ parents from all over the world saying how much they love each other?
5.    What do all these people expressing their love teach readers about a parent’s or other adult’s love for a child?
6.    Why is it important for adults to show and describe how much they love the children in their care?
7.    Can this game be played between more than just an adult and a child? Why or why not?
8.    Lulu Delacre is comparing love to distance. Why is distance a useful way to show how much an adult loves a child (and vice versa)?
9.    The last page of the book, before the map, has the question “How far do you love me?” translated into many languages. Why do you think the author/illustrator did that? What does she want to show readers about love and different groups of people?
10.    The book contains a map indicating all the places featured in the book. What purpose does the map serve?
11.    Based on all the adult/parent-child relationships featured in the book, what can readers learn about the role of a caretaker or parent?
12.    How do you think the young children in the illustrations feel when they hear how far the adults love them?

Literature Circles
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strands 1 and 2 and Research to Build & Present Knowledge, Strand 7)
(Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1–3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 4–6)
If you use literature circles during reading time, students might find the following suggestions helpful in focusing on the different roles of the group members.

•    The Questioner might use questions similar to the ones in the Discussion Question section of this guide.
•    The Passage Locator might look for lines or phrases in the book that show who is speaking and identify the continent on which the place in each illustration is located.
•    The Illustrator might illustrate a new place that demonstrates how far he or she loves a special adult in his or her life.
•    The Connector might find the book Arrorró, mi niño and connect how adults/parents and children from different cultures show their love for their families.
•    The Summarizer might provide a brief summary of the group’s reading and discussion points for each meeting.
•    The Investigator might look for information about other popular bedtime games and traditions.

*There are many resource books available with more information about organizing and implementing literature circles. Three such books you may wish to refer to are: GETTING STARTED WITH LITERATURE CIRCLES by Katherine L. Schlick Noe and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 1999), LITERATURE CIRCLES: VOICE AND CHOICE IN BOOK CLUBS AND READING GROUPS by Harvey Daniels (Stenhouse, 2002), and LITERATURE CIRCLES RESOURCE GUIDE by Bonnie Campbell Hill, Katherine L. Schlick Noe, and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 2000).

Reader’s Response
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 2 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strands 4 and 5)
Use the following questions and writing activities to help students practice active reading and personalize their responses to the book. Suggest that students respond in reader’s response journals, essays, or oral discussion. You may also want to set aside time for students to share and discuss their written work.

1.    Which parts of the book did you connect to the most? Why? What memory can you share of listening to a story told by an adult you love or are close to?
2.    Describe a special place you have visited with a parent, grandparent, or guardian. What did you do there together? What makes that place so special for you?
3.    Describe one of your favorite games to play at home with a parent or a special adult in your life. Who do you play with? What are the rules of the game? What makes the game so much fun to play?
4.    If there were one place pictured in the book that you could visit, which would you choose and why?
5.    If you were to answer the question “How far do you love me?” about someone special in your life, what would your response be based on where you live?

ELL Teaching Activities
(Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1–3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 4–6)
(Language Standards, Vocabulary Acquisition & Use, Strands 4–6)
These strategies might be helpful to use with students who are English Language Learners.

1.    Assign ELL students to partner-read the story with strong English readers/speakers. Students can alternate reading between pages, repeat passages after one another, or listen to the more fluent reader.
2.    Have each student write three questions about the story. Then let students pair up and discuss the answers to the questions.
3.    Depending on students’ level of English proficiency, after the first reading:
• Review the illustrations in order and have students summarize what is happening on each page, first orally, then in writing.
• Have students work in pairs to retell either the plot of the story or key details. Then ask students to write a short summary, synopsis, or opinion about what they have read.
4.    Have students give a short talk about which place in the story they would most like to visit and why.
5.    The book contains several content-specific and academic words that may be unfamiliar to students. Based on students’ prior knowledge, review some or all of the vocabulary. Expose English Language Learners to multiple vocabulary strategies. Have students make predictions about word meanings, look up and record word definitions from a dictionary, write the meaning of the word or phrase in their own words, draw a picture of the meaning of the word, list synonyms and antonyms, create an action for each word, and write a meaningful sentence that demonstrates the definition of the word.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES
(Introduction to the Standards, page 7: Student who are college and career ready must be able to build strong content knowledge, value evidence, and use technology and digital media strategically and capably)
Use some of the following activities to help students integrate their reading experiences with other curriculum areas. These may also be used for extension activities, for advanced readers, and for building a home-school connection.

Social Studies
(Reading Standards, Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strands 7 and 9)
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 2, Production & Distribution of Writing, Strands 4 and 6, and Research to Build & Present Knowledge, Strands 7 and 8)
1.    Have students alone or in pairs select one of the thirteen places featured in the book’s illustrations and research the location. How many people live at the location? What language is spoken there? What foods are eaten? Describe the animals and plants found there. What is the climate like? What countries border this place? What, if any, ocean, river, or other body of water is nearby?
2.    Study with students the map at the end of the book. On their own maps, have students identify and label the seven continents. (An outline of a Robinson projection world map can be downloaded here for reproduction.)  Help students identify and label the five oceans of the world, the countries on the their continent, their state, and so on. Discuss what a compass rose is and the purpose it serves on a map. Students may also build their own maps at National Geographic Education’s MapMaker 1-Page Maps.

Writing
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strands 1–3 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strand 4)
1.    Have students imagine that they are the children in the book. After the adults describe how far they love the children, what do the children say in response to show how far they love the adults? Students should write down their responses, and then provide an opportunity for them to share their ideas with the class.
2.    Encourage students to think about the themes in the book and the relationships between the children and adults. In a letter, students should try to persuade you why you should use the book to celebrate or commemorate a specific holiday that they think best fits with one or more themes in the book. For example, why would this book be great for Mother’s Day? Father’s Day? Valentine’s Day? Or another holiday?
3.    If students could give this book to one person in their lives as a present, to whom would they give it and why? Have students write a gift note to go along with the present.
4.    Have students write a letter to author/illustrator Lulu Delacre recommending another place she should feature in the book. Students should make a case as to why their special place should be in the book and how it adds to the verses already included.

Writing/Art
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 3 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strand 4)
Have students study the structure and wording of the verses in the book so they can write their own. Suggest that students select three to five places of their own choosing (not necessarily those in the book) to illustrate and describe how far they love their adult. Each place should be written and illustrated on a separate piece of paper and stapled together with a cover for students to present to their families or special adults in their lives.

English Language Arts
(Reading Standards, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Strand 9)
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 1 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strand 4)
(Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 2 and 3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 4)
Have students, independently or in small groups, read Arrorró, mi niño, another of Lulu Delacre’s books that contains bedtime games and lullabies. Ask students to compare and contrast Arrorró, mi niño with How Far Do You Love Me? What do these books express about love between adults and children? What is the purpose of all these games and bedtime exchanges?

Home-School Connection
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 2 and Production & Distribution of Writing, Strand 4)
(Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 2 and 3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 4)
1.    Ask students to interview their parents, grandparents, or guardians using the question, “How far do you love me?” Adults can use the verses in the book as a model for describing a place and the size of their love. Based on the adult’s response, each student could record and illustrate the answer. Students may also wish to present their works in class the next day.
2.    Encourage students with their parents, grandparents, or guardians to describe a game they play together now or when the student was very young. What do they call the game? How is it played? What is the purpose or object of the game? Why is this game so special to the student and his or her family?

Cooking
(Writing Standards, Text Types & Purposes, Strand 1, Production & Distribution of Writing, Strand 4, and Research to Build & Present Knowledge, Strand 7)
(Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 2 and 3 and Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 4)
Have students select one of the thirteen places featured in the book and research a recipe from that country or region of the world. Encourage students to try making the recipe at home (with adult supervision) and bringing it to class to share with classmates. Have students write down their recipes to include in a class recipe book.