Home in a Lunchbox

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

This is Believe, One Network, Every Topic, Everywhere.

Lisa Bueno (0:07)

Okay, our friends, so today we are going to read stories for those of you who are heading to school or to some sort of outing where you will need to take food in a lunchbox. Have you ever taken food in a lunchbox someplace? Um, it's nice because you can take something that you have made at home and put it into the lunchbox and then wherever you go, whenever you take that food out, it's like you're eating a meal at home, maybe with your family at the table, at least that's the idea. And it's kind of nice to know that wherever you've got that food, it reminds you of your family doesn't it? So today, we're going to read a story called Home in a Lunchbox. This was written by Cherry Moe, and it is read today by Mommy and...

Math Kid. I'm sorry, was that Math Kid?

Are you the Math Kid? Yeah. Do you like math? That's so cool. I like math too. What's your favorite part of math?

I'm doing a multiplication chart like that. Multiplication. That's the best. Oh, you just wait until you get into algebra. You're going to love it. Well, at least I think you all.

SPEAKER_1 (1:33)

Do you like algebra?

Lisa Bueno (1:35)

I like algebra so much, I took it twice.

SPEAKER_1 (1:40)

Seriously?

Lisa Bueno (1:41)

Yeah. Algebra aside, let's read a book. This one is called Home in a Lunchbox. Here we go. So in the picture, we can see it's Monday, and we see a little girl, and she's waiting at the bus stop. And she sees another little girl who says, Hello. And she returns around and says, Hello.

Mm-hmm. And it looks like maybe she's not sure about that word. And she's holding up her hand, and in her hand, we can see there are words written in ink on her hand. And the words are, Hello, Thank you, and I don't know.

And we can see that they're written in two languages.

The other girl at the bus stop continues, and she says, What's your name? And our girl looks at her hand, and she doesn't know how to reply. And so she says, Thank you.

What? They get into the bus. And the friendly girl who had walked up, the redheaded girl, sits with some friends. And the girl who had the writing on her hand, she sits alone on the bus. She walks out of the bus alone. She walks into school alone. She walks through the corridors and sits down with her pencil on her... And, oh no! There is a piece of paper that the teacher gives to her. It says, get to know you. And it has a bunch of questions. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite subject? What's your favorite sport? What's your favorite food? And the only thing she knows to write is either, hello, thank you, or I don't know. And so she writes, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

And she's very alone. But now it's lunchtime.

And all the kids are eating their pizza or whatever they've served at the school cafeteria. And our girl opens up her lunchbox. And when she does, oh, my friends, the love that pours out of that lunchbox, it's like fireworks. She can see being in the kitchen with her mom and cooking. She can see the delicious food that her parents have prepared for her and the fun that she's had with her brother and her sisters and all of her friends enjoying yummy foods. At the end of the day, the school day is over and the kids are all going their separate ways. We see the friendly girl from the very beginning look back over her shoulder.

As our girl runs home and hugs her mom, it wasn't a very good first day, was it? Well, the next day, here she is again, standing in line for the bus.

She climbs into the bus, sits by herself. Now, our friendly girl sees her again and is wondering, she's got a new set of words on her hands today. And the words are, toilet, you're welcome, and of course, I don't know. But there's something interesting here. The kids are talking, but what are they saying? The kids in her classroom are talking to her, but what are they saying? You don't know? Why don't you know? Because it's just written in scribbles. It's gobbledygook. It's all scribbles. She doesn't understand what they're saying. Do you know why she doesn't understand what they're saying?

SPEAKER_1 (5:53)

What?

Lisa Bueno (5:54)

She doesn't speak that language.