Book guide: Full speed, Inventor Johanna!
Simsala rabbit - an escape walking machine!
InventorJohanna has a new invention in the works! A book that inspires to invent and to become curious about technology.
Questions about tools
When Johanna has to invent, she brings out various things that are good to have and tools. What different tools do you know? And what can one use the various tools for?
Sten and Stanley think they have the best sister in the world. Is there someone you think is extra good, maybe a friend, someone in your family, an animal or maybe someone on TV? What do you think is good about that person?
Inventor Johanna thinks that everything she invents turns out well. What do you think you do well?
Exercise: I'm good!
Talk about being kind to yourself. That you should be as kind to yourself as you are to your best friends. Simply be your own best friend. When we think kind thoughts about ourselves, we feel better! What would you say to yourself if you were your best friend? Write down the children's suggestions and draw pictures. Put all the pictures in a good place, invite to Be your own best friend's opening!
Questions about building, avoiding walking and hair
Stanley says in the book that he wishes someone would invent something so he doesn't have to walk all the time. Does such an invention already exist? What do you think would happen if everyone always had to avoid going?
Look at the spread where InventorJohanna builds. She cuts, sews, glues, nails, saws, drills and tapes. What would you like to build? Have you ever built anything?
Look at the picture when InventorJohanna is at school. She has her hair in two buns. One child has braids, one child has short hair and the teacher has a barrette. If you could choose any hairstyle for a day, how would you like your hair?
Exercise! Hair
If you have photographs of the children at preschool and a copier, you can copy three pictures of each of the children. They then get to create three different hairstyles for themselves. The purpose of the exercise is to play with one's appearance, to become aware that there are many possibilities and above all more than those connected to
gender expectations.
Whiteness standard
In societies all over the world there are people of different origins and with different skin colors, just like in Sweden. But in the pictures on the children's bookshelf, there is instead a large dominance of people with white and beige skin. This means that some children are rarely reflected in children's books and get to read about people who
are not similar to them in appearance, while others receive mirroring almost always. This affects both the view of oneself and of others. It makes people with brown and black skin invisible and also causes us to recreate old ideas about who is important and thus should appear in books.
In order to create an inclusive society where everyone feels equal, it is therefore important to reflect children and adults with everyone
different skin colors.
Inventions solve problems
In the books about UpfinnarJohanna, she encounters problems in everyday life. To solve her problems, she is creative and uses technology to construct inventions. The books highlight that inventions are not only about technology and construction, but that they also come about for a reason. Sometimes the more relational part of invention is forgotten, the one about wanting to solve a problem to improve the lives of others. The fact that Johanna is a girl who invents by hammering, sawing and constructing also broadens the image that initiative and technology are something boys primarily stand for.
