“Reading Takes You Places!”
We are making our final descent to the last country for this
school year’s library journey,
“READING TAKES YOU PLACES.”
We have travelled to France, Italy, Greece, Israel,
South Africa, India, Russia, and Argentina.
Final Stop . . . Panama!
Panama is a small country that is located in Central America.
It is known as “the Bridge of the World,” as it acts like two bridges:
(1) a land link between the continents of North & South America, and
(2) a sea link between the Pacific & Atlantic Oceans.
The land of Panama is called an isthmus, which is a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land. Due to its unique resting “s” shape, Panama is the only place in the world you can see the sun rise on the Pacific Ocean and set on the Atlantic Ocean. You can also swim in both oceans on the same day! Its capital, Panama City, is the only capital in the world that can boast of a rainforest within its city limits. A tourist attraction in Panama is the Valley of Square Trees, where trees of the cottonwood family have square trunks. One of mankind’s greatest feats is located in Panama, and is the Panama Canal. Built by the USA, this canal is 51 miles long, and can save ships almost 8,000 miles in travel. Previously ships had to make a treacherous trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean around Cape Horn in South America. More than 50 vessels use the Canal daily, and must pay a toll based on the type of ship, size of the ship, and the number of passengers or amount of cargo onboard. Panama is also home to some unique animals. Its national animal is the Golden Frog, a small poisonous frog that was thought to bring good luck. Also there are 4 species of sea turtles that nest on the coast of Panama. These turtles migrate thousands of miles to come back to their nesting beach each year.
The stories we will be reading from Panama are: “Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme”(by Marianne Berkes); “One Tiny Turtle”(by Nicola Davies);
and “Conejito”(by Margaret Read MacDonald).