All Dogs Go to Heaven

In my stories class that I have been teaching this month, I have been reading three different books with a crew of second graders. The first was a mystery, the second was non-fiction about famous pairs throughout history and the third, which we are reading right now, is a book about a boy who transforms into a dog while playing a video game.

There are some words and concepts in the book that are kind of hard to explain but I have been doing my best. One of the biggest problems we have encountered as a group is, although the book is aimed at early readers, it assumes that the reader is proficient in understanding American culture. I have had to explain a few things that we take for granted as normal, everyday facts of life. But one boy threw a cultural confusion back in my face and actually made me laugh out loud - and none of the other kids laughed because they thought his idea was legitimate. Kinda awkward.

So, the main character in our book is at a video arcade until he morphs into a dog. He is kicked out of the arcade and takes refuge at the local park until he is caught by the dogcatcher. The dogcatcher takes him to the pound (it took a while to explain what that was) and throws him in a cage with a few other dogs. The boy/dog is scared and confused and asks one of the other dogs, "Will they let me go?" To which the other dog replies, "Sure they'll let you go...to the great dog house in the sky."

So I ask if they know what this means. I get lots of guesses but no one is even close. Then a girl guesses that it is a happy place and a big place where dogs can run free. I agree with her but then start to explain the concept of heaven a little bit. A few faces light up with understanding and then instantly turn to horror when they realize that our main character will have to die if he goes there. This sparks a ton of questions and concerns for our main character. A few girls in the back of the room were close to crying.

As I'm trying to calm everyone down and explain that he will probably find a way out, one boy throws his hand up. I call on him and he asks, "After they kill dogs at the pound do they eat them?" I was stunned. I honestly laughed hard for a few seconds until I could catch myself. No one else was laughing. I composed myself and explained that there aren't very many people in America that would eat dog - especially a dog at the pound.

I could tell my answer had done nothing to satisfy his curiousity, but I wasn't about to explain further. I had no idea how to explain to a young child how repulsive some people in the world find his culture's habit of eating dogs. It was just one of those incidents that caught me so off guard that I hardly knew what to do.

This class, along with my other extra classes, ends this upcoming Thursday. Four more days of a grueling schedule and then I return to my charmed Asian existence...

Much love from Seoul