Friday, January 31, 2014

Happy Chinese New Year! Book Review The Year of the Horse: Tales of the Chinese Zodiac

Title: The Year of the Horse: Tales of the Chinese Zodiac

Author: Oliver Chin

Illustrator: Jennifer Wood

Publisher: Immeduim, December 31, 2013

Topic: friendship, bravery

Age: 3 - 8

Opening: After months of waiting, Mama and Papa horse finally welcomed their new baby.

Summary: 2014 is The Year of the Horse! Hannah the horse has a wonderfully talented family and a very special friendship with a boy named Tom, but she wants more than that. She yearns to have special skills like those of her parents and relatives. When Tom offers to take his art teacher’s newest painting to the governor in a far off capital, Hannah jumps at the chance to show a little horse can have a lot of courage.

Resources: You can find coloring pages of Hannah and her family.  Activity Village has a variety of resources including coloring pages, adorable bookmarks, printable origami booklets, Chinese Zodiac Chart, posters and more! 

What I like about the book:
What better way to start the Year of the Horse than with a children's book by that name?!?! This series is a great way to introduce children to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. In this story, Hannah is a sweet character that embodies the characteristic of those who are born in the year of the horse. She is brave, loyal and a good friend. Children will enjoy the bright and playful illustrations and engaging dialogue. I like the end note at the end of the book that has more information about people born in the year of the horse.  

Monday, January 27, 2014

Happy Multicultural Children's Book Day!



Today is the day!!!! It's Multicultural Children's Book Day where we celebrate diversity in children's literature. This wonderful event is hosted by Pragmatic Mom and Jump Into a Book.  Bloggers across the world are sharing some of their favorite multicultural books that have been provided by sponsors Wisdom Tales Press , Chronicle BooksLEE and Low Books and author Susan Daniel Fayad

If you are a parent, educator, teacher or librarian looking for new multicultural children’s book titles to share with your little (or big) readers, you’ve come to the right place!  The Linky will also serve as a great reading list for the young readers in your life.

Want to celebrate MCCBDay? 

Here are some ideas you can use to get in the spirit!




I would like to give a big "Thank You," to Susan Fayad, author of My Grandfather's Masbah, for donating a digital copy of her book for review. You can find my review here.

So, are you ready to find some awesome Multicultural Children's Books? Then check out these blogs with reviews of over 100 books!


2GirlsLostInaBook · 365 Days of Motherhood · A Bilingual Baby · A Library Mama · A Simple Life, Really? · Africa to America · After School for Smarty Pants · All Done Monkey · Andi’s Kids Books · Anita Brown Bag  · Austin Gilkeson · Barbara Ann Mojica ·  Books My Kids Read · Bottom Shelf Books · Cats Eat Dogs · Chasing The Donkey · Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac · Children’s Books Heal · Church o Books · CitizenBeta · Crafty Moms Share · Discovering The World Through My Son’s Eyes · Early Words · Flowering Minds · Franticmommy · Gathering Books · Geek Club Books · GEO Librarian · Gladys Barbieri · Going in Circles · Growing Barefoot Bookworms · Growing Book by Book · iGame Mom · I’m Not The Nanny · InCulture Parent · Itsy Bitsy Mom · Just Children’s Books · Kid Lit Reviews · Kids Yoga Stories · Kid World Citizen · Kristi’s Book Nook · Mama Lady Books · Mama Smiles · Mission Read · Monkey Poop · Mother Daughter Book Reviews · Mrs AOk · MrsTeeLoveLifeLaughter · Ms. Yingling Reads · Multicultural Kids Blog · My White Board · One Sweet World · Open Wide The World · P is for Preschooler · Rapenzel Dreams · Randomly Reading · Reading Through Life · School4Boys · Sharon the Librarian · Spanish Playground · Sprout’s Bookshelf · Squishable Baby · Stanley and Katrina · Teach Mama · The Art of Home Education · The Brain Lair · The Educators’ Spin On It · The Family-Ship Experience · The Good Long Road · The Yellow Door Paperie · This Kid Reviews Books · Trishap’s Books · Unconventional Librarian · Vicki Arnold · We3Three · World for Learning · Wrapped in Foil







Monday, January 20, 2014

Multicultural Children's Book Day: Celebrating Diversity in Children's Literature




Multicultural Children’s Book Day
January 27, 2014
Our mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day, Mia and Valarie are on a mission to change all of that. Their mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries. Another goal of this exciting event is create a compilation of books and favorite reads that will provide not only a new reading list for the winter, but also a way to expose brilliant books to families, teachers, and libraries.


The Family-Ship Experience is happy to join the MCBD movement and sharing our love and hope to see more diversity in children's book literature in our homes, schools and public/private libraries. We are excited to join bloggers from all over the web to support this cause as we read, review and share books that reflect under-represented cultures, heritages and histories. We would like to extend a heart-felt "Thank You" to Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom 
for spear heading this wonderful national event. Another thank you goes out to the sponsors of
MCBD:  Wisdom Tales Books, Lee and Low, Chronicle Books and Author, Susan Fayad.

My Review


Title: My Grandfather's Masbaha

Author: Susan Fayad

Illustrator: Avery Liell-Kok

Publisher: Author House, Oct 1 2013

Topic: Gratitude, Respectful, Thankfulness, Culture and Traditions

Age: 5-9

Opening:
It was a summer day in Lebanon. Adam was visiting his grandparents (jidoo and sitoo) in their hometown of Bakeefa.

Summary:
Adam doesn't know how lucky he is until his Grandad teaches him how to count his blessings. One summer day at his grandparents’ home in Lebanon, Adam gets upset after his friends leave after a play date. His grandfather helps him to count his blessings.

Resources:
Prayer Bead Around the World: The Multicultural History of Prayer Beads
Museum of Anthropology: Prayer Beads, A Cultural Experience
Arts and Crafts: Make a Masbaha or Prayer Bead. A simple instruction list can be found here.

What I Like About the Book:
This was a sweet story with a universal theme and appeal. Parents and their children will recognize the emotional outburst of Adam when he announces "he has nothing," when he finds himself alone after his friends leave for the day. There is also the theme of gratitude and counting our blessings that is shared by most if not all cultures, races and religions. Adam's grandfather shows all the love, patience and compassion a grandfather can give when he shows -not tells- Adam he has a lot to be grateful for. I think this is very important in passing on values to children. It is easy to tell a child s/he is being ungrateful, however, the child does not learn respect, gratitude, patience or compassion or even learn how to be grateful. But when you allow children to recognize and experience for him/herself the things they have to be grateful, then they keep that skill with them as they grow up and face bigger challenges in life. While I did enjoy the story, I was not impressed with the illustrations of the book. They were okay but very flat.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Multicultural Children's Book Day: Celebrating Diversity in Children's Literature



January 27, 2014
Come and join the fun while browsing participating blogger sites and wonderful reviews of
 multicultural children's books!!

Learn more about this wonderful event at Jump Into A Book and 
Pragmatic Mom for more details.
The goal is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.
Children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom have teamed up to create an ambitious (and much needed) national event.  On January 27th, Jump into a Book and Pragmatic Mom will be presenting the first ever Multicultural Children’s Book Day as a way of celebrating diversity in children’s books.
Their Mission: Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day, Mia and Valarie are on a mission to change all of that. Their mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries. Another goal of this exciting event is create a compilation of books and favorite reads that will provide not only a new reading list for the winter, but also a way to expose brilliant books to families, teachers, and libraries.
Here are some ways you can help us celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day
  • Have children bring in their favorite multicultural book to school on this day and share it with the class.
  • Have a special Multicultural Children’s Book Day book read aloud time.
  • Create a Multicultural Children’s Book Day display around the classroom or library.
  • Read Around the Continents and Countries. Great resources list a JumpIntoaBook.com andPragmaticMom.com
  • Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day page at Jump Into a Book.
  • Visit our Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board for more reading ideas.
  • Do a craft or activity presented on Jump Into a Book or Pragmatic Mom which relates to the many cultures in our world. 

The Sponsors