#Review: Knots On A Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault/Illustrated by Ted Rand #Multicultural #Native American #ReadingRainbowBooks #atozchallenge

Summary:
In this poignant story, the counting rope is a metaphor for the passage of time and for a boy's emerging confidence in facing his blindness.

My review:
I generally do not read a summary of a book until after I have actually read the book. I am glad I did not do that with this particular book because it gave me the element of surprise.

This book features two Native American Indians, an elder, and his grandson, sitting around a campfire. The elder begins telling the story of the young boys birth and growth, a story that the grandson has heard many times but wishes it to be told again.

As the story progresses, the tale gets more fantastic. The boy grows strong and faces obstacles of "the darkness" but overcomes them through the strength of his name and tenacity. The young boy has great reliance on his grandfather but his grandfather knows that his young grandson will make it on his own.

This story was simply beautiful and told how someone that may be born with a disability can still live a strong life and still do many things, just differently. I loved the meaning behind the counting rope!

The illustrations were done boldly and in darker muted colors to represent the blindness of the boy but also the telling of the story at night. The illustrations took up the majority of the pages with the telling of the story off to one side. Great addition!

I would encourage anyone to have this book for their own collections and to be in all classrooms. To make this even more fantastic, this book was also selected as a Reading Rainbow book and featured on that show.

5 stars and another knot on the rope!

Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the authors:

Unfortunately, author Bill Martin Jr. passed away in 2004.

Bill Martin Jr.-Amazon
John Archambault-Amazon
Bill Martin Jr.-Goodreads
John Archambault-Goodreads

#Review: Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat/Illustrated by Vo-Dinh Mai #AtoZChallenge #Multicultural #ReadingRainbowBooks #ScholasticBooks

Summary:
Little Ut from Vietnam wins her schoolmates over with kindness and sensitivity.

My review:
This is a story about a young girl from Vietnam who is alone in the U.S. without her Mom for comfort. She endures bullying by the children she goes to school with because of her speech, name, clothes, and traditions. One boy in particular is always mean to her.

Angel child refers to her tolerating others and being good in the eyes of her mother. Dragon child means that she is non-tolerant and does not want to be patient with others.

In the end, the same child who bullies her learns a little bit about her and helps her and her family in a big way.
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This was a sweet book and goes to show that bullying can be stopped if we learn about each other. It points out that kindness is key to everything and family holds importance.

The book was done in extremely muted colors with simple hand drawn characters. The illustrations give the feel of simplicity which I believe was intentional.

This book was featured as a Rainbow Reading Book. I give it four stars.

Disclosure: I purchased this book for my own collections. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the author:

Amazon

#Review: The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy/ Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney #atozchallenge, #kidsbooks, #ReadingRainbowBooks, #CorettaScottKingAwards, #Multicultural

Summary: 

Tanya's grandmother is making a special quilt with pieces of clothes from the whole family.

But when she gets sick, will Tanya be able to finish the quilt for her?

My review:

This is a beautiful story about an art that is slowly fading. It is the art of quilt making which was once commonly done in families but is now disappearing as new generations do not want to learn how.

The grandmother in the story is wise as she teaches her grand-daughter the art of quilt making, she also teaches her how they can tell stories. Each piece tells the story of an individual in the family. Tanya learns this lesson and helps her family learn it too.

I loved the inter-generational workings of this family. Grandmother was depicted as someone who should be valued for her wisdom and ideas. She was someone who knows the stories of her family and the value in knowing those stories.

Another underlying message here is that there are times when families should take the time to cherish the things they have and that sometimes, those things are obtained by hard work and dedication. This is a lesson that we as a whole could learn from and maybe we need to return to as a society.

The book is full of line drawings that show facial expressions well. The background colors are done in muted browns, whites, grays, and yellows  that gives the reader a sense of age but yet colors pop off the pages from the clothing and quilt. I love this juxtapose. 

If everything in this review is not enough to convince you to purchase this book, then know that this is a Reading Rainbow Book and won the Coretta Scott King Award. It is well deserved.

5 stars!

Disclosure: I purchased this book for my own collection. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours.

Where to find the author:

Amazon

Goodreads

Multicultural Children's Book Day #Review: Grandfather Counts by Andrea Cheng/Illustrated by Ange Zhang #ReadYourWorld #Kidsbooks #Multicultural #ReadingRainbowBooks

About Multicultural Children's Book Day:

The overall mission of the Multicultural Children’s Book Day: Celebrating Diversity in Children’s Literature event is primarily raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but also to get more of these books into classrooms and libraries.

"The importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, the multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.”

Thank you to the sponsors of this event:

MCCBD’s  2015 Sponsors include Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop,Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  MulticulturalKids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,  Author FeliciaCapers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.

Special shout out to Lee & Low Books who sent me several books for review. I chose Grandfather Counts for today's event.

Details:

• Age Range: 6 - 8 years
• Grade Level: Preschool and up
• Series: Reading Rainbow Books
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Lee & Low Books; Reprint edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584301589
• ISBN-13: 978-1584301585
• 
  

Summary:

In this contemporary intergenerational story, a biracial girl and her Chinese grandfather overcome language differences and develop a special bond.

My review:

This is a sweet book that tells how generations can come together in love and understanding to learn from each other. 

Grandfather has come from China to live with his daughter and family. He does not know English and the family, other than his daughter, do not know Chinese. Adjustments have to be made with all parties concerned. It is only with a daily travel of a train that runs in the back yard, that things begin to change.

Written in first person, I enjoyed how Grandfather and the young grand-daughter would sit out on the concrete wall waiting for the train go by. These sittings helped each to come to an understanding of each other. I am sure by the title of the book, you can figure out what each of them learned but they also learned so much more.

This book reminded me so much of fun times I had with my own Grandfather and by listening to him and watching him intently, I learned something. I hope that some day, my own grand-children will learn something from me. I always learn something from them and that is what love and family is all about.

The illustrations in the book were colorful, large and somewhat exaggerated, a nice addition to the book as a whole. This book was truly great and I would highly recommend it for families who are inter-generational or intercultural. 5 stars!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for my open and honest opinion. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Family Activities related to the book:

• Learn a little Chinese! On the inside cover are the Chinese number to 8 and other words learned in the book. Make flash cards, like I did, with the Chines word on one side and the meaning on the other. 

• Count train cars! Grandfather and his Grand-daughter sat and counted trains every day to learn numbers and words. Find a train near you,or make your own train and count the train cars in Chinese and then English.

• Talk and color! Grandfather and Grand-daughter wave to the train conductor every day.Have your child draw their own train and color it. Talk about what the conductor might be thinking when he sees the pair every day.

Where to find the author:

Facebook

Goodreads

Amazon

Help Spread the Word about MCCBD!

1. Spread the word about MCCBD and the need for diverse children’s books! Remember our hashtag, #readyourworld

2. Like MCCBD on Facebook to learn more about authors and books that celebrate diversity.

3. Make a donation.  Click here to help get multicultural books into the hands of kids who need them most.

4. Bookmark MCCBD blog to have continual access to an extensive list of diverse children’s books from around the world.

5. Follow MCCBD on Pinterest to keep the inspiration coming. This board is filled with great books and activities related to diversity.

#Review: Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp/Illustrate by Erwin Printup, Jr.

Summary:

Giving Thanks is a special children's version of the Thanksgiving Address, a message of gratitude that originated with the Native people of upstate New York and Canada and that is still spoken at ceremonial gatherings held by the Iroquois, or Six Nations.

My Review:

If you are looking for the traditional book for Thanksgiving with turkeys and pilgrims, this is not it!
This book is a blessing of gratitude for the every day things of the Earth that we so often forget to give thanks for.

This book as told by Chief Swamp is a retelling in English of the words spoken by the native peoples of the Iroquois or Six Nations. I loved that in the back he included the Mohawk version. Although I could not begin to read or understand it, I felt it was beautiful and necessary to preserve the language of the people.

The illustrations on each page were bold and absolutely beautiful. I honestly wanted to go back and just keep looking at the pictures! They were beautifully done and paid homage to the native culture in such a lovely way.

I urge you to pick up this book to share with your families or in the classrooms, you cannot go wrong.
Oh and bonus, this is a Reading Rainbow book which means you can be reassured it is a great read for children.

5 stars without any issues...if I could, I would give it 10! 

Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own use. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the author:

Amazon
Goodreads