Multicultural Children’s Book Day Today! (Book Review)

Kiely was born a star!  Her many talents include dancing, singing, and dramatics. Her parents (aka paparazzi) capture every cute moment whether Kiely wants them to or not. I can definitely relate to that aspect of having my first little ones (twins) and wanting to capture everything (and then posting it for family and friends to enjoy).

Many parents will see their child in Kiely, the protagonist in I Am Famous by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie. Having two littles myself and even thinking back to when my sister was little, I recognize the spirit of Kiely in them. Even my mom while reading the book, kept saying “this is you!”

Kiely’s big break comes when she performs at her grandpa’s birthday party. She finds the perfect outfit to “hit the red carpet”. In front of her live audience she performs her grandpa’s favorite song, but OH! “What were the words again?” Well, the show must go on, so now to dancing. Oops! Kiely has another embarrassing moment. Will it stop her from performing ever again? You have to read the book to find out.

This is a super cute book with the message that no matter what, family--I mean fans, will love you. Make sure to check out the sequel, I Used to Be Famous! especially if you have a child who feels like a "has been" with a new sibling.

My Wee Ones Review Global Babies by Maya Ajmera

E and N here! Our ima (Hebrew for mom) said we could tell you what books we love on her blog, so that other people know what books to get babies (0-3yo). We give smiles to books we like.

😊😊😊

We give 3 smiles (out of 2 smiles) to the board book, Global Babies by Maya Ajmera.  We love books with photos of baby faces and this one even makes us gurgle with delight.

The book tells us that no matter what, every baby is special and loved.  The pictures show babies from all over the world!  We love seeing babies of many beautiful colors.

Our ima even bought another book from the collection (Global Fund for Children Books), Global Baby Bedtime by Maya Ajmera.  She is going to get us more from this collection as we grow.

Author Study: Angela Dominguez

It's National Hispanic Heritage Month!

Even though I am not in a school anymore, I still love recommending/finding books for people!  My mom is a 1st grade teacher and she came to me over the summer to ask what are some good multicultural/diverse authors her students could do book/author studies on. She wants her students to see themselves in the books.  One of the first authors to pop into my mind was Angela Dominguez. 

She is a newer Latina author on the scene, but she has been making waves already. Her book, Maria Had a Little Llama/Maria Tenia Una Llamita, which I reviewed in the post linked, is a Pura Belpre Honor book and was featured on KidLit TV.

There are several other books written by Angela Dominguez I would like to share with you so that you may have the chance to share this author with your students. One of her other picture book titles is Sing, Don't Cry. The story is inspired by the refrain in the Mexican song, "Cieleto lindo" [roughly translated as "lovely sweet one"], to which she combines with her abuelo's positive outlook on life.

"When you are misunderstood, and when people are unkind, remember--sing, don't cry, even if it is only in your soul."

It is a very sweet portrait of a grandfather's relationship with his grandkids and not overwhelming in text, so young students can enjoy the story, too.

Other titles from Dominguez that are excellent for this author study:

How Do You Say? / Cómo Se Dice? - Two giraffes meander through the forest looking for food. They come to the same tree where they begin to eat and while one exclaims about the food in English, the other exclaims about the food in Spanish. The two form a bond while finding ways to communicate with each other even though there is a language barrier. I feel this is a pretty timely book for right now.

Knit Together - A mother and daughter combine their talents of drawing and knitting to create a special memory of their time on the beach together.





Dominguez could also be used as a study in illustration/reading the pictures in a book with the above titles and the following: Mango, Abuela, and Me by May Medina and Marta! Big and Small by Jen Medina.

Book Review: Maria Had a Little Llama

I have been working on enlarging the selection of culturally relevant books that my school's library carries.  I have focused on Hispanic titles this year.  Which is why when I saw that KidLitTV was having a book raffle and one of the titles was a Pura Belprè Honor Book, I signed up (and later won).  I'm excited to review the title, Maria Had a Little Llama by Angela Dominguez.

The spin on the familiar favorite, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," is enlivened with bilingual text and illustrations displaying a beautiful Peruvian setting.  *I keep picturing one of my 2nd graders being excited to check this book out because she is fluent in Spanish.*  The illustrations are very warm and sweet, inviting the reader to follow Maria just like her little llama.  

I'm quite happy to add this book to my school library's bilingual collection.  Even better!  Here is a link to a read loud by the author.

I Call Them Author Competitions, But Really...

It's just an excuse for me to read more books to my younger students.  I started making a list of my students favorite books or ones I see them checkout often and was going to town until I started collecting photos of the authors and realized they were all White.  STOP!  Now, it's time to look up some authors from diverse backgrounds and introduce a few of those wonderful writers.  On the list: Nikki Giovanni, Grace Lin, Donald Crews, Alma Ada Flor, Mo Willems, and Peter Brown.  I feel that I was quite successful in our reading ventures, especially since students non-stop picked books to checkout from the display shelves of these authors.  

Here is how I introduced the concept which I borrowed from Pinterest (once again proving to myself that I don't just collect and store, I use pins too).  3 authors one week, then 3 different authors the next week.  I showed my students a flipchart on the Promethean Board that would allow me to graph each classes favorite author (this is where the photos came in handy).  I read aloud the stories and we discussed what we liked about each book and what we would change about each book.  Then I played videos of the authors, so that my students could see that authors are REAL people.  After that, they voted on which one they liked the best--which was tallied as a class for the graph.

Books read:
I Am Invite to a Party! by Mo Willems
You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown
The Sun Is So Quiet by Nikki Giovanni
Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin
Night at the Fair by Donald Crews
I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Ada Flor



Image courtesy of hin255 at freedigitalphotose.net

Thank Goodness My Class Can Inspire My Blogging

Before I slack off on any more blog posts because of school, I’m taking action! I can’t believe I’ve never found my classes relevant to my blog, especially since I am studying children’s literature. This semester I’m taking a course called “Cultural Pluralism in Children’s Literature.” I love the course so far—it is completely relevant to my interests in children’s literature and my thesis (which is entitled, “Engaging Students in Identifying Culturally Authentic American Indian Picturebook Folklore”).

This week, the focus is on Chinese Americans. I read the books American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep, The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy, and The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop.

American Born Chinese (grades 7-12) is a brilliant semi-autobiographical graphic novel about Yang’s adjustment to a new school, yet how he feels like an outcast for being Chinese American. The story actually plays out in three ways--one being about the Monkey King and his goal to become more human, Jin Wang’s story about adjusting to a new school, and Danny’s story about his cousin, Chin-Kee, who embodies all Chinese stereotypes. All these stories intertwine in the end and the reader feels more enlightened for that very reason.

Dragon’s Gate (grades 7-9) is a great historical fiction novel about the Chinese immigrants who come to the United States to help build the railroad. The protagonist, Otter, is a young teen from a wealthy family, who ends up traveling to the U.S. (after he’s landed in some trouble back home) to meet up with his father and uncle who have been working on the railroad for 12 years now. Yep does a fantastic job describing the harsh conditions faced in the Sierras, along with life in the Chinese sector of the railroad camps. Otter has one of the best coming of age stories I have read in a long time.

The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Five Chinese Brothers (grades K-3) would be excellent to teach together. Comparing the stories will reveal the stereotypes in The Five Chinese Brothers and make one wonder which story is closer to the actual tale, since according to The Seven Chinese Brothers it is a Han tale.

Bishop, C. H. (1938). The Five Chinese brothers. New York, NY: Putnam & Groset.

Mahy, M. (1990). The Seven Chinese brothers. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Yang, G. (2006). American born Chinese. New York, NY: Square Fish.

Yep, L. (1993). Dragon's gate. New York, NY: HarperCollins.