Remembering Black History

Disclosure: Macmillan Publishers sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe today is the last day of February. Today end this year's black history month. Have you ever wondered why black history month is important? It is important for people to know their own history and relate to the people they are learning about. It is also important for us to study history so we learn from the mistakes and don't repeat them. Unfortunately, I think our society is struggling with this. As I read The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos and illustrated by Nate Powell, I thought about how our society seems to be repeating itself with the current news  and this semi-autobiographical story from the 1967. 

Two Books for #BlackHistoryMonth and a Personal Journey Brought by One of Them

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe that February is ending this week. I know something I really enjoy in February is learning more Black History. I love all the new books out as well as my friend's posts on Facebook about various black people in history. (He is a vice principal now but was a history teacher and is black.) This year we have already shared with you many new books including ones on Frederick Douglass, the Underground Railroad, black heroes, Harriet Tubman, as well as about the black women of NASA. Today we are sharing two books. The first is a wonderful introduction book to black history. It is A Child's Introduction to African American History by Jabari Asim and illustrated by Lynn Gaines. 

Frederick Douglass

Disclosure: Abrams Books sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 


As we continue our way through Black History Month, I keep finding more and more wonderful books to share with you. Today's is about a famous name, Frederick Douglass. How much do you know about Frederick Douglass? I knew his name and knew he was an escaped slave and abolitionist, but not a whole lot more. The book is Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden. 

The Underground Railroad

Disclosure: Judy Dodge Cummings sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Can you believe we are at the half way point of February? Where is time going? Since February is Black History Month, I have been trying to feature some great resources for you to use. Today I am really excited to share an amazing book by Judy Dodge Cummings and illustrated by Tom Casteel called The Underground Railroad: Navigate the Journey from Slavery to Freedom. The reason I am so excited is this book is similar to a workbook and has 20 interesting projects in it to go with the different chapters. 

Heroes of Black History -- Rosa Parks

Disclosure: Blue Slip Media sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

February is Black History Month! The thing I love about Black History Month is reading a friend's posts on Facebook. He is black and now a vice principal but was a high school history teacher. He shares with his friends a bit about some not so well known Black Americans. I love reading them each year and learning about some amazing people I haven't heard about previously. Today's book shares about the lives of four Black Americans who have made history. These are four well known people, but this book is perfect for an library, classroom or home. It adds so much about these four heroes as well as giving more information about Black History in America. The book is from the Editors of Time for Kids and it is called Heroes of Black History: Biographies of Four Great Americans. 

A Japanese Fairy Tale and James VanDerZee -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Lee and Low sent me these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Today I get to share my final two reviews for Multicultural Children's Book Day 2018. I am sharing two very different books with you from different cultures. The first book is a classic Japanese fairy tale. It is The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley and illustrated by Lin Wang. 

Hidden Women -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Capstone Publishing sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Have you seen Hidden Figures? It is in Hazel's top three favorite movies of all times. Our family went to see it on Martin Luther King Day last year. Last year I wrote about the real women in the story for Black History Month. And before the movie I had done a post about Katherine Johnson for a previous Black History Month. Needless to say this is a topic near and dear to us. I jumped at the chance to review a new book called Hidden Women: The African-American Mathematicians of NASA Who Helped Win the Space Race by Rebecca Rissman. 

Before She Was Harriet -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Holiday House sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

January 27th is fast approaching!! Today I get to share with you another amazing book for Multicultural Children's Book Day. The book today is about someone I am sure you have heard of, Harriet Tubman. The book is Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome.

Multicultural Books for Different Ages

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

It has been awhile since I did a Multicultural Monday review, but here it is. Today I am going to share with you book for different ages from all over the world and with diverse characters. Hazel loves learning about other countries and cultures. Today I am sharing books that tell tales from other cultures, share about other countries and a multicultural young adult book set in Boston. We will start with All About Thailand by Elaine Russell and illustrated by Patcharee Meesukhon and Vinit Yeesman. 

Exploring New York and Its History with Books & More

Disclosure: Candlewick Press sent me these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Last week we explored the history of our home state, Massachusetts. This week we are sharing a bit about New York with some books and a couple of visits. We are lucky enough to have my best friend living in Westchester County. The past six months Hazel and I have visited her twice. Both times she was kind enough to take us into New York City for some sightseeing. To go with our visits we are sharing two books today. The first book is Lady Liberty A Biography by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Matt Tavares. 

A Look at Massachusetts and Its History

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This year and last year Hazel's social studies unit is on the history of Massachusetts. As a result I have been gathering all the books I can find with a connection to our home state. (The truth be told I'm gathering books about all the states so I can expand our knowledge on each of them, but more on that below.) We also spent time doing some of the historical things in our area and looking at some of our past adventures. So today I am going to share two books about famous Massachusetts residents and share some of our adventures. The first book is Imagine That! by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.

Historical Multicultural Books

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I am sharing with yous four fun books that are  multicultural and a bit historical. Our first book is Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out! collected by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. It is a collection of games, songs and stories from an African American childhood and is perfect for summertime.

Alexander Hamilton and a Look at USA History

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Alexander Hamilton seems to be making rounds everywhere lately. With Hamilton on Broadway, everyone seems to be learning about this Founding Father. What do you know about him? I will admit I did not know too much. I am happy to say that after reading the two books I am going to share with you I feel like I know a bit more about Alexander Hamilton and his life. Hazel was also learning about Massachusetts history this year so there has been quite a bit of focus on the Revolutionary War. One of our homeschooling field trips has been to do a bit of the Freedom Trail after visiting the New England Aquarium. Today I am going to share these books for different ages to learn a bit more about Alexander Hamilton as well as some of the fun we had exploring our country's history. We are going to explore all of the states and one of our ways of doing it is the US State Postcard Exchange. Want to join us?

Ann Cole Lowe and Ada Lovelace -- Learning about Women in History

For our final post this year for Women's History Month I am sharing two books I found at the library. The first book is Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe by Deborah Blumenthal and illustrated by Laura Freeman.

Books for Black History Month

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

One of Hazel's favorite things is to learn about history and people. This month we have been enjoying four books from Candlewick Press that are perfect for Black History Month. They have also donated some of the amazing prizes for the Black History Month Series & Giveaway. (Have you entered yet?) One of the books in the prize pack includes Voice of Freedom illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Ekua illustrated a poetry book, Out of Wonder, by Kwame Alexander coming out in March. The books I am reviewing today I will in order of time for the history timeline. We will start with The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud and illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett. 

The Real Women Mathematicians of Hidden Figures - Black History Month Blog Hop & Giveaway

Disclosure:  Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Have you seen Hidden Figures yet? Now as a family we hardly ever go to the movies. We really do not like supporting the Hollywood scene or spending the huge amounts that it costs to go out and get a popcorn. However on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day our family went to the movie theater to see Hidden Figures. Between my love of multicultural stories and math, my engineering husband's love of space, and Hazel's love of history and learning, we all loved this movie. We felt it was worth the money spent and found it to be a great activity for the day. Now I was especially excited for the movie since my post last year for the Black History Month Blog Hop was about Katherine Johnson. The movie made me want to learn even more and teach Hazel more about these amazing women. 

Black History Month Blog Tour for Young Kids -- a First Look Tour

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Ideals Books./Worthy Kids. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Can you believe it is already February? Today starts Black History Month in America and I get to share with you two board books to introduce perhaps the two most famous civil rights activists in America to the youngest kids. It seems like the perfect way to kick off Black History Month. The first book is The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. written by Johnny Ray Moore and illustrated by Amy Wummer. 

I am Jackie Robinson -- Ordinary People Change the World Series Blog Tour & Giveaway

Disclosure:  All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are sharing I Am Jackie Robinson by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos as part of the Ordinary People Change the World Blog Tour. It seems very appropriate to share this fun book about this great man during Black History Month (be sure to enter the MKB Black History Month Giveaway). Penguin Kids is giving away an entire set of the Ordinary People Change the World Series (to enter scroll down). So far there are eight books in the series. We have already shared I Am Abraham Lincoln, I Am Lucille Ball, I Am Martin Luther King, Jr., I Am Helen Keller, I Am Rosa Parks, and I Am Amelia Earhart. Tomorrow we will share the eighth book, and I am very excited to tell you it will be a Multicultural Math post! But today we are focusing on Jackie Robinson!

Katherine Johnson -- Multicultural Math Lesson and Black History Month Blog Hop & Giveaway

*Pictures of Katherine Johnson are from NASA.

This year for Black History Month I could not decide what to focus on for my post. Hazel and I read books about Coretta Scott King (Martin Luther King, Jr.'s wife) and inventor Garrett Morgan. I was trying to decide which to focus on and then I discovered Katherine Johnson and knew I found my post subject. First a bit about how I discovered her. Back from my former life as a high school math teacher I have a friend who was a black history teacher (now he is an assistant principal). Every February he posts on his Facebook page about various black people and events. He only posts so his friends can see them so I have not been able to share them. However this year I have been Googling the person or event and pinning them to my Black History Month Board.  Be sure to check it out to learn about even more Black History. Well one of his posts this year was about Katherine Johnson and I knew I had found my post topic and the bonus is she also is a black mathematician!

I Am Rosa Parks -- Ordinary People Change the World Blog Tour & Giveaway!

Disclosure:  All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we continue the Ordinary People Change the World Blog Tour. The Ordinary People Change the World Series is by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulous. There is a giveaway from Penguin Kids below for the whole series as well!! Today's book is I Am Rosa Parks.