Oh Susannah! Things that Go Bump -- Facing Ones Fears

Disclosure: The Children's Book Review and Carole P. Roman sent me a copy of this book and is paying me a small stipend for this review. All opinions are my own.

What is your child afraid of? Is he or she like Hazel with many fears? The second book in Carole P. Roman's Oh Susannah series is perfect for new readers who have fears. We shared the first book in the series here. The second book is Oh Susannah: Things that Go Bump by Carole P. Roman and illustrated by Mateya Arkova. 

Oh Susannah It's in the Bag

Disclosure: I was sent this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest review by The Children's Book Review & Carole P. Roman. All opinions in my review are my own and I will receive a small compensation for writing it.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation for your purchase.

Today we get to share a fun new book by Carole P. Roman and be part of the blog tour that includes a giveaway. Now I will admit we fell in love Carole's books back with the Captain No Beard series. Those books are wonderful picture books with imagination and lessons! Today's book is an early reader chapter book and it is her first! The book is Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag and it is illustrated by Mateya Arkova. The suggested age range for this book is 7 - 10 years old.

Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex -- Review & Giveaway

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Carole P. Roman and will receive a small stipend for my review. All opinions are my own.

Looking for a fun book for middle school and high school kids? Do they love super heroes and adventure? Check out today's book, Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex by Carole P. Roman. Now I will admit I love Carole P. Roman's books for younger children in the past and shared several of them here before. Carole has also been an author sponsor of Multicultural Children's Book Day in the past as many of her books, including this one, are multicultural. 

Mrs. Spring's Garden -- Book Review & Giveaway

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Carole P. Roman to be part of the Virtual Book Tour. All opinions are my own.

Today I get to share with you another great book from Carole P. Roman. It amazes me how she writes fun fictional books full of lessons and wisdom as well as interesting nonfiction books all for kids. I have reviewed several in the past. Today's book is perfect for Earth Day as well as spring. It is Mrs. Spring's Garden by Carole P. Roman and illustrated by Leen Rosian. 

Captain No Beard Series Review & Treasure Pouch Craft

Disclosure: I was sent the set of books with some hats, crafts and play doubloons and will receive a small compensation for writing this honest review. All opinions are my own. As always I am providing links for your convenience. I do not receive compensation if you purchase through them.

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a series of books with you. I will admit when I first was approached about these books, I was not completely sure they were our cup of tea, but I decided to try them anyway because I figured they might be one your child's things. After all Hazel is really not into pirates except Jake and the Neverland Pirates. However I was very pleasantly surprised by these books. Hazel and I LOVE them!! We were sent all nine Captain No Beard books by Carole P. Roman.

Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior -- Book Review & Fun Facts About Water

 

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

Water is essential to life for humans and all living things. Yet the water on Earth is mostly salt water and otherwise undrinkable. Humans have been using the water at record levels as well as polluting the clean water to make it undrinkable. A group of indigenous people are working to protect the water. We shared a book about them a few years ago for Earth Day. Today we are sharing a book about one (well kind of two) of these amazing women. The book is Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Bridget George. It is recommended for ages 4 to 9. To go with this book, I am sharing some fun facts about water to show why we all need to be water warriors as well as some ideas for activities to go with the book.

If You Were Me and Lived In Ancient Times -- Multicultural Monday Review

Disclosure: Carole P. Roman sent me these books for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am going to share three of the books in Carole P. Roman's If You Were Me and Lived in ...Ancient Times Series. This series looks at ancient and historical cultures from all over the world and through many centuries. Today we are going to travel to Viking Europe, Renaissance Italy and Colonial America. We will start with If You Were Me and Lived in Viking Europe. It is illustrated by Mateya Arkova.

Announcement: Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party (and Giveaways)

Please join us for our Multicultural Children's Book Day

Win 1 of 12 Book Bundles! Giving away Book Bundles every 6 minutes!

Twitter Party

Friday, January 27th

9 pm to 10 pm EST

Hashtag: #ReadYourWorld

We will be discussing the state of children's book publishing and giving away diversity book bundles every six minutes! We invite EVERYONE to join us: authors, publishers, parents, caregivers, librarians, KidLit lovers. You don't have to be an author or publisher sponsor to join us! Let's talk about our favorite multicultural and diverse children's books, authors, and illustrators!

How do you join the Twitter party? Just use hashtag #ReadYourWorld to find us. When you tweet, use the hashtag so everyone can find you!

Register below to be able to win!!

A Look At Mexican Art -- Hispanic Heritage Month

This year for our Hispanic Heritage Month post I thought we would share a bit about artwork from Mexico. Mexico is the country of the month for Global Learning for Kids, so we have been looking at it quite a bit this month. More posts to follow on it. In previous years we have looked at Frida Kahlo, papel picado,  Jose Guadalupe Posada and Juan Quezada. We found even more books at the library about Frida Kahlo.

Award Winning New Picture Books Perfect for Black History Month

 

On January 24, 2022, the American Library Association announced the 2022 Youth Media Awards! You can see all the winners here. I was happy to see Firekeeper's Daughter won the William C. Morris Award and the Printz Award. Ace of Spades was a finalist for the Printz Award. I really enjoyed both of these young adult books and Ace of Spades is another book great for Black History Month. I went through the list of awards and began requesting books from the library. I found five picture books from the list that are perfect for Black History Month and thought I would share them with you. One will be reshared as I did review it in 2021. We will start with Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12 or grades 3 to 6.

Let It Shine! A Celebration of You -- Book Review and Reflections on MLK Day

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in order to provide an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today is the holiday to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a time to reflect on his words and work as well as a time to volunteer and help others. For me I am taking time to reflect on our country and where we are. I am also sharing an amazing picture book that is being released this week that honestly made me think of Dr. King's words. As we see in the news and on our social media that American citizens are being arrested by ICE for not having proof of their citizenship on them, I feel it is an important time to think about the work and words of Dr. King. Our president has created a country of fear and racism with his ICE officers and is spending more money on ICE than most things. This scares me. I am scared for people of color. I am scared for women. I am scared for the LGBTQ+ community. I am scared for America. The hostility that is just growing more and more is getting to a breaking point. This is very scary and it makes me wonder if the United States will survive. I have decided not to focus on the news and awful stories around me but to look for hope and joy this year. Joy is my word for 2026. So with that thought I am going to share with you a beautiful picture book called Let It Shine! A Celebration of You by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Tequitia Andrews. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.

If You Were Me and Lived In.... a Look at Cultures Around the World

Disclosure: Carole P. Roman sent me these books for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Do you like to read books about different cultures? Since we don't travel very often, I love to teach Hazel about different cultures and I have found books to be a wonderful way to do this. Today I get to share three books from a wonderful series by Carole P. Roman. The series is If You Were Me and Lived In...A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World. Unlike the books in the Ancient Culture series I shared last week, these books focus on current cultures in the countries. The series of books that include a map of the country as well as a picture of a globe showing where the country is and a pronunciation guide with meanings as well. We will go in alphabetical order with our three countries and start with If You Were Me and Lived in...Australia. 

Rigoberta Menchu

Back in August I had the pleasure of sharing She Takes a Stand: 16 Fearless Activists Who Have Changed the World by Michael Elsohn Ross. One of the amazing 16 women I read about was Rigoberta Menchú. I decided then to focus on Rigoberta for Hispanic Heritage Month (there is a giveaway below). I wanted to share her story with Hazel (though she got bored--I guess I'll have to wait a few more years) and you.  Rigoberta is an indigenous woman from Guatemala. She has dedicated her life to promoting indigenous rights in Guatemala. She received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

Rigoberta with other Human Rights Activists in 1992 By Moya110 (Own work) 
[GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Let's Read About Black Characters & People -- Round-Up of Children's Books

The other day as I talked to Hazel about current events on our walk and was telling her my plans for Crafty Moms Share, she said, "Did you ever notice that when there is a black person in a book there is just one in a group of white friends?" Oh, yes, we still have the token black person in our society of books and television shows. She even commented how sometimes the group is made up of one person of different races like in The Start-Up Squad Series. I recently read an article about how white people need to do more than talk to our kids about racism. Where we live, who our neighbors are, books we read/provide our kids, who our friends are, the diversity of the school we send our kids to all play a part in how our kids grow up and understand race relations. Now I cannot change your neighborhood or their school but I hope I can change the books in your house and your library. I asked some fellow bloggers as well as authors that are part of the Multicultural Children's Book Day group for any books, activities, and reviews they had with black people as the main characters. Today I am going to share a round-up of books shared and some others I found (on Amazon). I will link reviews and activities whenever possible. It is important that all of our kids read books that have people like them but it is also important that our kids read books with people who do not look like them. This will build their understanding and help them to grow and learn about race and culture and hopefully not be racist when they grow up. I have the books separated into picture books, fairy tales, chapter books/novels, and non-fiction/biographies. There are some separation within some of these genres as well. 

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.

101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up -- Book Review & Giveaway

 

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I am working with The Children's Book Review to bring you this post.

What are your favorite childhood books? Do you have ones from your own childhood or from your children's childhood? Perhaps you love the classics like Charlotte's Web or something new like one of our favorites, Princess in Black. Or maybe you are looking at picture books or middle grade novels. Not matter what your favorites are or what you are looking to read today's book has suggestions for you. The book is 101 Books to Ready Before You Grow Up (Revised Edition) by Bianca Schulze and illustrated by Samara Hardy. There is a giveaway at the end of this post too!

Multicultural Children's Book Day Post with Link Party for Reviews

It is hard to believe it is time for Multicultural Children's Book Day 2020!! I am so happy to be a co-host again this year. This is one of my favorite times to be a blogger.

Dictionary for a Better World -- Poetry, Inspiration and More! -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

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

It is hard to believe Multicultural Children's Book Day is at the end of the week! I am so excited to see all the different reviews. How about you? Today we get to share another amazing book with you for it. This one is actually being released next week. The book is Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini.

Sharing Saturday 15-42

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I was blown away by the great ideas shared!!  Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Pumpkins, Day of the Dead and Costumes and Scavenger Hunts and Fairy Races. Also a side note that last week I started another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. Our second party will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc. And don't forget to share all things pumpkins (crafts, recipes, lessons, etc.) at my Pumpkin Link Party!

Mystery of the Min Min Lights - a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Janelle Diller of Pack-n-Go Girls sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

It is hard to believe the Multicultural Children's Book Day is coming quickly. It is on January 27th and I am a co-host so be sure to come back and check out all the reviews at the link up!!