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. 

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. 

Multicultural Rhyming Picture Books That Inspire Us -- A Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

 

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

Multicultural Children's Book Day was on Friday. You can check out the amazing link party sharing all the reviews of the sponsored books as well as other multicultural children's books from throughout the year. Today I get to share with you three more books from Crystel Patterson, a Bronze Sponsor of Multicultural Children's Book Day. Each of these books are rhyming picture books and are a series called Inspired to Be and are all written by Crystel Patterson and illustrated by Briana Young. The first book we will share is One Flip, Two Flip, Three Flip, Four and was inspired by Gabby Douglas. 

Multicultural Children's Book Day BIG Link Party #readyourworld

 

Today is the day!! It is Multicultural Children's Book Day! What does this mean? Well, if you have been reading my posts all month you will know I shared five multicultural books this month in preparation for today. Many other people, bloggers, influencers, etc. have done the same thing on their blogs and social media. Today we all gather and share all of the reviews (as well as other multicultural book reviews) in a big link party (scroll down to join). 

Queen Goharshad -- Brave with Beauty -- a 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.

Have you ever heard of Queen Goharshad? She was queen of Khorashan back in the 1400s. Khorashan was in present day Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. She is remembered for the buildings she built including the Goharshad Mosque (in present day Iran) and for supporting the arts. Today I get to share with you a wonderful picture book based on this amazing woman and her accomplishments. The book is called Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan by Maxine Rose Schur with art by Patricia Grush, Robin Dewitt, and Golsa Yaghoobi. It is recommended for ages 7 to 9.

Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess: These Shoes Are Made for Dancing -- a 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.

Have you ever had one of those bad days? You know when you think the world is against you? We all have them--even kids. Today I get to share with you a book for young readers that deals with just that! It is the fourth book in the Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess Series. The book is These Shoes Are Made for Dancing by Deedee Cummings and illustrated by Charlene Mosley. The series is recommended for ages 4 to 8. (To see my reviews of some more of Deedee Cummings' books, click here.)

Dinner on Domingos -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

 

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

Does your family or did your family have a tradition of Sunday dinner? I remember when I was young, we would gather at my grandparents' house for Sunday dinner. Often it would be a steak dinner or some type of beef I believe, but that is not really a memory, but more information told to me. The memory I have is when my cousin was a baby. I remember his holding my finger with his little hands for hours. I was finally not the baby of the family anymore. The funny thing is I don't remember his younger sister as a baby, but I remember him. Today I get to share with you a story about a Sunday dinner tradition in an Ecuadorian-American family and it has a family recipe to try at the end!! (We tried it and I loved it!!) The book is Dinner on Domingos by Alexandra Katona and illustrated by Claudia Navarro. This book is recommended for ages 5 to 8 and this review is for Multicultural Children's Book Day! Join us here, we are co-hosting, on January 28th for the BIG LINKY of all the Multicultural Children's Books and the celebration. There is more information about it all below!

Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen -- a 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.

Today I get to share another book for Multicultural Children's Book Day. It is a middle grades novel that has a main character who is the child of an Indian-American father and Jewish mother. Then at the end of fifth grade is diagnosed with dyslexia. The book is Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern. 

The Book of Untold Stories -- a 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.

Today I am going to share the first of many multicultural children's book that I am reviewing for the 9th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day. On January 28, 2022, I will be co-hosting Multicultural Children's Book Day and you can visit here to see all the books reviewed and share your own reviews! Today we are sharing The Book of Untold Stories: Fourteen Prompts to Spark the Imagination by Sherri Maret and illustrated by Thomas Hilley. This book is recommended for ages 5+.

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. 

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.

New Kid -- 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.

Are you getting excited for Friday? It is hard to believe Multicultural Children's Book Day 2020 is almost here. Today I get to share another amazing book with you for it. But before we talk about the book by Jerry Craft I need to also mention that Jerry Craft is the artist who designed this year's poster! You can see it to the right as well as after my review and before the information about Multicultural Children's Book Day. Thank you, Jerry, for creating such a beautiful poster!

Global Kids: 50+ Games, Crafts, Recipes & More from Around the World -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: I was sent a set of these cards in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

For today's multicultural review I am sharing a neat set of cards to teach kids about different cultures of the world. It is Global Kids: 50+ Games, Crafts, Recipes & More from Around the World by Homa Sabet Tavangar and Sophie Fatus.  

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.

Intrepids -- Middle School Book Review -- Multicultural Childrens Book Day

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

Do you like science fiction and fantasy? I never really consider myself a lover of either genre but I think I am fooling myself because the fantasy books I have reviewed here I love and here is another great one! It is Intrepids by Diana Huang. 

Biographies of Black People for Grades 3-5 -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

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

It is January and that means Multicultural Children's Book Day is coming. This year it is scheduled for January 31, 2020, and I will be cohosting it so be sure to tune in then to see all the amazing books shared. Today I get to share three books from Capstone Editions. This collection of books share a look into the lives of three black Americans that you may or may not have heard of but are perfect books for the upcoming Black History Month. They are all recommended for grades 3 to 5. We will start with Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom by Gwendolyn Hooks and illustrated by Simone Agoussoye. 

First Generation -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review #readyourworld

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day. All opinions are my own.

Can we talk about immigration? I mean it is all over our news. In fact in many ways we can say immigration has shut down our government. But let's look at the positive side of immigration instead of all the bad news our politicians are throwing around. (And in my humble opinion I don't think any of Congress or the President should be paid during the shutdown. In fact I think their salaries and health care should be going to the out of work federal employees, but I don't like to talk about politics too much.) I have an amazing book to share with you today. Tomorrow is Multicultural Children's Book Day and the link-up will be right here tomorrow!! Be sure to come back and check out all the amazing books reviewed this year! The book today is First Generation: 36 Trailblazing Immigrants And Refugees Who Make America Great by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace and illustrated by Agata Nowicka.

A Time to Dance Review #readyourworld

Disclosure: I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day. All opinions are my own.

Imagine being at the top of your world. You just one a competition in your dream activity and then on the way to the press conference a horrible accident occurs and you lose a limb so your dream activity seems impossible. That is how this story begins. It introduces us to Veda who danced before she even walked. She is a young Indian woman trying to figure out life and live her dream. And then in a horrible accident she loses one of her legs. There was no way of saving it. Will she be able to walk again? Will she ever be able to dance? The book is A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman. 

Multicultural Picture Books from Deirdre Pecchioni Cummings - #ReadYourWorld

Disclosure: I was sent these books as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I get the pleasure of sharing five of Deirdre Pecchioni Cumming's books for Multicultural Children's Book Day. Most of the books are illustrated by Erika Busse. The first book I am sharing is my and Hazel's favorite of the five. We actually have only received an ecopy since it isn't quite in print yet. It is Like Rain Water. This one is illustrated by Charlene Mosley.

The Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition #ReadYourWorld

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is January and that means Multicultural Children's Book Day is coming soon!! As a cohost and reviewer I love January. I love being exposed to amazing multicultural books that I hadn't heard of and getting to share them with you. Today's book is an amazing find. Quick when you hear Lewis and Clark Expedition, who do you think about (knowing we are talking about multicultural stories)? I am guessing you said Sacagawea. I know that is who I think of. We have had the pleasure of reading some amazing books about Sacagawea and sharing them here and here. However today's book teaches you about another diverse person who was forced to go on the dangerous expedition. The person is named York, and he was a slave of Captain William Clark. Our book today is The Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Hasan Davis and illustrated by Alleanna Harris.