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. 

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.

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.

Religious Chapter Books

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

Hazel loves to read!! At times I cannot get her nose out of a book. She is into mysteries right now, but we have been really enjoying some Christian themed chapter books. Today we are going to share some of them with you. We shared the first book in the Chime Travelers Series with you previously. It is written by Lisa M. Hendey and illustrated by Jenn Bower. Today we will share the other four books in the series. This fun series is about twins who somehow are able to travel through time to meet and learn from various saints. They know it has something to do with the bells at their church, but cannot figure out how to make it happen or how to travel together. 

First Ladies and Eleanor Roosevelt -- Women's History Month Series

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this 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.

This is my official post for Multicultural Kid Blogs' Women's History Month Series although I have already done two posts on women in history already this month (Bethany Ehlmann and Sophie Blanchard) and will be doing more the rest of the month. Today I am sharing a book about many wonderful women in history it is What's the Big Deal about First Ladies by Ruby Shamir and illustrated by Matt Faulkner and I am going to share a bit about one of my favorite first ladies in history, Eleanor Roosevelt. 

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!!

Christmas in Nigeria -- Jollof Rice

Today we get to share our post for Christmas in Different Lands. Before we do, however, I want to share a quote from Hazel: "Next year you should pick four countries and cook something from each one for each week of Advent to post on your blog."

We decided to explore Nigeria because Hazel wanted to learn more about it. One of her best friends' family is from Nigeria, so I asked her mother for information. So much of this information is straight from someone who grew up there and still has family there.

Books to Explore Our World -- Maps Poster Book and Panorama Pops Boston Book Reviews

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.

We love books that help us learn about places and cultures. In case you cannot tell I am a bit obsessed with teaching Hazel and learning myself about other cultures and places. However we are not big travelers, so books are our answer. Candlewick Press sent me two great books for our family. The first to share is Maps Poster Book by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski. 

Christmas Church Services Around the World -- Christmas in Different Lands

In many parts of the world church services or masses are an important part of Christmas. Many countries have traditional times for the service. Does yours? Growing up we always went to what was called the midnight candlelight service. It started at 11:00 p.m. and ended around midnight. The service always ended with singing Silent Night and having each person light a candle from the flame of the Christ candle in the Advent wreath. Now we usually go to the earlier Christmas Eve service so Hazel can stay awake. 

Novena

 For many the celebration of Christmas takes place in the church. In some countries the church services begins on December 16th. In Venezuela there is an early morning church service called Misa de Aguinaldo held every day from December 16 to December 24. Often there are bells and firecrackers to wake the parishioners for the early services. In the capital city, Caracas, it is tradition to roller skate to these services. As a result the streets are often closed to cars until 8 a.m. On December 24 the mass is at midnight and is called Misa de Gallo. (Source) Chile also celebrates with a Novena. There are church services throughout December in Chile, but on the 16th special prayers begin the day as well as visits to local churches. (Source) The Philippines also have early morning or pre-dawn masses for the nine days prior to Christmas. (Source) In Puerto Rico it is called Misa de Aguinaldos and is held from December 15 to December 24th. The mass is held at dawn (around 6 a.m.) and the services are usually sung with traditional Puerto Rican instruments accompaniment. On the 24th the mass is at midnight and is called the Misa de Gallo. (Source)

Christmas in Different Lands: Stockings, Shoes and more!

For my post today we are going to explore the Christmas tradition of stockings and/or shoes. This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Christmas in Different Lands Series. Growing up stockings were always a big thing. One of my sisters loves stocking gifts. We all would run down the stairs and get our stockings and start opening the gifts. As we got older it changed to us taking turns opening one stocking gift at a time so everyone could see it. As we got older still (adults) we started buying a few stocking gifts for everyone. As a child I always thought my stocking was not as exciting as the rest of my families. I had a hand knitted one that was going to be a sock for my father, but was too big. Everyone else had felt ones that had fun decorations and their names on them. My mother tried out all sorts of things on her sewing machine when making them before my birth. My sisters always tried to tell me my plain one was better because it stretched, but I didn't buy it. When we were adults my mother hand knitted new ones for all of us that are beautiful. She still has them at her house in case any of us are there for Christmas morning (my family usually is not but everyone else often is). My family still has the stocking tradition. Hazel is always very excited to hang our stockings and actually has made, bought and found stockings for Ducky and some of her dolls. (I recently shared one that I made for her doll as well.)

Lebanese Music and Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this cookbook free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Since July is ending, it seems only fitting to finish our exploration of Lebanon with you. Besides the books and DVD we found at the library we also found some CDs with a few songs from Lebanon. Putumaya Presents Sahara Lounge has four Lebanese songs and the other two CDs each have one. 

Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue DVD Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copy of this DVD free of charge. 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.

We are so excited in my house!! Today the newest Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue is being released. We discovered Mia and Me just a couple of weeks ago thanks to PBS Kids. They sent us the first DVD, Mia and Me: Discover Centopia. Hazel watched it three times in two days. Needless to say she loves Mia and Me! Well this new DVD did not disappoint us either. 

Sharing Saturday 15-14

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am blown away by all the great ideas!! With this weekend being the beginning of Passover and Easter Sunday, my feature topics are: Passover, Easter Eggs, Easter, Spring, and a couple of favorites. Be sure to check these out and go back and see the many ideas I didn't have room to feature this week. There are many more inspiring ones!!

Exploring Italy

By Map of Italy-it.svg: F l a n k e r 
(File:Map of Italy-it-2.svg) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

This month we have chosen to explore Italy. Hazel really enjoys exploring a country each month. We explore by reading books about the country and stories from the country, listening to music from the country, cooking and trying food from the country and making crafts. I chose Italy this month since we are going on our own and Steve is Italian. I figured it would be fun for Hazel to learn more about where half her ancestors come from plus Steve and his mother tell her a bit about Italy and Italian all the time. We started with some books from the library about Italy.

Fibonacci -- Italian Mathematician

Born about 1170, Leonardo Pisano or Leonardo of Pisa or Leonardo Bonacci or Leonardo Fibonacci, is one of the most well known Italian mathematicians. Although it is believed he was never known as Fibonacci during his life. Since Hazel and I have been exploring Italy this month, I thought I would share an Italian mathematician as well. He was educated in North Africa where his father, Guilielmo, was a diplomat. Fibonacci introduced Europe to the Hindu-Arabic numeral system as well as what is now called the Fibonacci Sequence (although it was discovered earlier in India). The Fibonacci Sequence or Fibonacci Numbers are probably what Leonardo is best known for. They are easy enough numbers that young children can pick it up. There are many great books about Fibonacci and his numbers available that are appropriate for Hazel. Here are some we found at the library.

March Happenings & Announcements

March is coming in a like a lion in New England with yet another snow storm predicted today/tonight and another storm later this week. We may actually beat the record in Boston for the snowiest season ever (I think we need 5.5 inches now to do it). I know I cannot wait for spring!! Seeing this artwork in a yard we drove by really cheered me up. Hazel now wants to paint on our snow.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: South Africa -- Sosaties

Today we are doing our last post for Around the World in 12 Dishes. The group seems to be a bit defunct right now. There have been no plans for the next season and South Africa is the last country chosen. But I promised Hazel we would continue to explore the world one country a month, so we are going to continue on our own schedule and our link parties. This season I have been writing the introduction posts on Around the World in 12 Dishes website, but as I was about to write the introduction to South Africa I discovered the link code problems which still has not been resolved, so I didn't bother to write it there since there would not be a place to link up. (If I do not get the codes switched to my account by next week I will do my own link codes as a blog hop, so come back and check Bolivia, Senegal and here.) I also added a new picture to my Bolivia post. The arroz con leche looks much better cold!

Johannesburg at Night By Hillbrow_Tower.jpg:Kemptonreporterderivative work: 
Heitor C. Jorge (Hillbrow_Tower.jpg) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Gift Bringers Around the World

So the other day Hazel came home from school and told me she had been arguing with some of her friends at school about whether Santa Claus is real or not. She asked who was right. In the past (maybe November) I told her Santa Clause only brings gifts to children who believe in him. She grew very concerned that one of her friends at school did not believe in him so she wouldn't get any gifts. At almost six I didn't want to ruin the magic for her, but I was not going to lie to her face. We had a discussion of how she learned about St. Nicholas in her old Waldorf School and how Santa Claus came from his stories. However since St. Nicholas is no longer alive there really is not a Santa Claus alive, so Mommy and Daddy buy the gifts from him since the spirit of Santa Claus is really part of the holiday spirit. She took this information and decided she was right--there is a Santa Claus. The next day she wanted to get her picture with Santa again at the mall when we were there (though she did tell this Santa that she already told the Santa at the other mall what she wanted for Christmas and he did not know what to say to that).

Of course I should add that the two Santas looked very different from each other. Having just written the history of Christmas trees and Christmas tree traditions around the world post, I was curious as to the Santa Clauses or Gift Bringers from around the world. I of course turned to two of my favorite sources for information, Multicultural Kid Blogs bloggers and the library!

History of Christmas Trees and Christmas Tree Traditions

The other day Hazel asked me about the history of Christmas trees. I knew I had read something about it being a German tradition when I was doing research for the Advent Around the World post. Yet, I had also read something about pre-Christian time in the history. Now I know since no one knows the actual date of Jesus' birthday,  the Pope and the higher ups in the Catholic Church decided to make Christmas near the winter solstice in hopes of ending/combining the Pagan celebrations. Evergreens were often used to decorate in the winter since they held a special meaning since they were always green and reminded them of the green plants of other seasons. I needed to find a book to explain it all to Hazel accurately. We found O Christmas Tree: Its History and Holiday Traditions by Jacqueline Farmer at our library. 

Travel with Books at Home Product Reviews

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book 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.

Do you love to travel? Or do you dream of traveling without hassles? We love to explore the world from home with dreams of someday getting to see more of it. For now we like to explore with books and posters and such to see and learn about the world without leaving home. Candlewick Press has some products that makes this really fun and easy. The first three books are from a series called Panorama Pops. We got to explore The Louvre, Australia and Venice in this form. It was so much fun. These books are like pocket guides with pop-up pictures. The book is double sided since it folds out and has the pop-ups on both sides.