Multicultural Children's Book Day Review--Greenhorn #readyourworld

 

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

Are you ready for another multicultural children's book review? This week I am featuring two books by Anna Olswanger that share a bit of Jewish history. Today's book takes us to New York City post World War II. It is Greenhorn and was illustrated by Miriam Nerlove. 

In this book, a Holocaust survivor from Poland is brought to a Jewish boarding school in New York City. The young survivor does not speak English and carries with him a small box all the time. One boy at the school befriends him and tries to protect him from the teasing of the other boys however the friend stutters and is often teased himself. 

The story is about friendship and bravery. It is powerful and teaches a bit about the Holocaust. It is written for 8- to 12-year-olds. Through friendship the two boys find their own voices and are able to help one another through a tough time in each other's lives. The story is well written and interesting to read. There is the typical teasing and even bullying in the story but throughout it we learn about what Jews had to go through during the Holocaust. 

Anna Olswanger provides a discussion guide for families as well as one for teachers to go with this book and there is a short film made based on it. The photographs are from this film. Here is the trailer for it. 

The book itself is short and small but the story is based on real life. At the end of the book Anna shares that the real life boys in the story meet as adults and discover that each has made his own dreams come true. This book is perfect for any unit on the Holocaust to see a side not often discussed. I hope you will check it out.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators. Eight years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!

FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Prgamaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com) Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Hoopoe Books, KidLitTV, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc. Silver Sponsors: Charlotte Riggle, Connecticut Association of School Librarians, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Pack-N-Go Girls Bronze Sponsors: Agatha Rodi and AMELIE is IMPRESSED!, Barnes Brothers Books, Create and Educate Solutions, LLC, Dreambuilt Books, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin Real Estate, Snowflake Stories, Star Bright Books, TimTimTom Bilingual Personalized Books, Author Vivian Kirkfield, Wisdom Tales Press,  

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!

Poster Artist: Nat Iwata Authors: Author Afsaneh Moradian, Author Alva Sachs & Three Wishes Publishing Company, Author Angeliki Stamatopoulou-Pedersen, Author Anna Olswanger, Author Casey Bell , Author Claudine Norden, Author Debbie Dadey, Author Diana Huang & Intrepids, Author Eugenia Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Green Kids Club, Author Gwen Jackson, Author Janet Balletta, Author Josh Funk, Author Julia Inserro, Karter Johnson & Popcorn and Books, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, Author Keila Dawson, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Author Mia Wenjen, Michael Genhart, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Natalie Murray, Natalie McDonald-Perkins, Author Natasha Yim, Author Phe Lang and Me On The Page Publishing, Sandra Elaine Scott, Author Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Tales of the Five Enchanted Mermaids, Author Theresa Mackiewicz, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Author Toshia Stelivan, Valerie Williams-Sanchez & The Cocoa Kids Collection Books©, Author Vanessa Womack, MBA, Author Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series

MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!

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FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit Gallery of Our Free Posters FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program

TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

 

Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party! This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas. We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. ** Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter! Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

Fun Facts about Hot Dogs-- National Hot Dog Day

Did you know today is National Hot Dog Day? There are all sorts of events going on in honor of it. Be sure to check out this article for some of the deals you can get. Today I thought I would share with you some fun facts about hot dogs. 

Fun Facts about Neil Armstrong and I Am Neil Armstrong Review

Disclosure: Penguin Kids sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and participation in the I am a Travler Blog Tour. All opinions are my own. 

Today we are sharing fun facts about the astronaut, Neil Armstrong. You may have heard his famous quote--"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Yes, he was the first human to walk on the moon, but there are other very interesting things about Neil Armstrong and I am sharing some of them today. This post is part of the I am a Traveler Blog Tour.

Fun Facts about the Tooth Fairy & Lost Tooth Traditions from Around the World

Did you know that August 22nd (and February 28) is National Tooth Fairy Day? In honor of this fun holiday I am sharing some fun facts about the mysterious Tooth Fairy. No one knows what the Tooth Fairy looks like, but often the Tooth Fairy is betrayed as a female with wings.

English Tea Party -- Tea Time Around the World

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.  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!

Now that we are almost half way through December I am going to take the time to share the tea party we had in November. In November we looked at England. To do this we read some books, watched some DVDs from the library and also have some fun books to share with you. Some are for the little ones and some are for the older ones. We will start with learning a bit about England. It is a country in the United Kingdom. It's capital is London. Now I always have had a fondness to England since my maiden name is a town there. However I do not know a whole lot about the history of England besides little bits here and there. To learn a bit more we started with The Tudors: Kings, Queens, Scribes and Ferrets! by Marcia Williams.

Chapter Book Extravaganza -- Beginning Reader through Young Adult! Part 1

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

Ok, I have had this group of books growing on my shelves for awhile. It is time for me to clean house and get ready for the new year. I will admit I have not read all of these books (I have started most of them). Hazel has read some of them so I plan to let her share her opinion on the ones she has read. I hope you will check these out.

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas -- New Middle Grades Novel Set in 9/11 Era

 

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

Can you believe this September it will be twenty years since 9/11? Life was so different twenty years ago. Many homes did not have a computer. Internet was dial up for the most part. And I am guessing you probably remember where you were when you heard the news of the planes going into the twin towers. I know I remember exactly. Do you remember the days after how quiet it was without any planes in the air? I remember looking at coworker as we heard planes flying above our school--it was in the airpath of the military planes. Living outside of Boston where the flights began meant many meaningful stories about that day as well as loss. Today I am sharing a new middle grade book that is set in the era of 9/11. It is The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas by Kimberly Willis Holt. I did not realize until today that it is the second book in a series. 

Women in the American Revolutionary War

 

Happy International Women's Day!! It seems like the perfect time to do our second post for Women in Wars--our focus for Women's History Month this year. Today we will focus on the Revolutionary War. During the time of the Revolutionary War women were not even considered for military service. There were some roles that women were able to play for the military units. Wives, mothers and daughters of some soldiers would go with the military units and do the cooking, sewing and clothes washing for the men and they would get to sleep in a tent and get food. They were called camp followers by some and General George Washington called them women of the army. Women also helped with the care of injured soldiers. They served as nurses and were considered civilians. They received no military status or benefits and no medical training. They did jobs like feeding and bathing the patients as well as cleaning the beds and emptying the bed chambers. They were paid only about $2-$4 a month and often got ill from the soldiers. 

Dinosaur Atlas -- Review and Craft & Activity Round-Up

 

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

This past week National Geographic Kids released a new all-encompassing book about dinosaurs. It is the final book in our Back to School with National Geographic Kids series. I am guessing that for the final week of September schools across America have opened now. The book is National Geographic Kids Dinosaur Atlas. It is recommended for kids ages 7 to 10. 

Women in Professional Baseball for Women's History Month

As I mentioned last week in my Women Inventors post, I see Women's History Month as a time to show Hazel women who were successful doing many different things. This year I found a bunch of books about women playing professional baseball. I remembered the movie A League of Their Own and I thought how fun to teach her about women in a non-traditional role and in a sport. It also helps that she has been hearing about the Boston Red Sox at school. 

Black Actors--Dorothy Dandridge & Canada Lee -- #blacklivesmatter

 

I decided to group a few of the Black people I am featuring together. Many of them are in the entertainment business and include actors, musicians, comedians and a director. I am breaking them into a few groups. Today I am focusing on two actors: Dorothy Dandridge and Canada Lee. Have you heard of them? We will start with Dorothy Dandridge.

New Books to Welcome Spring!

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Spring started a couple of days ago. I love springtime. I love watching the world come alive again. I already have noticed some of the warm weather birds have returned to my feeders. I saw crocus popping up and have some daffodils looking like they may be blooming next week. Since spring brings the birds and the gardens back to our area, I thought I would share a couple of new books with you to welcome spring! The first is a board book from National Geographic Kids. It is Little Kids First Board Book: Birds by Ruth Musgrave. It is recommended for ages 0 to 3. 

Timely New Picture Books Released This Week

 

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

Every Tuesday new books get released. Today I am sharing three new picture books released today. These books timely for current events and Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month as well as one about inclusion with information about lifeboats too. The first book is Daniel and Ismail by Juan Pablo Iglesias Yacher and illustrated by Alex Peris. It was translated into English by Ilan Stavans; translated into Hebrew by Eliezer Nowodworski and Frieda Press-Danieli; and into Arabic by Randa Sayegh. It is being released into paperback today and is recommended for ages 3 to 6.

Multicultural Monday-- Kevin So

The weekend after Hazel's last day of school this year, Kevin So was playing in Cambridge at a venue I felt would be safe for Hazel called Club Passim. Hazel was really excited to go to her first "rock" concert and even more excited that I know Kevin So. I met Kevin back in my teaching days when I ran a diversity club. After having him come perform at the school for our diversity celebration I started going to his shows. He lived in Boston then and was playing around the area often. We got to know each other. I had all of his CDs up to the time he left for New York and then Nashville. Over the years his music style has changed, but it is still great. It is original and he sings often about his own experiences as a Chinese American.

Odder -- New Middel Grades Novel in Verse about Sea Otters

 

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

My life has gotten a bit crazy. My reading time is definitely cut down, but I found time to read today's book and loved it. We can start with the adorable picture on the cover. This book is a new middle grades novel written completely in verse. It is Odder by Katherine Applegate. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Odette's Alphabet -- 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 Sandrine Marlier to bring you this post and giveaway and I will receive a small stipend for writing the review. All opinions are my own. 

When you are feeling stressed out, what do you do? Do you meditate? Take a deep breath? What do you teach your child(ren) to do? According to the CDC, approximately 5.8 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 were diagnosed with anxiety between 2016 and 2019 and the numbers are going up. (Source) Our world and society is changing so quickly that we are not keeping up with helping our kids deal with it. We need to teach them methods to deal with their stress. Today's book is a perfect start for younger kids. It is Odette's Alphabet by Sandrine Marlier and illustrated by Leonardo Schiavina. 

The Night Before Christmas -- Book Review

Disclosure: Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

I think everyone know a bit of The Night Before Christmas words. The original poem was first published anonymously on December 23 1823 in the (Troy, New York) Sentinel with the title A Visit from St. Nicholas.  It was sent in by a friend of Clement C. Moore who is believed to have written it though there is some debate. This poem helped shape Santa Claus as we know him today in his image and mode of transportation. (Source) Now are new book of The Night Before Christmas has been put out with it by Clement C. Moore and Harriet Muncaster. Harriet Muncaster did not change any of the words to the famous poem, but did some amazing things with the pictures.

Animal Books & Crafts for Earth Day

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books (digital for stories and physical for crafts) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Happy Earth Day! I am one who believes every day is Earth Day but today is the day the world celebrates this amazing planet and the nature that fills it. To celebrate today I am sharing three new children's books about animals with perfect messages for Earth Day and craft round-ups to go with them as well as two craft books with animal themes. We will start with the first two books. They are from the Surviving Wild series by Remy Lai. The series are graphic novels for ages 6 to 9. The first is Surviving the Wild: Rainbow the Koala. 

Firekeeper's Daughter -- Powerful YA Novel with Native American Ties

 

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

It is hard to find a contemporary story with strong Native American people in it. It is even harder to find a good one written by a Native American. Today I am sharing a powerful young adult novel that is just that. This book is definitely for young adults and older. There is sex, rape, drugs, violence, and swearing in it. However I found the story to be fascinating and learned some things about Native American life today that I did not know. The book is Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. 

The Chosen Series -- YA Book Reviews

Disclosure: Jeff Altabef & Novel Publicity sent me a copy of this book free of charge in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Back in July I introduced you to The Chosen Series by Jeff Altabef and Erynn Altabef with the first book, Wind Catcher. This book thrust me into reviewing young adult books and I love it!! Now I fell in love with the series in the first book. It is an amazing series with such well developed characters. While waiting for the second book in the series to come out, Jeff and Erynn wrote a short book called Second Chances. You can get a FREE digital copy of this book by signing up for Jeff's newsletter!!