Origami Fun!

 

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

Wow, what a turn in the women's gymnastics the other day. I have to say I am happy that Simone Biles felt confident enough to walk away from the competition. She is a role model for our children. She knew she wasn't feeling right and stepped away. That takes courage and confidence. And it highlights the need to focus on mental health. The pressure she must have been feeling with all the press and such before and during the Olympics must have been awful, so knowing when to step away is huge in my mind. 

With the Olympics in Tokyo, we are continuing a focus on Japan. And a look at Japan is not complete without some origami. Today I am sharing two books--one for beginners and another for more advanced as well as four packs/books of origami paper. We will start first by looking at the packs of paper I used throughout this post. They are Origami Rainbow Paper Pack Book, Origami Paper 200 Sheets Mother Earth Photos 6" (15 cm), Origami Paper 500 Sheets Cherry Blossoms 6" (15 cm), and Origami Paper 200 Sheets Nature Photos 8 1/4" (21 cm).

Esther's Gragger: A Toyshop Tale of Purim Review

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

Did you know the Jewish holiday, Purim, is next week? Purim is held every spring. The date changes since the Jewish calendar is a combined lunar and solar calendar. Purim it the day to remember when Queen Esther saved all the Jewish people from death. Now you may be asking, why is a Christian blogger telling us about a Jewish holiday (possibly that I never heard of). Well the Book of Esther in the Bible tells us the story. It also happens to be Hazel's favorite story in the Bible so we have looked at it quite a bit. Queen Esther had to have faith and courage to save her people and she is someone many girls can use as a role model. An interesting side note is that God is not mentioned in the entire Book of Esther. 

Multicultural Children's Book Day is Here!! Link Party #ReadYourWorld

Share at Sharing Saturday This Week!! 

It is here!! Today is Multicultural Children's Book Day 2018!! As a co-host I get to provide the link party right here, so be sure to check out all the amazing reviews of these multicultural books. There is something for everyone!! Be sure to check out my reviews this year (and past years) as well: Orthodox Christian Holidays, a mystery chapter book about a Chinese American in Australia, Harriet Tubman, STEM book on water cycle, the African-American women computers, engineers, and more of NASA, and a Japanese fairy tale and a picture book about an African-American photographer. 

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. 

Water Is Water - a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: Miranda Paul sent me 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 less than a week away!! I still have several books to review for it, so keep looking this week!! Today I get to share with you a beautiful book with a STEM focus. I love when picture books have lessons in them and this one does. It is Water Is Water by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Jason Chin. 

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.

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!! 

Orthodox Christian Holidays -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

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

Do you know anyone who is Orthodox Christian? I have good friends who are Greek Orthodox so I have some idea of the Orthodox traditions, but of course they are also different for different cultures and areas. However today I am sharing some amazing books to share some Orthodox traditions around two holidays--St. Nicholas Day and Easter. These books are by Charlotte Riggle and illustrated by R.J. Hughes. Both books have the same characters in it: Catherine and her best friend Elizabeth and Catherine's family. Since St. Nicholas Day was last week (Wednesday), I will start with Saint Nicholas Day Snow. (By the way today is St. Lucia Day, but as I am running late on my December holiday posts that one will be late as well.)

Religious Books for Different Ages

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.

Today we are going to share with you some wonderful religious themed books for different ages. This post will also include three Hazel's Corners! The first is Princess Prayers by Jeanna Young, Jacqueline Kinney Johnson, and Omar Aranda. This a sparkly book filled with prayers for various times of day and different events for your little princess.

Non-Scary Halloween Part 2 -- Non-Scary Costumes

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Yesterday I shared some great products from Oriental Trading for a Peanuts themed Halloween party, non-food treats and a few dress-up accessories. Today I get to share Hazel's costume and some other great costume ideas and fun. Now Hazel spent quite a bit of time going through the available costumes at Oriental Trading. Being the sensitive child she is she does not want anything remotely scary. She got it down between two options the Mystical Genie Girls Halloween Costume and the Southern Belle Girls Halloween Costume. She finally decided on the Mystical Genie Costume. We had just seen Aladdin live at the theatre and the version had a female genie who was dressed pretty similarly. (She did ask for the Southern Belle Costume for Christmas from my mother-in-law and I ordered it for her.)

Bible Fun -- Summertime Fun!

Disclosure: I was given copies of these books 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.

Yesterday I shared a book about the importance of adding fun to our lives and the start of my new series--Summertime Fun. For our first Summertime Fun I thought I would share some fun resources for fun with the Bible. Since Hazel goes to a Christian school, I know during the summer there will be less church and Bible time for her, so I wanted to make sure to give her some resources to keep up with her Bible time. To start we are sharing two of Marcia Goldlist's The Bible in Rhyme. Marcia emailed me e-copies of Enjoying the Book of Esther and Enjoying the Book of Ruth. 

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses from Goosebottom Books -- Women's History Month

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Goosebottom Books. 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.

Back in January I had the pleasure of reviewing my first Goosebottom Book for Multicultural Children's Book Day. The book was Hatshepsut of Egypt and we learned about the first female pharaoh of Egypt. At the time I reviewed an e-book and loved the book, but now that I have actually seen the hardcover book I have to tell you the e-book does not do it justice. I actually passed on the book to Hazel's school since the third grade class learns about Hatshepsut during their study of Ancient Egypt. The principal loved the book as well. Along with the hard copy of Hatshepsut of Egypt I was sent five more of the books in the Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses to share with you today. I love learning about these amazing women most of whom I had not heard of previously. Update: My review of Isabella of Castile is now published.

Exploring Purim -- Jewish Holiday

Costume parades in the spring? What is going on? Halloween is in October and not in the spring. Well for many Jewish people costume parades and wearing costumes to synagogue in the spring (usually in March) is common. Why? Well they are celebrating a holiday called Purim. Purim is celebrated on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month of Adar. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar so it changes from our days and months each year. It is a joyous holiday with much celebration. Why do they celebrate? To remember how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people in Persia around 500 B.C. Now Esther's story is a book in the Old Testament of our Bible as well and Queen Esther happens to be Hazel's favorite woman in the Bible. We know her story well and really wish we celebrated Purim as well. In fact she dressed up as Queen Esther for our Christian Halloween Party. 

Christian Halloween Party

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to the products for your convenience but do not receive anything if you buy from them.

 Now I have not been shy about my feelings about Halloween. I really hate the gore and how far people take it. Hazel is easily frightened and I can no longer take her into some stores because of the Halloween products. I have tried and regret it due to the bad dreams she has. When I was offered to do a post using Halloween products from Oriental Trading, I hesitated, but then remembered all their great Sunday School supplies. Hazel and I planned a Christian Halloween Party. Many of the parents at her school do not celebrate the holiday or take their kids to a church event on Halloween. Needless to say many feel like I do about the holiday. We started by sending out an Evite. We asked the guests to dress as their favorite Biblical character. Hazel wanted to be Queen Esther. I let her pick out the color of the Nativity Child Costume she wanted and she picked the Pink Nativity Child Costume. We made a handknit belt to wear with it and added beads to the ends. (Hazel ended up being the only one to wear a costume, but she did not care. She was really excited to be Queen Esther.)

Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party -- Book Review & Costume

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me an advance 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.

Have you discovered The Princess in Black yet? I wrote about our discovery of this amazing series back in July. Hazel chose The Princess in Black as her prize for finishing the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program. It had been a tough choice, but she was really glad with the outcome!! This became one of her favorite books ever. Then we discovered that a new Princess in Black book was coming out October 13th and from Candlewick Press--one of our favorite publishers. I asked for a review copy and they sent it right away. Can I tell you how excited Hazel was to have the second book in the series months early? Oh, my, she has been telling everyone about it. Anyway, today we are sharing The Princess in Black and The Perfect Princess Party by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 

Finger Knitting Fun and Pom Pom Kits -- Product Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. 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.

What can you do with a ball of yarn? Lots of things, but here are some fun crafts that you do not need much more than a ball of yarn to make. Both of these crafts were handwork Hazel would have done if she remained in the Waldorf school, but since she is no longer attending there, I got to do them with her. The handwork was one of the things I loved about the Waldorf school. Hazel and I started with two Pompom kits. The first is Make Pompom Animals.

The kit comes with a book, six balls of yarn, two pompom makers in different sizes and some googly eyes and paper clips. I started by making a blue bird similar to the one on the cover.

Sharing Saturday 15-35

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were so many great ideas shared!! The features this week are for Fall Features, September Features and Educational Features. 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!

The Story of Queen Esther -- Exploring Iran/Persia

Do you know the story of Queen Esther? Many people do not even though Esther is a book in the Old Testament as well as one of the great female Bible heroes. She even has a Jewish holiday where they celebrate her and her courage to save the Jews of Persia. Her story is Hazel's favorite Bible story and Hazel was very excited when I explained that Esther was Queen of Persia which is now called Iran and the country we have been exploring with Global Learning for Kids this month. 

Queen Esther by Edwin Long 
[Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Exploring Iran with Books & Music

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product 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.

Take a moment to check out my post on the Middle East and enter the Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month Giveaway over at Multicultural Kid Blogs! Global Learning for Kids has left Lebanon and headed to Iran. Now recently I turned on the radio in the car to check the traffic report and we caught a small snip of the news and they were quoting someone from Iran about how Americans will always be their enemy. Hazel only heard a few words, but it was enough for her to question me what was said and why. Unfortunately, this was her first introduction to Iran. Now we are going to spend time to explore Iran and focus on some of the positives this month, but I know we will not be able to overcome that statement in her mind. However she has been enjoying stories from Iran, well actually Persia which is now Iran.  


We were lucky enough to get two fun Persian stories from Wisdom Tales Press and both are prizes in the giveaway. These are books you will want to add to your multicultural library, so make sure to enter or go buy them!!