Maria Orosa -- New Picture Book Sharing the Life of This Filipino Heroine

 

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

Summer is supposed to be my time to relax, and I have loads of ideas and books to share with you, but the last few weeks are just crazy. Today I am finally focusing enough to share a new book with you. This book shares about het life of Maria Orosa, who was a Filipino heroine. The book is Maria Orosa Freedom Fighter, Scientist and Inventor from the Philippines by Norma Olizon-Chikiamco and illustrated by Mark Salvatus. It is recommended for ages 9 to 14.

Books to Teach Culture and More to the Young

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

Today I am sharing some of my favorite books to teach about Asian culture and countries. These books work for younger kids and also help teach ABC's. They are a series of ABC rhyming books about Asian languages and culture. Each book has information about how certain letters in the language are pronounced. 

Calligraphy & Lettering: A Maker's Guide -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

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

Tonight I am sharing a book that is coming out in a couple of weeks (June 25, 2019). It is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum's A Maker's Guide Series. Tonight we are sharing Calligraphy & Lettering: A Maker's Guide. 

Origami Fun for Kids Kit & Fun Origami Paper -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this kit and packages of origami paper 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.

One of our favorite crafts is origami. Now I love origami for many different reasons including teaching math. Hazel loves creating the various things. Today we are sharing Origami Fun for Kids by Rita Foelker as well as two packs of origami paper: Japanese Bird Patterns and Kaleidoscope Patterns. 

The Colors of Asia -- A Relaxing Friday Adult Coloring Book Review

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing 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. 

After yesterday I need a relaxing Friday and definitely need the anti-stress of coloring!! Let's just say whatever could go wrong basically did and it kept going wrong. Ugh!! But today is another day. So today I am going to share with you The Colors of Asia published by Tuttle Publishing.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Prize Review

Have you entered the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Giveaway being hosted over at Multicultural Kid Blogs? It is part of our Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series. I will be co-hosting two posts in the next couple of weeks as part of the series and I wrote the first post for the series on Multicultural Kid Blogs. I also played a roll in getting some of the prizes for the giveaway. I thought I would take some time to review the prizes since I wanted to check some out for myself. There are three prize packs that you can win and each has a good number of books. Some of the books we have reviewed previously and others we have not. Today I am going to review four books published by Lee & Low Books that I got out of the library. I will also share information about the other prizes that I have previously reviewed or know something about. I will provide links to where prizes can be purchased for your convenience. I do not get anything from you purchasing them besides the joy of sharing wonderful resources.

 The Prizes

All About Japan By Willamarie Moore -- Book Review

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these products 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.

Today I am going to review for you the wonderful book, All About Japan by Willamarie Moore. I absolutely love this series of books from Tuttle Publishing. They are packed full with so much information and they teach so much about the culture and life in the country. (I reviewed All About Indonesia by Linda Hibbs in July.) This book helps us center our exploration of Japan. It shares traditional stories, holidays, life in the city as well as the country (told by children who live there), recipes, crafts, dance, music, poetry, and so much more. 

With any book that has a recipe or craft in it, Hazel wants to try it, so we did. The book has three recipes in it and we tried two. I did not try to make Onigiri since I couldn't find the ingredients and I didn't really think Hazel would like them. We did try Okonomiyaki. It is described like a pancake with fillings but reminded me more of an omelet. I do not think I cut our fillings up enough and they fell apart on us when we flipped and removed them. Steve and I both thought they were all right and Hazel liked to eat the chicken filling instead. The pancake batter had cabbage in it which is why they are green.

Oknomiyaki

The other recipe we tried was mochi cakes. We made them the day after we read "The Grateful Statues" in Japanese Children's Favorite Stories by Florence Sakade. The story is about a kind, poor couple. The old man does something kind for some statues and his kindness is rewarded with a large mochi cake. Therefore making mochi cake right afterward was perfect. Now are mochi cakes did not turn out pretty. We should have looked at pictures of them first, but Hazel was having fun making shapes out of them. We also could not find sweet rice flour or mochiko and used regular rice flour. They were not as sweet as they probably should have been. I like them though.

Mochi is often a treat for O-Shogatsu (New Year), so it seems appropriate to also show you our Nenga-jo Greeting card. Since 2015 is the year of the sheep, we used a sheep rubber stamp and Hazel wrote on the numbers. Nenga-jo are usually postcards that are sent the first three days of January.

Nenga-jo

 This book also discusses some history of Japan including the samurai warriors. They have instructions to make a samurai helmet out of newspaper. Hazel of course wanted one and then modeled it with a sword.

And what exploration of Japan would be complete without some origami? The book shares a wonderful song about frogs and gives the instructions to make an origami hopping frog.

Hazel loves making origami and wanted to make lots of frogs. You can find similar frog's instructions here.

She also loved that they could hop.

She made one of every color and then pulled out her zoo mat to put them in water. She then gathered more zoo animals to go with her frogs. I love crafts that lead to her creative play!

All About Japan is the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about Japan, its history, culture, etc. There are so many activities throughout it from learning about haikus to writing Kanji. We would have done more of the Kanji if we hadn't had the other books.  The other activity we did do was trying the Bon Dance. I however did not get any pictures since I was doing it with Hazel. I am also almost done with a kimono for her doll. She picked a fabric that reminds me of sakura (cherry blossoms), so I'll wait until it is finished and share it with our cherry exploration! Stay tuned!!

For more books and activities to learn about Japan check out:

• Learning Japanese with books and flashcards
• Exploring Japan with books and more
• Sora and the Cloud
• Origami Butterflies
• Asian Kites
• Asian Pacific Island Heritage Month Blog Hop
• Asian-Pacific Island Book Round-Up
• Multicultural Christmas Books
• Play! Book Review
• Happy New Year Around the World
• My Multicultural Pinterest Board

Also check out some of our other reviews of Tuttle Publishing Books:

• All About Indonesia 
• Asian Kites 
• Mei-Mei's Lucky Birthday Noodles 
• Mulan and My First Book of Chinese Words

Books for Earth Day

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

Oops!! I planned on reviewing these books last week, but our hotel room had very spotty internet, so I am reviewing them late. Sorry I didn't share them prior to Earth Day yesterday!! However these books are perfect for using with lessons about our planet and even as an introduction for younger kids to our world. The first book is Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up by Sally M. Walker and illustrated by William Grill. 

1930's Dresden Plate Doll Quilt Blocks with Free Templates

Awhile ago I posted about making a quilt for Kit Kittredge. Kit is the American Girl from the 1930's/the Great Depression Era. In my post I explained I was having difficulties with the dresden plate quilt block and getting it the correct size. I decided to just make Sun Bonnet Sue squares. I started making them and at some point put them away and now I have to find them. However this weekend my interest was renewed because Hazel had her first sleepover Friday night which has turned into a weekend guest including her American Girl doll, Ruthie. Ruthie is Kit's best friend in the stories, so we have been having lots of doll fun including a trip to the American Girl Store today. However my depression era interest is back. Now awhile ago I discovered Wren Feathers has an easy dresden plate doll quilt pattern on her site. If you look up dresden plate quilts you will see three styles or so of dresden plates. Wren Feathers is the one that is just a circle. I did some more research and finally figured out what I needed to do to make my pattern. I found The Quilting Company's article to be very helpful in sizing of them. I wanted to make one with the scalloped edge and I figured it out!!

Exploring Navajo Nation or Dine Nation -- Global Learning for Kids & Multicultural Mathematics

Last week we shared some books we used to explore a bit about Arizona from Massachusetts. I even shared some of the pictures my family took in Arizona on our trip across the country when I was young. While flipping through the pictures I noticed pictures labeled near the Navajo Monument and thought it would be fun to learn more about Navajo Nation. I remember fondly stopping to look at the beautiful jewelry made by the Navajo and getting to pick out a bracelet. I wore that bracelet all the time until it broke. So we went off to find some books about the Navajo.

Sharing Saturday 16-31

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groupings of features: Summer, Party, Food & Activities, and Crafts. Be sure to check them out and the ones I didn't pick!!

Craft Books Galore! Review and Round-Up of Craft Books--Quilting, Embroidery, Paper Quilling, Origami, Knitting and more!

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books and kits in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of products that you purchase through them. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

As I have been doing the last few weeks I am trying to share all my books with you before Christmas. Although it is getting late now to order you can still get some by Christmas. So today I am sharing three craft books with you and then a round-up of the craft books I have to review still. We are going to start with our craft space and organizing it! 

Women in Wars -- Introduction-- Women's History Month

 

As I thought about Women's History Month I knew I wanted to really touch on women in history that may be forgotten. Today women are members of the Armed Forces, but not that long ago they were not allowed. I decided I would focus on women who played important roles in wars. This month I will share about women in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the two World Wars. Today I thought I would start with some women who fought wars before America was a country. I have focused on the legend of Mulan in the past. She is one of the women who reportedly disguised herself as a man to fight in a war. Then there was the Greek goddess, Athena, who was the goddess of war, as well as the Amazons, the race of women warriors in Greek mythology. Even the Aztecs had a warrior goddess, Itzpapalotl. Then we know of Joan of Arc and how she led the French army through battles. And we shared about Artemisia in the past. Today let's talk about some of the other women you may not have heard about that fought in real wars and battles. As I started researching women in wars I found The Book of Heroines: Tales of History's Gutsiest Gals by Stephanie Warren Drimmer. All of the women, goddesses and legends mentioned in this post are featured in this book. This book is one of the sources for my entire post. I will list others that I used to find out more about the women and share books for kids when possible. (Note: I have not checked out these books but found them searching my local library website and Amazon.)

Finding Family Treasure -- a Middle Grades Novel about Family History & More -- Review & Giveaway

 

Disclosure: I am working with The Children's Book Review, K.I. Knight, and Jane R. Wood and was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I am receiving a small stipend for this review.

Have you ever looked into your family history? Perhaps you have gone onto Ancestry or Family Search and looked up your relatives. Did you discover anything? Or perhaps your child needed to share a bit about the country your family comes from. Do you come from just one country? As what I call an American mutt, I cringe at those assignments. How do I pick one of the countries my family is from? When Hazel got that assignment, we went with Steven's family history since he is Italian American. Today I am going to share a middle grades book with you that a diverse class begins researching their own history. It is a tale of genealogy, family, connections and so much more. The book is Finding Family Treasure by K.L. Knight and Jane R. Wood. Oh, and there is a giveaway at the end of the post!

Baker's Passport--Product Review

Disclosure: I was sent this product to review free of charge from Baker's Passport. 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.

Today I am going to share with you a wonderful experience and together time. Hazel and I tried Baker's Passport Little Bites in Spanish this weekend. We had so much fun. Now I will admit this is definitely meant for slightly older children (who can read and write), but we had fun reviewing our Spanish and baking cookies. Baker's Passport sends you a little packet that includes the recipe with Spanish lessons built in. The Spanish is the numbers, colors and some other phrases. They have places to read and write in the Spanish as well as trace some words. They offer Little Bites in Spanish, French and Japanese and I get to give one of each away, so three winners!!

We got to work. First of course the instructions are to wash your hands. We also put on our aprons (and Hazel put on her hat). Then we got right to work. Here are some pictures of Hazel softening the butter (in the microwave), measuring the brown sugar, mixing and scooping the cookies.

Then there were places with Spanish lessons like matching, a crossword and just vocabulary. Plus all the steps were numbered in Spanish. And the answers are available on their website, so you do not have to know the language to make sure you are doing it correctly!

 Now this was a fun day of baking and learning. Even if you do not bake often or like to bake, this is a fun and easy recipe to follow. The instructions are very clear and easy to do. Oh, and I should mention that we all loved the cookies. They were gobbled right up and Hazel insisted on bringing some to Nonni's since she was going there for her weekly playdate with her grandmother.

 

The even better part of Baker's Passport is for every purchase $1 is donated to Action Against Hunger. So there are three positives with every purchase, learning, baking and helping. Now if you do not want to wait for the giveaway to end, you can get 15% off today on your purchase with the code: BAKINGFUN14. This code is only good through February 7, 2014. 

Now for our fun giveaway!! Please follow our Giveaway Rules and do what the Rafflecopter asks. There will be three winners!! Each winner will get one of the Little Bites.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Abadeha: the Philippine Cinderella

I am doing our Fairy Tale in Different Cultures a day early. I am hoping to have our dish from Croatia tomorrow. I hope you will come see what we make!

Continuing with our Asian-Pacific theme for May, I thought I would share another Cinderella tale this time from the Philippines. The book is Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella adapted by Myrna J. de la Paz. Before I share the story and craft, a bit about the Philippines.

Source: Lonely Planet

The Philippines is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia. It lies in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of over 7,000 islands. The total area of the country is about 115,831 square miles making it the 64th largest country in the world. It is a constitutional republic with a presidential system. Filipino and English are the official languages however there are over 171 living languages spoken there. The capital is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon city. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator and as a result is prone to earthquakes and typhoons. Its rainforests and coastlines provide diverse ranges of birds, animals and plants. It has one of the highest discovery rates in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. They have many unique species of animals as well as plants like many rare orchids and rafflesia.

In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan arrived and claimed the islands for Spain. The Spanish established Manilla as the capital city in 1571. The Spanish fought many wars with indigenous people as well as other countries for control of the Philippines. The Spanish introduced the idea of free public schooling as well as Christianity. They also brought many different types of food from the Americas like pineapple, corn, chili peppers and tomatoes. In 1898, Spain sold their rights to the United States for 20 million dollars as part of the 1898 Treaty of Paris. In 1935 the Philippines were granted Commonwealth status. During World War II the Japanese Empire invaded and took control until the Allied Forces defeated them in 1945. The Philippines became a founding member of the United Nations and the United States recognized its independence in 1946. 

Now onto our story. The story begins as many Cinderella tales do. A fisherman named Abek, his wife, Abadesa, and their beautiful daughter, Abadeha, live happily  in the islands called the Philippines. When Abadeha is thirteen her mother suddenly gets sick and dies. Abek and Abadeha are filled with sorrow. Eventually Abek marries a widow from another island who has two daughters of her own. He hopes to make a loving family for himself and Abadeha. However the stepmother immediately notice how plain and mean-spirited her daughters are in comparison to Abadeha. Abek is away from the home more since he has a larger family to support and while he is away the stepmother mistreats Abadeha making her work from morning to night cleaning the house, cooking all the meals, fetching the water from the river and tending the stove. She is often covered with soot and each night she is so tired she falls asleep on the kitchen floor. Her stepsisters began to tease her for her dirtiness. The stepmother begins to throw impossible tasks for Abadeha to do like change a black handkerchief to white and a white one to black or she will be whipped. Abadeha goes to the river crying and missing her mother. She cries out a prayer of sorts to her mother and the creator of earth. Suddenly the Spirit of the Forest appears and promises Abadeha that all of her hard work and patience will be rewarded. Then she changes the handkerchiefs for her. When Abadeha returns home, her stepmother is angry that she was able to do it. The next morning she has Abadeha spread newly harvested rice on a mat to dry and then pound the winnow and cook the rice for the evening meal. While Abadeha works in the kitchen a wild pig wanders into the yard and eats the rice while the stepmother watches. The stepmother does nothing until the pig has left and then tortures Abadeha and tells her she must mend the mat that the pig shredded.  Abadeha takes the shreds of mat to the river and says her prayer again. The Spirit of the Forest comes even quicker this time. She has female spirits quickly repair the mat and gives Abadeha a sarimanok. A sarimanok is a chicken with a long flowing tail and feathers the color of the rainbow. The stepmother is annoyed again when she sees Abadeha has completed the task. She takes the sarimanok from her and tells her she will take care of her pet for her. Early the next morning she chops off its head and feet and begins cooking it for dinner. Abadeha sees it and weeps. She grabs its feet and runs to the river. The Spirit tells her to bury the feet by her mother's grave and to pray to her ancestors. She does this and plants a garden around her mother's grave as well. It is awhile before she returns to her mother's grave and when she does she discovers a tree filled with treasures like jewelry and gowns. She grabs a few pieces of jewelry and keeps the enchanted tree to herself. 

While hunting in the forest, the son of the island chieftain saw a sarimanok. He followed it to Abadeha's secret garden. He took a ring from the tree and put it on his finger. When he returned home his finger began to swell and he could not get the ring off. He told his father about his finger and how he was in great pain. His father sent for the Babaylan, the priest healer. The Babylan told him he had to listen to his heart. That night the pain in the prince's finger was so great and he had a dream where a sarimanok brings him an orchid and when the prince kisses the flower it turns into a beautiful maiden who shows him the ring in her hand. He tells his father of the dream and his father announces that the girl who can remove the ring from his son's finger will marry his son. When Abadeha heard this announcement she asked her stepmother to go and her stepmother locked her in the kitchen and then went to take a nap. The Spirit of the Forest came and unlocked the door for her. When she arrived her stepsisters were there. They began to yell at her for being there. The prince heard the commotion and asked Abadeha to come to him. She lovingly was able to take the ring off his finger even if she was dressed in rags. The prince was overjoyed and married her. Abadeha wore the golden gown and the jewelry from the enchanted tree. Her father came home just in time for the wedding. The prince banished the stepmother and her daughters to the chicken yard. Abadeha and the prince shared their happiness and wealth with the people on the islands and lived in peace and love and harmony. 

In the author's note it is mentioned that this story is a traditional Philippine folktale that has disappeared from mainstream Philippine folk literature. With more than 300 years of Spanish colonization and a century of Americanization this is a common casualty there. She wanted to record the story before it was lost forever.

As a craft I made a paper plate sarimanok. I did it similar to the sea gulls Hazel and I made at the library a few weeks ago. I added the red comb and the tail of rainbow feathers. It is very easy.

For other Asian-Pacific Island Cinderella tales check out:

• Golden Sandals: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Tale
• The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Cinderella Tale
• Chinese Cinderella Tales
• The Korean Cinderella
• Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Tale from Korea
• Kao and the Golden Fish A Cinderella tale from Thailand
• The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Tale from Indonesia

The Year of the Monkey -- Exploring Chinese New Year with books & Chinese New Year Link Party

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these book 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. 

We have explored the lunar new year and more specifically the Chinese New Year for several years now and have tried many different crafts, recipes and books (see below for a sampling and links). We have looked at the Chinese Zodiac and as of yesterday we have begun the year of the monkey. Last year was the year of the sheep.

A Monkey Valentine Craft from a Kit

 Since we are not Chinese or any of the cultures that celebrate the lunar new year, we do not do too much for our Chinese New Year except try to learn a bit about it. This year since we have an idea of the celebration and the stories behind it we decided to take a look at Chinese stories and especially ones involving the monkey.  We started with Celebrating Chinese Festivals by Sanmu Tung.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month -- Book Round-Up

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. I always feel bad about this month. It happens at such a busy time of the year and is often overlooked. May was chosen to mark the anniversary of the first Japanese immigration and the completion of the transcontinental railroad. (The majority of the workers on the railroad were Chinese immigrants.) It also represents such a large area. Asian-Pacific Island includes all of Asia and the islands in the Pacific including New Zealand and the Polynesian Islands. It covers a huge area. (Source)

Source: World Atlas

Although we have no Asian or Pacific Island heritage that I know of, I like to teach Hazel about all the various cultures. I always describe myself as an American mutt since I have quite a mixture of European ancestors and even have some that can be traced to the Mayflower. There is a story in our family history of someone marrying a Native American as well, but I do not know the details. As such I do not identify with any ethnicity besides American and I find it interesting to look at the different ones around. To begin looking into Asian and Pacific Island Heritage we went to the library for books.

General Asian Stories and Picture Books

• A is for Asia by Cynthia Chin-Lee
• Asian Children's Favorite Stories by David Conger, Marian Davies Toth & Kay Lyons
• Asian Holidays by Faith Winchester
• Come Look With Me: Asian Art by Kimberly Lane
• I Dreamed I was a Panda by Debra A. Johnson
• Floating Clouds, Floating Dreams Favorite Asian Folk Tales edited by I. K. Junne
• Moon Magic: Stories from Asia by Katherine Davison
• The Tiger's Whisker and Other Tales from Asia and the Pacific by Harold Courlander
• Folk Tales from Asia by  Asian Cultural Centre for Unesco
• Tikki Tikki Tembo and More Stories to Celebrate Asian Heritage DVD produced by Weston Wood Studios, Inc.

Asian Crafts and Animals

• Asian Kites by Wayne Hosking
• Haiku: Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids by Patricia Donegan
• Asian-American Crafts Kids Can Do! by Sarah Hartman
• A Kid's Guide to Asian American History by Valerie Petrillo
• Asian Crafts by Judith Hoffman Corwin
• Monkeys of Asia and Africa by Patricia A. Fink Martin
• Really Wild Animals: Adventures in Asia DVD produced by National Geographic Society

Next I took some of the many countries in the area and found some picture books to read with Hazel. I am sure there are more and of course there are more countries, but at least this is a start. I am going to add a link party to the end so people can add their own favorite Asian and/or Pacific Island themed books to help learn about the cultures and celebrate the month. Many of these books are about immigrants' experiences in coming to America or leaving their country. Since there are so many, I am not going to list each one. I will however list the ones I have posted about previously with links in case you want to learn more.

Cambodia

China

The Year of the Horse is part of a series of books about the Chinese Zodiac

Julie Black Belt and Julie Black Belt: The Belt of Fire

The Phillipines

Cora Cooks Pancit

The Bamboo Dance

India

Japan

Sora and the Cloud Review

Butterflies for Kiri

Korea

Around the World in 12 Dishes visits Korea

Thailand

Book Reviews at my Around the World in 12 Dishes visits Thailand

Vietnam

Asian-Pacific Cinderella Tales

The Golden Slipper

Kao and the Golden Fish

 

Anklet for a Princess

Kongi and Potgi

The Korean Cinderella

The Gift of the Crocodile

The Golden Sandal

Wishbones and Yeh-Shen

If you know a good book to learn about an Asian or Pacific Island culture or to help celebrate this month, please list its title and author in this link party and share with us all!! You do not need to link a review or post about the book!!