The newest book by author Natasha Yim is a story based on an old Chinese legend. The Rock Maiden is a sad yet sweet tale of a young wife and new mother whose fisherman husband is lost at sea during a storm. For days she waits upon the hill in her village, keeping watch for him. Days slowly turn into months, and the villagers are heartbroken for her. Her parents pray to the goddess of the heavens to have pity on her and bring her husband home to ease her pain. The goddess does take pity on young Ling Yee, and turns her and her baby into stone. The Rock Maiden she has become. 

A year later a scruffy looking stranger appears in the village, inquiring about Ling Yee. This was of course her long lost husband, who now becomes the heartbroken one at the loss of his beloved wife and son. Once again the goddess of the heavens takes pity on the young family and returns the Rock Maiden back to life, where they live together in love and happiness. 

I enjoy reading old legends from around the world, and Wisdom Tales Press has published another fine one. This legend is based on the real rock formation called the Amah Rock in the Shah Tin area of Hong Kong. It's a 50 foot high natural rock formation that looks very much like a woman carrying a baby on her back. The author fondly remembers the times when she and her family would have lunch or afternoon tea within view of this Rock, and the legend is one that she never forgot. I'm glad she didn't! 

I'd recommend this book for children ages 6 and up.

With today being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I wanted to reflect on his life and work with our children like I usually do every year on this day. We usually read a story or two about his life, we've watched short documentaries about him, we've listened to his I Have a Dream speech. This year I wanted to do something a little different, but I hadn't prepared anything ahead of time. Thankfully we had this little gem on our bookshelf that I must have picked up at a book sale this past year: 

It's a story told by, and from the perspective of, the daughter of fellow activists and friends of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even though Paula is four years old in the story, it's lyrical writing is so intentional in its word choice and organization that it held the attention of both my nine and twelve year olds. The content of the text led us to research and discuss Jim Crow Laws, including where that name came from, the famous march from Selma to Montgomery, and The Voting Rights Act of 1965. Here are some resources I found that we used today and hope to be using the rest of the week:

Who Was Jim Crow? from the National Geographic website
Jim Crow Stories on the PBS website
March from Selma to Montgomery video on the History Channel website
Civil Rights video on BrainPop
Five Lessons on the Civil Rights Movement for elementary school students from Eyes on the Prize on the PBS website
Going the Extra Mile for MLK Day from Teaching Tolerance
Teaching MLK with the Social Justice Standards from Teaching Tolerance
​

If you are seeking children's picture books that will give your students a more accurate and thorough understanding of United States history, then the works of Paul Goble are for you. I had the pleasure of being introduced to his work a couple of years ago by Wisdom Tales Press when I received a copy of his Custer's Last Battle for review.  (You can read the review on my blog here.) I was amazed (and dismayed) that I hadn't been aware of him prior, since he is the author and illustrator of over 30 titles!  

Mr. Goble's books are generally retellings of Native American myths, legends, folk tales, and historical accounts. Since childhood Mr. Goble has had a fascination with the Plains Indians, and loves to share their stories with today's youth.  Some appeal more to a younger audience such as those in Kindergarten and lower elementary school, while others have definite appeal to children in upper elementary and middle school. Regardless of how publishers categorize his books, I loved reading that he strives to write them for "all ages."  

Since Mr. Goble is a White man, I had hesitations at first regarding the authenticity of his work.  Were his books going to be written from a White man's perspective, like so many of our country's historical accounts are?  "In 1959, he traveled to the American west...During the trip, Goble was adopted into the Yakima and Sioux tribes (with the name Wakinyan Chikala, “Little Thunder”) by Chief Edgar Red Cloud." (Quote is from WisdomTalesPress.com.) After learning this, my fears were relieved.  He writes and illustrates with intentionality, deliberately seeking out the oldest accounts he can find of a story as well as asking his Native American friends for their versions and perspectives.   

With that, I want to share Goble's newest book, Red Cloud's War: Brave Eagle's Account of the Fetterman Fight, with you. I again had the privilege of being given a copy by the publisher for review. (All opinions are my own and I receive no compensation of any kind from the publisher.) Before reading the book, I had never heard of this battle. In fact, I don't recall reading or learning very much about U.S. Westward expansion in relation to Native Americans in my school days besides the Cherokee Trail of Tears and about the creation of Indian boarding schools. I love learning new things and expanding my understanding of history!

Red Cloud's War is a work of historical fiction that chronicles the events that led up to and then became what's known as Fetterman's Fight, a battle between Lakota warriors and U.S. soldiers on December 21, 1866.  The government had approached the Lakota about access to the Bozeman Trail which cut through Lakota land in order to reach the west of Montana to dig for gold.  Chief Red Cloud did not accept the gifts that the government offered to his people in exchange for access and the building of forts along the trail when the "peaceful" talks were backed by hundreds of U.S. soldiers. "Colonel Carrington said he wanted peace, but what do white people mean by peace? How can there be peace when your neighbor demands a way through your land whether you say yes or no? It is not peace when he comes with an arrow fitted to his bow, nor is it peace when you know he will shoot if you do not do as he tells you"  Recent history also told him that the White man was always greedy for more, and access to the trail would lead to further White expansion, taking their best hunting grounds.  War was imminent.

What I love about Mr. Goble's work is that with the aide of his books, I am able to provide my children with a more comprehensive education than what I received. I love that I can share multiple perspectives with them, and that they are coming to understand that all voices matter, that a myriad of injustices have occurred over the past hundreds of years in our country that have formed our nation into what it is today, and that they have a choice as to how they would like to contribute to our nation's future.  I am grateful for the work of Paul Goble in chronicling our nation's history from a Native American perspective that is accessible to children, and I hope his books will be shared with children across our country for years to come.

For more information on Paul Goble and to read a great interview with him: An interview with Paul Goble
For more information on the Lakota Sioux Indians: The Lakota People

A peacock perching on a branch.  Leaves floating on the wind.  Dogs stretching.  Cows meandering.  Dark clouds looming.  A young boy looking up into the sky. 

This is the scene that greets us, that pulls us into the story that is about to be told.  We are thus carried seamlessly into a young boy’s world, transported to a place of warmth and love.  This warmth and love is most beautifully and simply portrayed in the relationship between the boy and his dadaji, his grandfather.  On this afternoon of monsoon, the boy longs to play in the welcome rain, and seeks a playmate in each of his family members.  Only Dadaji is able to fill the role this day, and so together they embrace what monsoon brings: a now-filled washtub, perfect for sailing just-made paper boats; raindrops that fall, rest like pearls upon their skin, then continue on their journey; a ground that thirsts no more, its cracks sealed, tucking the ants safely in their homes; peacocks, dancing, grateful for relief from the heat; leaves of the banyan tree, left shiny by their afternoon shower, now a twinkling canopy under which to swing. 

Seated atop his dadaji’s shoulders, arms resting beside Dadaji’s smiling face, the boy asks him if he ever swung from the banyan tree, if monsoon came when he was a boy, if peacocks danced in the rain, and if monsoon would come when he himself was a dadaji.  The connection of time, the cycle of life, the love of family - all are confirmed with Dadaji’s “yes” and with the heart that is depicted within the pages of this family’s day.

It is my pleasure to share this story with you, this glimpse into the life of a fictitious young boy in India during monsoon season.  Although the characters are invented, the atmosphere is not, as we learn from the author’s note at the end of the book.  Author Kashmira Sheth grew up on the West coast of India, and recounts to us her early days during these seasons of rain.  I usually find author’s notes add to my enjoyment of the story, and this one does so by filling out a fuller picture of daily Indian life.

Bringing a story to life, extending learning, creating opportunities of connection with a story – as a mom and teacher, these are things I love to do.  There are many ways to do this with Monsoon Afternoon:

1.       Make paper boats with your children like the boy and his dadaji did.  My kids and I only made one kind, but there are many different styles you could try.  You could then test out your boats on water, and do a little experiment to see which type floats the longest. 

2.       Bring in mangoes, bananas, and guavas for your children to see and taste.  These fruits were mentioned and shown in the book.  You could then ask your children to name the fruits that are grown in their region of the world, comparing them in size, shape, and color to the fruit you brought in.  You could also talk about climate (and how climate affects plant growth and which plants grow where) and compare the climate in your region to the climate in India.

3.       Have the children write a story (or draw a picture, depending on the age and ability of your children) about one of the following: how they spent a rainy day of the past, a time they spent with a grandparent or elderly relative, or how they would ideally like to spend a day in the rain.

4.       Have your children use watercolors to paint a picture of a tree or flower that grows in your community.  The illustrator, Yoshiko Jaeggi, used watercolors to bring this story to life, painting trees and flowers all throughout.

Monsoon Afternoon is a welcome addition on our bookshelf, and I am thankful to Peachtree Publishers for sending it to me to review as part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day!

Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD) was created by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and debuted January 27, 2014.  "Our mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries."  The Multicultural Children’s Book Day team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions, and religions within the pages of a book. They encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers, and librarians to follow along via book reviews, author visits, multicultural booklists, and visit the huge multicultural book review link-up that will occur on the MCCBD website 1/27/15. 

Here are some ways you can join in celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day:

• Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website and view booklists, reading resources, and other useful multicultural information.
• Visit Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board for more reading ideas.
• Have children bring in their favorite multicultural book to school on this day and share it with the class.
• Watch for the #ReadYourWorld hashtag on social media and share.
• Visit the Diversity Book Lists and Resources for Educators and Parents on their website.
• Visit MCCBD sponsors (you can find them HERE)
• Create a Multicultural Children’s Book Day display around the classroom or library.
• Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website on January 27th to view and participate in our huge blogger link-up, multicultural book reviews, giveaways, and more!

MCCBD’s 2015 Sponsors include Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  MulticulturalKids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author FeliciaCapers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.

Growing up, one of my favorite Christmas traditions was to read through all of our Christmas books each December.  My parents kept these packed away with our Christmas decorations, so they only came out once a year.  Seeing the stack come out of the box each year sent a little tingle of excitement and anticipation through me.  (I've always been a book lover!)  

To my delight many of these same books have now become part of my children's Christmas memories.  We bring out our stack each year after Thanksgiving, and spend all of December reading through them.  Our stack doesn't just include my old books though.  It has grown to be a large collection of diverse books, and I'd like to share a few of our most recent additions with you! 

Pablo's Christmas is a story of a young boy who lives with his parents and two younger sisters in a small village in Mexico.  His father needs to leave for America to find work in order to provide for them, but promises to be home for Christmas. Young Pablo is left to be the man of the house, taking care of all of the chores his father normally does and helping his mother with extra ones as she is nearing her time to give birth.  When Christmas is days away and Papa still isn't home, Pablo realizes that it's up to him to provide the Christmas gifts for his family members this year.  This sweet story about the love and care of family members for one another will warm your heart with the beautiful ending.

The Road to Santiago follows a family on their journey across Cuba to grandma's house in Santiago on Noche Buena, the night before Christmas.  It's set in the time period just before Castro came into power.  Alfredito and his parents travel to abuela's house each Christmas Eve, but this year when they arrive at the train station they find that the trains aren't running.  Through the kindness of many strangers they experience unforgettable travels that lead them to their family late in the night, where they are surprised to discover their family has been waiting for them before eating the Christmas meal.  This is a wonderful story that celebrates the love of family and the beautiful traditions they create.

Cobweb Christmas is a retelling of the traditional German folktale about how the tradition of tinsel on Christmas trees came to be.  Tante is a very kind old woman, always giving to the people and animals she meets.  Everyone is welcome in her home, except the spiders she continues to sweep out the door.  One Christmas Eve a special visitor invites the spiders into Tante's house in the night, and when she awakens the next morning, her tree is dazzling with beautiful strands of webbing.  This book is a new edition of the story Shirley Climo first wrote in 1986 entitled The Cobweb Christmas.

Babushka is an adaptation of a Russian folk tale about a very orderly old lady who is too busy to go and see the baby who's been born that three kings tell her about.  An angel appears to her in a dream however, and she decides to set off on the journey.  On her way she meets many people who are in need of the items she had brought with her to give as gifts to the baby.  She happily shares what she has, but then arrives at the stable with nothing to give as a present.  The child's mother lovingly assures Babushka that whatever she gave to those in need, she gave to her son as well.  This is a beautiful story of generosity transforming a heart into one filled with love.

The Miracle of the First Poinsettia tells the traditional Mexican tale of why this beautiful native plant has come to be associated with Christmas.  Juanita's family is struggling since her father lost his work this year, and she has nothing to bring as a gift offering to the baby Jesus during Christmas Eve mass. Searching throughout the day, she winds at the church doors at midnight empty-handed. As her family goes in, Juanita sadly holds back.  As she silently walks forward, a stone angel on the wall catches her eye.  She hears the angel speak to her, instructing her to bring a sprig of greens in as her gift.  Unsure but trusting, Juanita does so, and discovers a Christmas miracle!

The Dreidel That Wouldn't Spin: A Toyshop Tale of Hanukkah is the story about a greedy toy shop owner who was presented with the most beautiful dreidel, which he quickly purchased to resell for a high price.  Although this dreidel was exquisitely made, it would not spin for the ungrateful and demanding children whose parents bought it for them. Each time the dreidel was returned to the shop, the shop owner was confused, and worried since Hanukkah was now just days away. When a poor man and his son entered the shop, they were so happy just to enjoy the sights and sounds around them, filling their hearts with warm memories of time spent together.  When the little boy sees the beautiful dreidel, the shop owner allows him to try it.  When it spins for this boy, the message of the peddler who presented it to the toy shop owner finally rings true: "The miracle of Hanukkah cannot be bought!"

...and a Happy New Year is a delightful winter holiday album combining music of Christmas, Hanukkah, and winter, created by award winning children's recording artists Danny Adlerman, Kevin Kammeraad, and Yosi.  This is one of our family's favorite musical CDs of the season!   

Christmas Around the World contains twelve songs from around the globe: from Haiti, Cuba, Barbados, France, Martinique, and the USA.  This is a very fun album that our family really enjoys!  

I'd love to hear what multicultural children's books and music you and your children enjoy during the holidays, especially Hanukkah tales as I'm not as familiar with those!  Let's learn from and share with each other!  Happy reading and happy holidays!

Adoption is a beautiful way to form a family, and I get so excited when I hear of other families coming together and growing in this way!  It's not for the faint of heart; there are lots of extra challenges and things to think about when parenting a child who was born without your DNA, as all children who've been adopted have experienced significant loss, but it is beautiful none the less.

Since November is National Adoption Awareness Month, I wanted to take a moment and share with you some of the adoption-themed books that I recommend:

Gugi Gugi by Chih-Yuen Chen
When a crocodile egg rolls into mother duck's nest one day, she's too busy reading to notice. Although Gugi Gugi looks remarkably different than his siblings, they all grow up and learn to do the things that ducks do.  One day Gugi Gugi is teased by some mean-spirited crocodiles who then try to trick him into betraying his family to feed their duck-hungry bellies.  The trick turns out to be on them in this engaging story about family, loyalty, identity, and belonging.

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kaska
Choco doesn't have a mother, and so he goes off to search for her.  When his search attempts fail, he begins to cry.  A sweet mother bear hears him and rushes over to see what is the matter.  After Choco recounts his tale, the mother bear lovingly tries to cheer him up.  She then asks him if she could be his mother, which at first Choco thinks is quite absurd because she looks nothing like him.  Upon deciding that this doesn't matter, he goes home with mother bear, only to discover her other children, Ally (an alligator), Hippy (a hippo), and Piggy (a pig), don't look like her either!  He's glad his new mother looks just the way she does!

Horace by Holly Keller
Horace does not look like his parents, and although he is well-loved, he decides one day to go and search for those who look like him.  He finds a family at a park who have leopard-spots like he does, and the children invite him to play.  After a fun day of playing together, the leopard family goes home, and Horace is left missing his parents very much.  Thankfully they find him just then, and together they go home.  At bedtime they talk again about his adoption and how they chose him, and he decides right then to choose them, too. :)

Bringing Asha Home by Uma Krishnaswami
Arun's family is adopting a baby girl from India, where Arun's dad was born.  The wait feels unbearable at times as the year goes by, but Arun and his family find ways to stay connected to Asha while they wait for her to come home.  

Yafi's Family by Linda Pettitt
Now I have not actually read this book yet, so it's a risk for me to recommend it to you; however, it received great reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist, two of the most respected children's book review organizations.  Here is a book that finally acknowledges the loss and sadness that an adopted child experiences.  For that reason in particular, I am including it. 

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
This is the true story of two male penguins who made a life commitment to one another in a New York Zoo. They watched as all the other penguin couples made nests together and had an egg, so they too built a nest together, and found a rock that looked like an egg, but the two penguins looked longingly and confusedly when their "egg" ceased to hatch.  The attentive zoo keepers noticed all of this, and so when a baby penguin was rescued and needed a new set of parents, they brought them to this childless couple, and Tango made their family into three!

Let's Talk about It: Adoption by Fred Rogers
An oldy, but a goody!  In this book, Mr. Rogers gives children the loving assurance that they belong in a family, and helps them to explore their feelings about having been adopted, both the positive and negative feelings.  This is a straight-forward, simple, and very well done book. 

Motherbridge of Love by Xinran
A beautiful poem about the love of a child's birth mother and her forever mother for her.  

There are lots of other adoption-themed books out there, but what other ones would you recommend?  Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

I believe that children need to see real-life examples of every-day people making a positive difference in the world around them.  The following books are filled with stories of people around the world doing just that, through sharing their love of books and reading with others! 

My Librarian is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs
A non-fiction photographic essay of mobile libraries from thirteen countries around the world: Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, England, Finland, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Thailand, and Zimbabwe.

Miss Dorothy and Her Book Mobile by Gloria Houston
The true story of a young lady, newly a librarian, who decides to share her love of books with those around her in North Carolina by creating a mobile library since their town did not have a brick-and-mortar one.

That Book Woman by Heather Henson
This fictional tale is based upon the true stories of The Pack Horse Librarians who shared books with the people in the rural towns of the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky in the 1930s.

Biblioburro by Jeannette Winter
A love of books and a tiny house that can't contain them all is the inspiration for one young man to pack his donkeys full of them and travel to rural villages near his home in Colombia, sharing his books with the children as he passes through their village each month. This is the true story of the mobile library of Luis Soriano and his Biblioburro.

Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown
This is a story of a little girl who loves to read, but with only a few books in her village in the mountains of Colombia, she has long read them again and again.  Imagine her delight when a young man on a donkey comes riding through her village one day, with sacks of books available to borrow!  This is the true story of the mobile library of Luis Soriano.

Jump Into A Book is a wonderful blog that celebrates children's books and how to incorporate them into children's every day lives.  It was created by author Valerie Budayr who is passionate about the importance of multicultural books.  The creator of the first annual Multicultural Children's Book Day, Valerie has decided to extend the excitement and buzz that that created by coming up with an exciting summer reading adventure to take kids and families around the world!  "This summer, not only do we want to keep kids reading, we want to also work to keep the focus on helping them be Global Citizens. We would like to focus on books that will help our kiddos explore their world and keep our initiative of multicultural books for kids in the forefront of people’s minds too. To achieve this, I created the Discover Your World Summer Reading Extravaganza."

I am honored to be a part of this fantastic series, where you can view my guest post, "A Peek Into Thailand."  Please peruse the postings and enjoy discovering great new books with your children that will take you and your family on some last minute adventures around the world before the summer ends!

Last week my daughter was playing with her best friend over here at our house.  My daughter often chooses to wear fun costumes or unusual accessories, and this day she had chosen to wear an old pair of my gardening gloves.  She and her friend were talking and I overheard them talking about finding another pair of gloves so that they could each wear a pair.  (And just to be clear, there was no intention of gardening, or even weed-pulling, on the part of these girls - can you believe it??)  They searched for a minute on their own before I heard the all-too frequent "Mom!" which this time was followed by "Do we have any more gloves?"  Peeling myself away from whatever it was I was doing at the time, I went to our pile of gloves in the garage.  Not finding any gloves that would fit them, I told them that they could share the pair they had.  Both girls gave me a puzzled look, and that's when I remembered one of the books we borrowed from the library a couple of weeks prior. 

I invited the girls to sit down for an informal story time.  The girls sat mesmerized as a new world opened before their eyes, the world of refugee families who had fled Afghanistan to Pakistan.  In this world they met two young girls, like themselves only a couple of years older, who became friends when they noticed each other holding the matching sandal to the one they had each found in the scramble of donated clothes dropped off in their camp that day.  The girls in the story decided that instead of just one of them having the pair, that they would share them by taking turns, each wearing the sandals on alternate days.  "Four feet, two sandals."  Their friendship developed and deepened over the rest of the season as they passed the time (and the sandals) together while doing their daily chores.  In the end of the story, memories of a sweet time of sharing more than just footwear must sustain the girls as they are separated, one bound for America with her grandmother, the other left to wait in hope that her name will one day be on the list, and that the sandals can once again be joined in a pair.

Earlier this week the girls decided to play dolls, and they asked me if I would put Shola's head scarf on (see earlier post to find out more about this beautiful doll who is a young girl from Afghanistan.)  They hadn't played with Shola in months, but after I put the scarf on her head, I reminded them that she is from the same country that the girls in "Four Feet, Two Sandals" are from.  They ran over to the library basket, grabbed the book, and ran upstairs clutching it to their chests.  They came down ten minutes later and this is what I saw:

I overheard them later playing house, still dressed in their head scarves, talking quietly about "the war" and who was left in their family.  A short time later they were off again, their "head scarves" laying wear they had once been sitting, running to fulfill the next whim of their imagination.  I know it's a small thing, but I hope that this type of role playing continues to happen, and that empathy and understanding continues to grow in the hearts of these two young girls as their world continually, although subtly, opens up to the world of others throughout their childhood.

Baseball season is coming to a close!  To celebrate a great season (at least over here with our family in Little League land!), here are some great baseball-themed children's books that I wanted to share with you:

Catching the Moon is about a very determined young girl who is passionate about
playing baseball.  When she's not playing baseball with the boys in her class, she's thinking or dreaming about it!  All that she wants to do when she gets older is to become a professional baseball player.  But being a young Black girl growing up in the 1930's,
that dream isn't likely to happen. 

Thankfully (and what I like best about this story), Marcenia Lyle doesn't settle for "no" when she's told that she can't attend a baseball camp simply because she's a girl.  She loves baseball so much that she continues to play with all her heart, deciding to show the coach just how good she is so that he'll have no choice but to take her.  

Well, it works, and this true story has a happy ending as Marcenia Lyle becomes the first woman to play for an all-male professional baseball team!  This inspiring story is a fantastic one for boys as well as for girls!  This is one of our family's favorite stories!

Here are some other great ones:

Have any family or student favorites that I've forgotten to include on this list?  Please let us know in a comment below! 

(Disclaimer: There are affiliate links included in this blog post, as I'm an affiliate of Schuler Books, a great independent bookstore here in Grand Rapids, MI.  Purchasing from my links just gives me a small percentage of the retail price, helping me to offset costs of shipping when I do giveaways and things like that.  Thanks for your support!)