A World of Cookies for Santa

A World of Cookies for Santa by M.E. Furman, illustrated by Susan Gal (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). 

This is a wonderful book that shows how children around the world celebrate Christmas, and specifically the types of cookies or treats that they leave for Santa. There are even several recipes included at the end. As a kid, I love learning about different cultural traditions, and I know I would have loved this book. There are many parts of the world represented and the beautiful illustrations radiate a cozy warmth. Next year I'll have to try one of the cookie recipes!  You can find some of them on the book's website here.

For more multicultural Christmas books, view my post here.

To all my readers: Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I am very grateful for all of you, and the authors who have sent me their books for review this year. Thank you for your support.

Rice and Rocks: Multicultural Children's Book Day

Rice and Rocks by Sandra L. Richards, illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan (Wise Ink Creative Publishing, 2016.)

It's that time again!  This is my third year participating in Multicultural Children's Book Day, which is January 27. Thank you to the author for providing me with this book to review.  It actually had been on my "to read" list for a while, so I was so happy when we were matched. Also, just an interesting coincidence... I saw that she is from a town in Long Island five minutes from where I used to live before moving back to my home state of Connecticut earlier this year. 

This is a fun book about a boy named Giovanni who is embarrassed to have his friends come over for dinner because his grandmother will be serving rice and beans, or "rice and rocks" as he calls them. He thinks his family's traditional Jamaican dish will be seen as weird to his friends. But with the help of his aunt and a magical talking parrot, he learns how rice and beans is a staple in all different countries around the world, just prepared in different ways. I really enjoyed the creative story, fun illustrations, and important message. 

For more information, see the author's website here.

This book also provides a great excuse to cook with kids! For a good place to start, here is a website with 24 different rice and beans dishes from around the world.

About MCBD:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. 

Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press,  Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books

Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin,  Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson,  Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O'Malley, Stacy McAnulty,  Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richardss, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato,  Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe, SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

MCBD Links to remember:

MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/

Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

Jasmine's Parlour Day

Jasmine's Parlour Day by Lynn Joseph, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi (Lothrop Lee & Shepard, 1994).

This is a beautiful, colorful book about a girl who helps her mother sell fish and sugar cake at a stand, or parlour, in Trinidad. Grifalconi captures the feel of the Caribbean and the lovely bright pinks. Joseph, who grew up in Trinidad, has her characters speak in the native patois which adds to the authenticity.  She has written many great Caribbean children's books.

Interested in making those delicious looking pink coconut sugar cakes?  Here is a recipe.

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My Grandpa and the Sea

My Grandpa and the Sea by Katherine Orr (Carolrhoda, 1990).  This is a beautiful book about a little girl in St. Lucia and her grandpa who is a fisherman.  When the big fishing boats deplete his source of fish, he decides to come up with a way to farm sea moss.  Not only is it a beautifully illustrated book about a loving family, but it teaches environmental conservation.

For those who don't know, sea moss (also called Irish moss) is used to make drinks in the Caribbean.  I haven't tried it yet, but I've always been curious.  It's available bottled at many Caribbean groceries and restaurants, but you can make your own with this recipe.

If you're interested in learning more about sea moss farms, I found this video about a sea moss cultivation project in St. Andrew, Grenada. It's a very interesting process.