Multicultural Children's Book Day!

Welcome to my post in celebration of the Multicultural Children's Book Day! This year, I have had the pleasure of being a book reviewer! I'll let you know all about that in just a sec, but first, here's some info from the lovely people who set this whole day up!

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 Richards, 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/1kGZrtaFree 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

What a fun day it was when I opened my mailbox and found that my review books had arrived! I received a beautiful little set of board books, "Little Artists Books" by Niki Daly, published by Kane Miller Books. Little E and I were immediately drawn in by the cherry illustrations, and simple, happy stories.  This sweet little set comes together in a cute little slipcase, which Little E quickly took to carrying around the house.  The books are just the right size for little hands to grasp onto, and make it easy for toddlers to turn the pages all on their own.  Each story follows a different child on a different artistic endeavor-music, painting, dancing, or fashion design.  The stories depict children of different races taking part in these beloved childhood activities.  I find that the simplistic nature of the stories and settings make it easy for a young child to connect to. What little toddler doesn't love painting or music; dancing or dress up?  I love that my kiddos can see children that look a little different from them, as well as some who look similar, all engaging in activities that my little ones enjoy!

The four "Little Artists Books" by Niki Daly

To expand on the fun of the "Little Artists Books", I decided to do a little art and music infusion project with my 1.5 year old, Little E. Little E has been having a blast ignoring his lovely store bought toys after Christmas, in favor for a more homemade, recycling bin variety.  I'm totally one to embrace that, which is what, along with the music and art themes in the "Little Artists Books", inspired me to help him out with a "Recycle Bin Rock Band".

I decided to break the fun up into three days, to encourage a few repeated readings of the books.  Also, I'm not that much of a crazy person to believe that we would continue to have fun with this all in one sitting, while I also entertained 4 month old Miss C. On our first day we did some recycle bin art and focused on the Little Artist story "Carlos".  Carlos makes some pretty awesome paintings, and his story points out different colors, shapes, and lines.  I wanted to give Little E a chance to play around with those same elements, so we broke out the finger paint and got to work. With a little scurrying around the house, I found Little E some tools that he could use to create different types on lines and shapes with his finger paints. Awesome stuff  we used included a plastic fork (great for tiny dots and straight lines), a cotton ball (for big dots), a foam brush, the cap from a fruit and yogurt pouch (perfect circles!), and a q-tip.

Our paint exploration materials and "Carlos" book

With a little quick prep (high chair for mess containment, baby wipes for clean up) it was easy to let Little E go crazy for a bit as he explored with his different tools.

Forks make great dots and sets of stripes!

A nice blue smear from a foam brush.

Mixing colors and tools!

On Day 2 we focused on the Little Artist story "Mondi".   Mondi loves to make music! So we went scurrying around the house yet again and found all the supplies we needed for a fun, homemade rain marker instrument.  It is so easy, and you can do it too!

1. Raid your recycle bin for a long container-we used a Pringles can!
2. Fill the can with about 10 sticks, collected from the back yard. 
3. Add in some small filler material (rice, dried beads, small beads, etc). We used birdseed, because it happened to be the first thing I found. Obviously, if you have little ones, use your judgement and appropriate supervision with this project and any chokeable parts. The twigs will filter the filler material giving it a rain like sound. Play around with how much filler you add based off of what sound you like best-it will vary based on your container shape, number of sticks, type of material used. This is a great way to get older kiddos involved-they will love making predictions about how the sounds change based on all of these variables.
4. Use duct tape to secure the lid to the container. We simply wrapped a piece around where the two pieces meet.
5. We used our lovely art from Day 1 to cover our container and make our instrument beautiful!
6. That's it-you are ready to enjoy!

Our "Mondi" book and rain maker instrument

To celebrate all of our hard work, on Day 3 we had our "Recycle Bin Rock Band" concert, in front of all our favorite teddy bear friends! We are looking forward to seeing all the other books and ideas shared throughout the day today to celebrate and bring awareness to the importance of multicultural books!

Rock on!

Let it Snow!

It's safe to say winter has arrived here in New England, with several snow storms throughout the region in the past few weeks! This month E's bookshelf is spotlighting books about snow, and the many different experiences we can have with it!

I spy, with my little eye, someone RED!

"The Mitten" by Jan Brett: Many are familiar with Brett's retelling of this classic Ukrainian folk tale. Her beautiful illustrations bring to life winter scenes from a time and place far away. The story is of a little boy who has lost one of his snowy white mittens, and the animals who find it. It is simple enough for the youngest readers to follow along, but the illustrations add plenty of interest for older children as well.

"White Snow, Bright Snow" by Alvin Tresselt: This story, originally published in 1947, depicts the first snowfall in a small town. It has an old time classic charm, as we follow the activities of several different members of the community. There are great opportunities for children to compare and contrast with the different activities of characters at the first snow and first sign of spring, or between the different ways each neighbor reacts to the snow.

"The Little Snowplow" by Lora Koehler: A sweet story for younger children who might feel like being little isn't great. A new little snowplow has joined the city garage, but the other vehicles don't think he will be much of a help with the impending winter storms. Little Snowplow spends his time practicing and practicing, and when the biggest storm of all arrives, he finds out that being little-and working hard-can have there advantages.

"Snowmen at Night" by Caralyn Buehner: This is when of those books that makes me think "Why didn't I think of that?"! Find out what snowmen do at night, and why they sometimes end up looking so different from when they were first built. As a bonus, the illustrations have hidden pictures on each page. A great story full of imagination!

"Hideaway Husky" by Lisa McCue: This story is surprisingly cute for a book written to go along with a toy. I had low expectations but it turned out to be a nice read with cute illustrations. Paw is the smallest husky at the ranch, and really wants to be a part of the dogsled team. He proves his worth when a young child gets lost in a snowstorm and Paw comes to the rescue!

#shelfie

Winter is such a great time to cozy up with some books! What are your favorite reads during the winter?