MCBD 2018

Today is the 5th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day! This is my second year as a reviewer, and this year I had the opportunity to review multiple books!

Read to the bottom and be rewarded with a coloring page version!

But first, here’s what our awesome hosts and founders have to say about MCBD:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5thyear and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Bookand Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ 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.  Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. 2018 MCBD Medallion SponsorsHONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library GuildPLATINUM:Scholastic Book ClubsGOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide BuddiesSILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street PressBRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, CharlesbridgePublishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, SanyaWhittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press
2018 Author SponsorsHonorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana MedinaAuthor Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo,  Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles,  Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari,Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen,  Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler,Nicholette Thomas and  MFL Publishing  Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham  Author Natasha YimWe’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 works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrtaFree Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

My first #partner book for this years MCBD was sent to me by Loving Lion Books. Written by Norah Barrett Cooper, this cheery, customizable book tells a simple and relatable story of a big family get together. 

Customization options include skin tones and family members (mom & dad, mom & mom, dad & dad) 

A little girl eagerly awaits her family members’ arrivals, and the delicious meal they will create and share. She spends the day playing with her cousins, on what is clearly a happy occasion and joy filled day. Joelle Nelson’s bright illustrations add even more fun to the story.

"Love Family"...because families are love

 Many little readers are sure to connect to the story of a big family party and dinner, recalling their experiences with Thanksgiving meals, family reunions, special holidays, birthday celebrations, or even more regular family gatherings. The book emphasizes the importance of family togetherness in a general, almost subtle way. The simplicity of the message fits perfectly with the idea of a book with customization, because it allows for the more specific details to be filled in by the readers own experiences and memories. The types of foods eaten, games played, and stories told can easily mirror what any child has seen in their own life. I would love if even more customization options were added!

Smiling faces, yummy food, hugs-what more could you want?

This book would be appropriate in preschool and early elementary classrooms. It would serve well as a jumping off point for discussing different celebrations and traditions in students’ families, maybe with a focus on compare and contrast-noticing our special differences, but also how some themes are universal within so many families. At home, as a book to play connection, we enjoyed making homemade play dough to create different skin colors and making families of all colors and sizes. Our play dough recipe was inspired by craftulate.com and uses spices for coloring, so it is also a full sensory experience. 

To make spiced play dough:

Mix together, in a medium saucepan:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup water

1 tsp cream of tartar

2 tbs salt

1 tbs of desired spice (cocoa powder for dark brown, cinnamon for lighter brown, paprika for copper red, turmeric for bright yellow, mustard powder for faint yellow). 

After mixing the ingredients thoroughly, heat the pan over medium heat and stir constantly. After about two minutes of stirring, your dough should begin to form a ball. 

Remove your dough ball from heat and place on wax paper. Allow a few minutes for cooling, and you can begin to kneed your dough-it’s ready to play!

Cocoa, Tumeric, Mustard, Paprika, Cinnamon (clockwise)

This dough is truly an awesome sensory tool. The different spices give off wonderfully different scents and have beautiful colors. Barring any allergies or sensitivities, they are taste safe (although they definitely don’t taste good)! You can feel the warm dough soon after it’s been prepared, or cold dough that has been in the refrigerator for a little while. 

Happy Dough Friends and Family

C discovered that the cinnamon dough smells much better than it tastes

Dough is Fun!

My second #partner book for MCBD 2018 is Star Bright Books “A Fish to Feed”. Star Bright Books features multilingual books in 23 languages, and is a fantastic resource for educators for English Language Learners, as well as parents and families. I was lucky enough to receive both the English only and the Spanish/English versions of this book. 

"A Fish to Feed"

The story is fun for toddlers, and shows a father and son as they explore their neighborhood on the search for a new pet fish. The book features cutouts that allow you to peek through to the illustration on the next page. C (1.5) loved the little circle cutouts and being able to touch the next page through them, or look through the little circle onto the next page.  I loved how this feature added a little something extra to the story, and thought it was a pretty creative illustration feature.

The story models conversation between the father and son, and includes a message to parents about their child’s language development and how to enhance that through conversation. The text of the story furthers the message to parents, showing how father elaborates on the conversation with the child to further their ideas and introduce new vocabulary. These elements make the book as much a tool to teach parents as it is an enjoyable story for little ones. As a parent of a child with a speech delay, I greatly appreciate the professional information presented at the beginning of the book regarding language development and how to help your child grow in that area.

English Only

Spanish and English

Star Bright offers books in Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese Karen, Burmese, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Navajo, Ojibwe, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Some languages are available on their own and all are available in multi language books paired with English. 

As our book to play project connection with “A Fish to Feed”, we created our own hand print fish pets. A paper plate would work great for this activity, but we just used a regular piece of paper (someone forgot to get paper plates at the grocery store). E (2.5) picked out his favorite colors to make his hand prints pets, and we added some eyes and features together. Crepe paper made our “water”, and we experimented with a few different tools to stamp on bubbles and rocks. Finally I labeled our fish colors with the English and Spanish words. E loves naming the colors, so he had a great time with this project!

Our fish friends don't need food ;)

I hope you've enjoyed learning about a few new books and publishers in the world of Multicultural Children's Books. Check out the hashtag #ReadYourWorld on social media for even more reviews and recommendations. Follow the link in the caption below to print out your free coloring page, designed by Aram Kim!

Read Your World, Color Your World

Little Tykes Playhouse Flip

This post combines a few things that I really love: free side of the road junk and spray paint. And of course, my kids! Now that we are onto our second summer in the house, we've gotten through some of the more pressing home fix ups and have a little bit of time for some fun stuff. This summer, we focused on making our yard more kid friendly.  We had our yard fenced in a few months back, and since that was a more expensive project, I've been looking for deals for the little extras I wanted to add to the yard. At the top of the list for this summer was some type of playhouse or structure, and a sandbox. With a little bit of luck I was able to cross all three off early in the summer, yay!

My first find definitely came with a stroke of luck!  My husband and I happened to be driving home late one night after a visit with friends, and just down the street from our house we spotted a great old Little Tykes house out on the side of the road! Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, I made Hubs pull over because this was a score, no way was I letting it sit until morning.  I'd been stalking a few on the Facebook swap pages, and they can go for upwards of $50, so free sounded pretty good to me, especially since I knew I wanted to give it a little face lift. So there we were, in the dark, on the side of the road disassembling this little house and cramming it all into our Jeep, because just like groceries, we wanted to make it all in one trip.  Luckily, the darkness kept us from seeing the substantial layer of grime (and spiders' webs) that covered the house. It got a nice sudsy bath the next day!  There were also a bunch of random, rusty screws sticking out of the doors and windows, which had to be removed (still trying to figure out their original purpose).

Our house even came with this sign...not *quite* move in ready though

Ordinary, bland Little Tykes house, after its bath

Once my freebie house had a good scrub down, I had to decide what color scheme to go with.  I considered a gray/navy/deep red, but that didn't quite fit with the woodsy setting under our hemlock tree. Instead, I went with a nice mossy green as the base color, tan shades for the shutters and roof, and a pumpkin pop for the door.  I used "Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint and Primer".  

The roof and door knob are easy to remove from the house, and the sides can be taken apart.  I believe you *should* be able to take the door and shutters off, but I was nervous about snapping one of the connections, so I didn't fuss with it too much. I've consulted with my personal adviser, Google, who confirmed that most people have a hard time getting the shutters/door to budge, but a few Hulk moms have claimed victory.  Personally, I just took a little time to tape the edges around the windows and door, as I was aiming for pretty good over perfect.  I also used a trash bag to cover up the areas that I was worried about over spraying, but found that I really didn't need it after my first window.  After a little practice I was able to get my spraying pretty accurate.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of how I used the plastic bag to cover the windows, but it should be easy enough to figure out on your own. Of course, I recommend starting with the back window where you'll be less likely to be bothered by any mistakes.  You can easily unscrew the doorknob before painting the door if you'd like it to be a different color. 

The first piece I sprayed was the roof, mainly because it is the easiest to take apart.  The roof has two pieces, and you will also want to spray at least part of the underside.  The underneath edges can be seen from the outside, so mark off the point where you can see them, and spray at least that far on the underside.  I used one can total for the roof, although I did not spray the entire underside.

The roof can easily be removed and sprayed on its own

I decided to spray the sides while the house was still standing.  You could also lay each piece down and spray it on its own, but I didn't see any real benefit to that method.  I was a little worried about paint drips, but the drips I have are minimal. Just remember to spray from far enough away and you should be fine.  I also appreciated that I didn't have to do much bending by keeping the house standing, nor did I have to do much to protect the area.  Also, since I worked on this project during nap times and evenings, the house was still available for E to use while I worked on the project.  The paint is dry to the touch within 20 minutes, and able to be handled within an hour.  It is fully dry in 24 hours.

In progress spray painting

I gave each piece one coat of paint, and then did a few touch ups in some places.  In total, the project took about 4 nap times (7ish hours).  I used 4 cans for the siding/base color, 1 can for the shutters, half a can for the door, and 1 can for the roof (but could use a little more to cover more of the underside). I painted both sides of the windows and door, but left the inside walls unpainted.  The amount of spray paint you need could vary a little depending on the colors you choose and how good their coverage is over the original colors.  I did not use any top coat or extra primer.

London Fog (roof and door knob), Cinnamon (door), Nutmeg (shutters),
 and Moss Green (siding/walls) were our color choices.

As far as wearing goes, there are a few spots that a small amount of paint has scratched off, in the high traffic areas.  E grabs onto the window of the door in one spot to open and close, so there are a few scratches there.  Also, the areas where the edge of the window rubs against the wall to open and close has worn a bit. Other than that, we've had the house outside for almost two months now and it still looks great.  I plan on taking it in before winter and the really harsh weather arrive. 

Small areas on the edges have slight wearing after
 a month of opening and closing.

For finishing touch, we added street numbers and a potted marigold. I'm looking for a good replacement door knob too, and maybe a few other touches to add to the outside.  I'd love to find a nice free side of the road picnic table!

Happy with his house!

Overall, this was a pretty fun and satisfying project.  I have a better appreciation for graffiti artists now, because after a few hours of spraying my wrist definitely was aching! I love transforming my finds with a simple spray painting, and now I get too look at something that is more fresh and my style than the washed out and faded original colors.

Home Sweet Home

Have you done any side of the road redo projects this summer?

Busy, Busy July

Yay for July! July is such a great month, the month that really makes me think "summer".  There's always plenty going on, right from the start with Fourth of July celebrations. Add in a sprinkling of trips to the beach, cookouts, bonfires, tending to the garden, afternoons at the playground or in the pool, and it just seems to speed by.  We also have the added fun of two pretty big July birthdays in our family.  Both my actual first born and practice first born (aka little sister), are July babies, so we really get to pack in some celebrating this month! Clearly there are lots of places where a July book theme could take me, but to me no summer is complete with some time at the beach.

Here are a few of the beach and ocean themed books we will be reading this month:

Beachy Book #shelfie

"Theo at the Beach" by Jaclyn Crupi:

Theo is an adorable little puppy who has lost his sense of smell.  He decides to take a trip to the beach, hoping that some of the seaside scents will awaken his sense of smell again!  As readers follow Theo on his adventure at the beach, they will find that the book includes a few rub and sniff scented illustrations. We have two Theo books in our library, and E is currently loving them! He loves sniffing each page to see if he can find a scent, and its pretty adorable to watch! The stories are cute, however I do wish a few more scent pages were included.  It is a fun book to read when talking about the senses, especially soon after a trip to the beach, when your child has a fresh memory of what sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings they had while at the beach!  If you love Theo, he also has a trip to the park book, as well as a trip to the grocery store!

Sadly, this is only a smelling book, no taste samples included

"Penguin on Vacation" by Salina Yoon:

Salina Yoon's Penguin books are some of our favorites, and following Penguin on all of his adventures is fun! This time, Penguin decides that he needs a break from the cold and snow of his home (who can blame him?), and sets off on a little vacation.  He hits the beach and makes a new friend who shows him how much fun the beach can be.  When Penguin is ready to leave, he is sad that his friend can't join him. But Penguin soon learns he isn't the only one who needs a vacation.

Don't we all, Penguin. Don't we all...

"Duck & Goose Go to the Beach" by Tad Hills

Yet another adorable Duck and Goose tale (tail?).  Duck and Goose are happy in their meadow, until one day when Duck decides they should go on an adventure, see something different.  Goose needs a bit of convincing, but reluctantly follows his friend.  Lots of exciting new sights await them, the biggest being the ocean.  Suddenly, Duck isn't feeling quite as adventurous, although Goose is quite excited!  Although they both end up enjoying part of their adventures, they agree that home in the meadow is where they are happiest.

Meeting the locals is always...interesting...

"Under the Sea" by Redd Byrd:

This simple, interactive book is fun for toddlers.  It features three spinning pieces with different sea creatures.  Each page has a few different questions about the animals and your little one can answer the question by turning the piece to show the correct creature under the question.  The cover of the book clearly says 2+, and I'd agree.  E just turned 2 at the beginning of the month, and we haven't really used the book in it's intended way yet.  There isn't really a story outside of the questions, but this book really is great for practice with identifying traits and asking questions.  The illustrations are bright and colorful, and easily lend themselves to more questions you can make up on your own. 

2 out of 3, not too bad...

Whatever fun summer experiences you and your children have this summer, I hope you are able to find a fun book or two that relates.  The best part of reading these beachy stories was asking E if he remembered our recent beach trip and seeing him smile and nod yes.  I can't  wait until he is smiling and talking about it too!

Dads Read Too!

Sometimes scrolling through my social media accounts it seems like we forget this simple fact-dads read too! There are plenty of images and anecdotes of moms reading with their little ones, but I seldom stubble upon a dad sharing their favorite bookish discoveries or library adventures. There of course be many reasons why dads aren't showing off their story time skills on Instagram and Facebook, but I think it is so important for all of us to realize that dads can read-and they can do a pretty great job.  I'd love to see more kids being read to by all of the important people in their lives-moms and dads, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends...everyone! So in honor of the upcoming Father's Day holiday, I'm sharing a few of our famiy's books about dads, and hoping you will think about shaking up your daily story time routine with an extra read aloud by dad (or another special family member or friend).

There isn't much that makes my heart happier than listening to my husband reading to E. Hubs has an inconsistent work schedule, with some nights only ending well after our kiddos are in bed. It can be a bummer sometimes, but also makes nights when he is here extra special! Usually bedtime becomes a divide and conquer task, since little C still needs some quiet time with me before she is ready to sleep for the night. That means E gets some special one on one time with his Daddy, which includes a good long tubby and a read through three or four of his favorite books, before being tucked into bed (burrito style, like only Daddy can do, of course). I love hearing them reading from the other room as I take care of C. Even though my husband is reading the same books with E that I usually do, the story becomes totally different with his silly voices, expert sound effects, little asides, and always plenty of belly laughs from E. Harvard University even backs me up on this one. They released a study not too long ago outlining the differences between mom and dad reading styles, and why reading with dads can be so important for little ones.  You can read a little about it here. So to celebrate that special energy comes with a new perspective on an old read aloud, here are a few of our books about Dads.

A Daddy #shelfie

"Following Papa's Song" by Giannna Marino:

We received this book through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The illustrations are simply stunning, dreamily depicting the whales' underwater environs. They beautifully transport the reader from dawn to dusk, as the Little Blue travels across the ocean and learns from his Papa's wisdom. When Little Blue strays from his path, he finds that his papa is always waiting to guide him back. This is one of my favorite Imagination Library books thus far. If you have a child under age 5, I highly recommend checking here to see if the program is available in your area (who wouldn't love a free book each month?!)

I want to spend a day swimming in Little Blue's ocean

"I Love My Daddy Because"  by Laurel Porter-Gaylord:

This cute board book shows animal fathers taking care of their babies. Animals are seen building homes, finding food, keeping babies safe, or playing. There are many learning opportunities with this book, ranging from a simple discussion of different types of animals, comparing animal fathers to a child's father (Daddy loves to chase you in the yard, just like the animals daddy plays with him), and even an opportunity to learn some Spanish words. The book includes both Spanish and English text, as well as labels or animal names.

Dads teach lots of good things, but apparently getting laundry into the hamper isn't one of them.

"Your Baby's First Word Will Be DADA" by Jimmy Fallon:

Fallon's popular books is seen on the shelves at many stores year round, and especially near Father's Day. If you haven't checked it out yet and know a soon to be or new dad, it is worth a peek. Very simple conversational text and bold, geometric animal graphics easily capture the eye of 0-2 year olds. Animal sounds are always fun, and E enjoys joining in on the few sounds he knows, which includes Dada...still waiting to really hear Mama over here!

Your baby's first word will be Dada...but Dada will swear it's Mama at 2am

"I Love You Daddy" by Melanie Joyce:

Although this book isn't especially remarkable, it is a sweet read. The story follows bear cub and his daddy through the forest and shows the simple things that bear cub appreciates about his daddy.  It's not a book we read frequently, but it is a nice story to bring out occasionally, especially when feeling a little extra lovey towards Daddy. There is also a companion book geared towards moms.  

Cuddles with Dad are sweet, even for a bear

"When Dads Don't Grow Up" by Marjorie Blain Parker:

This is easily my favorite book on the list. I came across it at a fun little used book store, back when I was pregnant with E. I had actually been looking for some old field guides for a nursery project, but when I spotted "When Dads Don't Grow Up" it immediately made me think of my husband. He wasn't a dad just yet, but E was due just a few days after Father's Day, and this book became my husband's first Father's Day gift. Hubs still gets a little teary when he reads the note I wrote to him on the inside cover...so that's my little emotional connection with this book, but really you've got to believe me that it is seriously cute. It's all about dads who know how to be silly and fun loving, who know how to embrace the messy and the ordinary and make them into memories. It celebrates dads who are kids at heart, even if they are grown ups on the outside.

Bubble wrap dad = my husband

"What Daddies Do Best"/"What Mommies Do Best" by Laura Numeroff:

This fun book is really two books in one. Simply flip over for the second story! That novel aspect makes it pretty neat for little ones. The two stories celebrate all the ordinary things that dads (and moms) do for their children. If you are looking for a book that goes beyond the typical gendered roles of moms vs. dads, this book definitely checks that box (dads can sew buttons, garden, etc). Because really, when you are a parent there's no job you don't do for your child, regardless of stereotypes...sometimes the job just needs to get done. And that's truly what daddies AND mommies do best.

Snowman or snow-hippo?

I'd love to hear from you! Do you celebrate Father's Day with books?