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librarybonanza
Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Culture: Immigrants
An accessible presentation of immigration for the younger crowd. Perfect for any setting that's open to discussing further implications of immigrating to a new home.
Culture: Immigrants
An accessible presentation of immigration for the younger crowd. Perfect for any setting that's open to discussing further implications of immigrating to a new home.
Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Familiar Experience: Being new in an unfamiliar place, moving, learning a new language
Culture: Sudanese immigrant
Cartwheel and her Auntie are forced to leave their home due to war and move to a new country with a new language. Cartwheel knows nothing of the customs of the people or the language they speak. She is very sad and at night when she is home, she wraps herself in a blanket of her own words and sounds. Another girl her age is friendly towards Cartwheel and begins to teach her English words, which Cartwheel uses to make a new blanket.
An excellent book for showing children the power of being friendly and inviting to anyone but especially to someone that might look uncomfortable or sad. Doubly important for children that have experienced learning a new language and living in a foreign world.
Familiar Experience: Being new in an unfamiliar place, moving, learning a new language
Culture: Sudanese immigrant
Cartwheel and her Auntie are forced to leave their home due to war and move to a new country with a new language. Cartwheel knows nothing of the customs of the people or the language they speak. She is very sad and at night when she is home, she wraps herself in a blanket of her own words and sounds. Another girl her age is friendly towards Cartwheel and begins to teach her English words, which Cartwheel uses to make a new blanket.
An excellent book for showing children the power of being friendly and inviting to anyone but especially to someone that might look uncomfortable or sad. Doubly important for children that have experienced learning a new language and living in a foreign world.
Age: High School
Culture: Haitian immigrant
First line: "If only I could break the glass separating me and Manman with my thoughts alone."
City: Detroit
I enjoyed all the pieces of this book but, unfortunately, there were so many that I did not love it as a whole. One part that felt lackluster was the detention of Fabiola's manman in New Jersey. Her detention drives Fabiola's bravery throughout the book in order to get Manman released but there is only one phone call between the two. It baffles me that there would be so little communication access or information. Perhaps this is the case, but I wish there was more discussion about it.
I loved the seamless, matter-of-fact inclusion of Fabiola's Vodou religion and Pri's attraction to females. Both Fabiola and Pri are comfortable with this part of their identity and don't spend the book defending it--it's just flavor to the story and their characters. And this is where Zoboi excelled. Her characters where full of dimension and distinction. The love interest, Kasim, felt unique from many male love interests I've read. He was forward and smooth and expressive in his sexual attraction to Fabiola. The relationship was very cat-and-mouse-esk which is off-putting to me but may be appealing to other readers. Although, even giving props to this unique relationship, this was perhaps that which unglued the story and detracted from the other storylines.
All in all, an excellent contribution to fictional immigrant stories--especially from an author who has lived one--with a touch of magical realism through the real-life inclusion of Vodou gods, but I wish the plot wasn't as scatterbrained.
Culture: Haitian immigrant
First line: "If only I could break the glass separating me and Manman with my thoughts alone."
City: Detroit
I enjoyed all the pieces of this book but, unfortunately, there were so many that I did not love it as a whole. One part that felt lackluster was the detention of Fabiola's manman in New Jersey. Her detention drives Fabiola's bravery throughout the book in order to get Manman released but there is only one phone call between the two. It baffles me that there would be so little communication access or information. Perhaps this is the case, but I wish there was more discussion about it.
I loved the seamless, matter-of-fact inclusion of Fabiola's Vodou religion and Pri's attraction to females. Both Fabiola and Pri are comfortable with this part of their identity and don't spend the book defending it--it's just flavor to the story and their characters. And this is where Zoboi excelled. Her characters where full of dimension and distinction. The love interest, Kasim, felt unique from many male love interests I've read. He was forward and smooth and expressive in his sexual attraction to Fabiola. The relationship was very cat-and-mouse-esk which is off-putting to me but may be appealing to other readers. Although, even giving props to this unique relationship, this was perhaps that which unglued the story and detracted from the other storylines.
All in all, an excellent contribution to fictional immigrant stories--especially from an author who has lived one--with a touch of magical realism through the real-life inclusion of Vodou gods, but I wish the plot wasn't as scatterbrained.
Age: Kindergarten-2nd grade
Emotion: Greed
Nature: Waste and its effects
Culture: India
Emotionally evocative artwork infuse the concepts of material waste and how it affects nonviolence. Through self reflection and guidance from his Grandfather Gandhi, Arun discovers that the act of throwing away his pencil before he has used all of it is an act of passive violence because it passively hurts others through mining and village displacement. Although a small act, Gandhi encourages his grandchild to "be the change you wish to see in the world" by contemplating acts that seem minor.
Emotion: Greed
Nature: Waste and its effects
Culture: India
Emotionally evocative artwork infuse the concepts of material waste and how it affects nonviolence. Through self reflection and guidance from his Grandfather Gandhi, Arun discovers that the act of throwing away his pencil before he has used all of it is an act of passive violence because it passively hurts others through mining and village displacement. Although a small act, Gandhi encourages his grandchild to "be the change you wish to see in the world" by contemplating acts that seem minor.
Age: Preschool-2nd grade
Culture: Aztec
Tonatiuh's provides such refreshing and unique illustrations to the world of modern children's literature. In his slightly altered version of this Aztec legend, Tonatiuh presents the legend of two volcanoes near the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. One a sleeping princess poisoned by her foes and the other her patient warrior waiting for her to awaken. Nahuatl words are blended throughout (pronunciation in the end papers) and an Author's note provides further depth about the legend and the natural formations.
Culture: Aztec
Tonatiuh's provides such refreshing and unique illustrations to the world of modern children's literature. In his slightly altered version of this Aztec legend, Tonatiuh presents the legend of two volcanoes near the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. One a sleeping princess poisoned by her foes and the other her patient warrior waiting for her to awaken. Nahuatl words are blended throughout (pronunciation in the end papers) and an Author's note provides further depth about the legend and the natural formations.
Age: Toddler-Preschool
Things that go: bus
Culture: West Africa, Burkina Faso
Fatima and Galo travel to town with their dad the bus driver as they pick up a variety of travelers along the way. The bright and inviting illustrations and story provide a buffet of activities to partake in from counting to colors to tracing the route of the bus to hearing the regional words of Burkina Faso. However, sometimes the counting activities can be somewhat challenging as the items may be tightly stacked on top of the bus, making it hard to differentiate them. All in all, a great tale.
Things that go: bus
Culture: West Africa, Burkina Faso
Fatima and Galo travel to town with their dad the bus driver as they pick up a variety of travelers along the way. The bright and inviting illustrations and story provide a buffet of activities to partake in from counting to colors to tracing the route of the bus to hearing the regional words of Burkina Faso. However, sometimes the counting activities can be somewhat challenging as the items may be tightly stacked on top of the bus, making it hard to differentiate them. All in all, a great tale.
Age: Infant-4 years
Song: Ten Little Fingers
Various depictions of families around the world paired with a bouncy song make this a must for storytimes.
Song: Ten Little Fingers
Various depictions of families around the world paired with a bouncy song make this a must for storytimes.
Age: 5th-8th grade
Country Setting: Haiti
Tough Issues: Poverty, natural disaster
Eleven-year-old Serafina's one wish is to become a doctor but with her baby brother on the way, Serafina's mother and father ask her to put family first by helping around the house and assisting her mother and grandmother in daily, essential chores. Due to the verse format, the novel reads fast but details felt absent where needed. I can see the literary value of their absence (from Serafina's perspective, surviving a landslide and an earthquake might not allow one to pause and reflect on her surroundings; also, verse can be as much about what is absent as what is there) but I wonder how children will receive the book. Fostering empathy, Serafina's Promise can give children a new appreciation for what they may take for granted, especially education.
Country Setting: Haiti
Tough Issues: Poverty, natural disaster
Eleven-year-old Serafina's one wish is to become a doctor but with her baby brother on the way, Serafina's mother and father ask her to put family first by helping around the house and assisting her mother and grandmother in daily, essential chores. Due to the verse format, the novel reads fast but details felt absent where needed. I can see the literary value of their absence (from Serafina's perspective, surviving a landslide and an earthquake might not allow one to pause and reflect on her surroundings; also, verse can be as much about what is absent as what is there) but I wonder how children will receive the book. Fostering empathy, Serafina's Promise can give children a new appreciation for what they may take for granted, especially education.
Age: Infant-Preschool
Family: Mother, daughter
Culture: Deaf
This will add a beautiful dimension to your collection. A mother and daughter go to the beach to enjoy the summer day, using their hands and fingers to interact with the world through touching and communicating. The illustrations are rich and full of movement and the sign-language diagrams are included next to the text. The diagrams use the characters, showing that they are communicating to each other in sign language.
This book provides good instruction for those that want to learn a few words in sign-language but the book accomplishes more than that; It provides an oft-not told story of a deaf child (or mother) where the focus is not on the disability but the story. However, the writing was stinted and had no real flow to it.
Family: Mother, daughter
Culture: Deaf
This will add a beautiful dimension to your collection. A mother and daughter go to the beach to enjoy the summer day, using their hands and fingers to interact with the world through touching and communicating. The illustrations are rich and full of movement and the sign-language diagrams are included next to the text. The diagrams use the characters, showing that they are communicating to each other in sign language.
This book provides good instruction for those that want to learn a few words in sign-language but the book accomplishes more than that; It provides an oft-not told story of a deaf child (or mother) where the focus is not on the disability but the story. However, the writing was stinted and had no real flow to it.
Age: High School-Adult
Animals: Horses, meat eating
Mythology: Based on Irish, Scottish and Manx (Isle of Man) mythos on sea horses
Although the majority of this book is character driven, the unique plot and lush island love amplifies the beauty of the book. I also couldn't predict the ending or certain parts of the plot as it moved along, giving me reason to continue reading a book that wouldn't normally draw me in. Although the concept is based on mythology and tied to fantasy, the characters are very real. They live in a small town, experiencing poverty, hunger, living without parents, and the threat of complete destitution. A rich figurehead of the island threatens to take away Puck's family's house, while simultaneously keeping Sean, his prize-winning stable hand, from becoming a name of his own and buying off his beloved capall uisce.
Animals: Horses, meat eating
Mythology: Based on Irish, Scottish and Manx (Isle of Man) mythos on sea horses
Although the majority of this book is character driven, the unique plot and lush island love amplifies the beauty of the book. I also couldn't predict the ending or certain parts of the plot as it moved along, giving me reason to continue reading a book that wouldn't normally draw me in.