May brings us into Asian Pacific-American Heritage Month. To celebrate I always like to read some Asian stories. Luckily I have a contact at Tuttle Publishing. Tuttle Publishing focuses on Asia in their books. They are also a supporter of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Giveaway for this month. As such they sent me a copy of Malaysian Children's Favourite Stories by Kay Lyons and illustrated by Martin Loh which is the only prize from them I have not previously reviewed as well a copy of Singapore Children's Favourite Stories by Di Taylor and illustrations by LK Tay-Audouard. They have quite the selection of Asian countries for this series of books and I have to admit we have quite a few of them as well. Hazel always LOVES these books and never lets me donate them. Actually it looks like I am missing a few. I am guessing they may be hiding in Hazel's room.
We have reviewed the Children's Favorite Stories from Vietnam, India, Japan, China, Korea, and Asia. I put all of our Asian themed books together to see what we have and you can see many of them came from Tuttle and this does not include the ones we already donated to our public library and Hazel's school.
So today we get to share with you Malaysian Children's Favourite Stories. This colorful book has nine Malaysian folktales in it and a page that talks about folktales and in particular the ones from Malaysia. With so much jungle many of their tales were to warn children of the dangers in the jungle.
The stories in this book tell of various things that help explore the land and culture of Malaysia. There are stories about people, animals and even more.
Several of the stories are trickster stories and share how animals got their looks or why they do not get along with humans very well. Other stories tell about royalty who have problems with various people or spirits. Although the warning is there about the stories to try to warn children, they are not too scary and Hazel, who is easily frightened was not scared by any of them.
Our second book is Singapore Children's Favourite Stories. This book is the start of our month long exploration of Singapore with Global Learning for Kids. We will be posting more of our exploration later in the month, but I wanted to share this book here as well. It was interesting to read these two books at the same time since many of the stories have similar feels (some of the population of Singapore is from Malaysia). This book has eleven folktales.
The book starts with a creation of Singapore story and it includes a story about how Singapore got its name. Other stories include tales of magic and animals as well as pirates. There are also so many stories that just share the culture of this island country. With stories involving mermaids, magic, spirits and more it is a fun book to read. The Raja's Mistake tells the story we actually saw on a DVD from our library with a slight difference. It was exciting to learn the different versions.
My only complaint about this book has to do with the colorful illustrations. Many of them I felt showed the people out of proportion. It made all the people look a bit fat to me and I would not want people to assume that is how people in Singapore actually are. However the illustrations themselves are colorful and beautiful. The stories are interesting and exciting at times!
For my reviews of the other Tuttle Publishing prizes see Origami Zoo, Beyond the Tiger Mom, and All About Korea (we LOVE this series as well).
Welcome to our third annual Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway! Follow along all month for ideas about sharing with kids the rich cultures of this vast and varied region. Also, be sure to enter the giveaway below and link up your posts on our main page
May 3
The Art Curator for Kids
May 6
Creative World of Varya
May 9
Crafty Moms Share
May 12
All Done Monkey
May 13
Colours of Us
May 16
Bicultural Mama
May 17
Wise Owl Factory
May 23
Miss Panda Chinese
May 27
Pack-n-Go Girls on Multicultural Kid Blogs
May 30
Crafty Moms Share
Enter Our Giveaway!
If a winner is drawn who is outside of the shipping area of a particular prize, that prize will revert to the next lower prize package or a new winner will be drawn. See our full giveaway rules.
Grand Prize
From Tuttle Publishing:
Origami Zoo Kit: includes Book, 40 Papers, 95 Stickers, Zoo Map
Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age
Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts: Over 100 projects & ideas celebrating Chinese culture
From Miss Panda Chinese: Set of three learning units (75 page Chinese Number Unit 0 - 100, 30 page Days of the Week Unit, and 18 page Moon Festival Unit)
From Daria, World Music for Children: Set of pu'ili (Hawaiian rhythm sticks) plus a Make Your Own Pu'ili craft PDF. US Shipping Only
1st Prize
From Tuttle Publishing:
All about Korea: Stories, songs, crafts, and more
Malaysian Children's Favourite Stories
From Whole Wide World Toys: World Village Playset China, includes playmat, book, wooden puzzle figures, and story cards. US Shipping Only
Give good luck wishes with a Dumpling Mama lucky envelope (no longer available). Envelopes have a card inside to write a personal message. Pack of 5 LUCK envelopes are for birthdays, graduations, and baby showers. Pack of 5 HAPPY envelopes are for weddings, engagement, and bridal showers. US/Canada Shipping Only
From Mikaya Press: Tah Majal, a story of love and empire. US Shipping Only
2nd Prize
From Gestalten Publishing: The Honey Hunter, a modern day South Asian fable that teaches children to respect and appreciate nature. (no longer available)
From Quarto Group:
Journey Around the World, discover with Playmobil the most marvelous places on earth with this fully illustrated travel journal. (no longer available) US Shipping Only
C is for China, stunning photographic book capturing the rhythms of everyday life in China. US Shipping Only
I is for India, From Bollywood to Peacock, from Namaskar to Tea, this photographic alphabet is a celebration of India in all its vast and colourful diversity. US Shipping Only (no longer available)
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