Today I get to share another book for Multicultural Children's Book Day. It is a middle grades novel that has a main character who is the child of an Indian-American father and Jewish mother. Then at the end of fifth grade is diagnosed with dyslexia. The book is Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern.
From the Publisher:
Maple Mehta-Cohen has been keeping a secret: she can’t read all that well. She has an impressive vocabulary and loves dictating stories into her recorder—especially the adventures of a daring sleuth who’s half Indian and half Jewish like Maple herself—but words on the page just don’t seem to make sense to her. Despite all Maple’s clever tricks to hide her troubles with reading, her teacher is on to her, and now Maple has to repeat fifth grade. Maple is devastated—what will her friends think? Will they forget about her? She uses her storytelling skills to convince her classmates that she's staying back as a special teacher’s assistant (because of budget cuts, you know). But as Maple navigates the loss of old friendships, the possibility of new ones, and facing her reading challenges head-on, her deception becomes harder to keep up. Can Maple begin to recognize her own strengths, and to love herself—and her brain—just the way she is? Readers who have faced their own trials with school and friendships will enjoy this heartwarming story and its bright, creative heroine.Maple is in fifth grade—again. Now everyone will find out she struggles with reading—or will they? An engaging read for anyone who has ever felt different.
From Me:
Remember growing up? You were excited and scared to go to middle school. This is how Maple and her best friends felt. That is until Maple and her parents had a very important meeting with her fifth-grade teacher. Maple's big secret has been discovered and she is being held back so they can help her catch up with her reading and learn how to read with dyslexia. Now Maple has a problem. She doesn't want anyone to know that she can't read. And she won't be moving forward with her friends. The twists and turns of middle school life and trying to fit in are everywhere in this book.
I love how the book focuses on Maple's own struggle to find her identity. There is a project assigned to research a famous person and she wants to find someone like her. Someone who is Hindu and Jewish background or Indian and Jewish. She struggles but realizes her own identity goes beyond heritage. She also discovers her own talents and that reading is only one part of life. This book delves into everyday middle school issues with friends and worrying about how everything looks to dealing with a learning disability and having a different background from others. Honestly this book had me tearing up at times. It is emotional and I feel that most can relate to the different parts of life it deals with and the true struggles one has at the middle school ages. I hope you will check it out.
About Multicultural Children's Book Day:
Multicultural
Children’s Book Day 2022 (1/28/22) is in its 9th year! This non-profit
children’s literacy initiative was founded by
Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms
who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and
authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of
young readers and educators.
MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’
books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our
Mission & History HERE.
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FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
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Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party! Be sure and follow MCBD and Make A Way Media on Twitter!
This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!
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