Timely New Picture Books Released This Week

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Every Tuesday new books get released. Today I am sharing three new picture books released today. These books timely for current events and Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month as well as one about inclusion with information about lifeboats too. The first book is Daniel and Ismail by Juan Pablo Iglesias Yacher and illustrated by Alex Peris. It was translated into English by Ilan Stavans; translated into Hebrew by Eliezer Nowodworski and Frieda Press-Danieli; and into Arabic by Randa Sayegh. It is being released into paperback today and is recommended for ages 3 to 6.

Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt -- Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Have you ever wondered about what life was like in ancient Egypt? We hear stories of the royalty like Cleopatra. We hear stories about the slaves in the Bible. But what was life like for the average person? What were the better jobs? How were people treated? Today I get to share a book that is about a father taking his son up the Nile to a school far away from home in hopes that his son will have a better life. The original story was written in ancient Egyptian language but has been translated to English. The book is Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt by Michael Hoffen, Christian Casey and Jen Thum. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

The Pop-Up Guide Cities Around the World -- Book Review with Crafts, Recipes and More!

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Looking to teach little ones about the world? Today we are sharing a fun pop-up book that takes us around the world. I am also sharing links to crafts, activities, and recipes to go with each city and/or its country. The book is The Pop-Up Guide: Cities Around the World by Maud Poulain and illustrated by Sandra de la Prada. It is recommended for ages 3 to 5. 

The Kingdom Over the Sea -- New Fun Fantasy Middle Grades Novel

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As the summer begins it is time to find books for summer reading. Today I get to share a fun new middle grades novel that is perfect for summer reading and adventures. It is The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

A Dupatta Is ... - a New Picture Book that Teaches about Culture

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I get to share a new multicultural picture book. It is actually being released tomorrow! This book shares about a cultural view of a dupatta. A dupatta is the long shawl like scarf Middle Eastern women wear often over their heads and/or shoulders. It is part of the national dress of Pakistan and is worn today by people of India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The book is A Dupatta Is ... by Marzieh Abbas and illustrated by Anu Chouhan. It is recommended for ages 3 to 6.

Queen Goharshad -- Brave with Beauty -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Have you ever heard of Queen Goharshad? She was queen of Khorashan back in the 1400s. Khorashan was in present day Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. She is remembered for the buildings she built including the Goharshad Mosque (in present day Iran) and for supporting the arts. Today I get to share with you a wonderful picture book based on this amazing woman and her accomplishments. The book is called Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan by Maxine Rose Schur with art by Patricia Grush, Robin Dewitt, and Golsa Yaghoobi. It is recommended for ages 7 to 9.

The Proudest Color -- a New Picture Book About Race, Racism and Racial Pride

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am very excited to share with you a new picture book about race, racism and racial pride. When I read this book for the first time I knew I had to share it with you. It is that amazing!! The book is The Proudest Color by Sheila Modir and Jeff Kashou and illustrated by Monica Mikai. It is recommended for ages 5 to 8.

Mesopo -- Middle Grades Fantasy Novel

 

Disclosure: I am working with The Children's Book Review and Eva Dietrich and they sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I get to share with you a middle grades fantasy novel. The main character has Iraqi ancestry and the book has ancient world (think Biblical times) references throughout it. The book is Mesopo by Eva Dietrich. Oh, and there is a giveaway at the end of the post!

Women in Wars -- Introduction-- Women's History Month

 

As I thought about Women's History Month I knew I wanted to really touch on women in history that may be forgotten. Today women are members of the Armed Forces, but not that long ago they were not allowed. I decided I would focus on women who played important roles in wars. This month I will share about women in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the two World Wars. Today I thought I would start with some women who fought wars before America was a country. I have focused on the legend of Mulan in the past. She is one of the women who reportedly disguised herself as a man to fight in a war. Then there was the Greek goddess, Athena, who was the goddess of war, as well as the Amazons, the race of women warriors in Greek mythology. Even the Aztecs had a warrior goddess, Itzpapalotl. Then we know of Joan of Arc and how she led the French army through battles. And we shared about Artemisia in the past. Today let's talk about some of the other women you may not have heard about that fought in real wars and battles. As I started researching women in wars I found The Book of Heroines: Tales of History's Gutsiest Gals by Stephanie Warren Drimmer. All of the women, goddesses and legends mentioned in this post are featured in this book. This book is one of the sources for my entire post. I will list others that I used to find out more about the women and share books for kids when possible. (Note: I have not checked out these books but found them searching my local library website and Amazon.)

Multicultural Books for Multicultural Monday

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

January is upon us. Wow, time has been flying. Now that the holidays are over we turn back and look at our lives. Did you make resolutions? I always find January to be bitter sweet. I enjoy the holidays and seeing everyone and they are over. We take our Christmas decorations down and the house seems empty. However as someone who loves diversity there are always more things to look forward to. Multicultural Children's Book Day is January 31st and I am co-hosting again this year. Stay tune for my official posts starting this week. The lunar new year is also approaching. I will be participating in Multicultural Kid Blogs annual blog series on January 20th to share books about China and Korea and their lunar new year celebrations. And of course Martin Luther King Day is this month. So much great stuff. Then February hits with Black History Month. Lots to look forward to. Today I thought I would share four multicultural books with you to start off our January. 

Fun Facts about Ice Cream Sandwiches -- National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

Did you know today is Ice Cream Sandwich Day? To celebrate here are some fun facts about ice cream sandwiches and at the end there is a round-up of recipes to try!

Ibn al-Haytham -- the Father of Optics and Modern Science #STEM

Do you use a camera? Do you know how we see? Perhaps you use or have used the scientific method? The man behind discovering ideas behind these things and more is Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen (his name in Latin). He was born in Basra, Iraq in the 10th century. He was a scientist, mathematician, and engineer. He lived during the Golden Age of Islam and benefited because of the knowledge being studied and shared. 

Multicultural Coloring Books -- A Relaxing Saturday Review

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

It has been awhile since I have done a Relaxing Friday review, so today I am sharing three coloring books with you. These books each help teach a bit about cultures. Join us as we take looks at Asia, a Japanese garden and Ancient Egypt. Our first book is A Touch of Asia from Tuttle Publishing. 

Exploring Modern Day Iraq -- Global Learning for Kids

As August finishes so does our exploration of Iraq. My first two posts on Iraq have been about ancient Iraq (Golden Age of Baghdad and Exploring Mesopotamia). I will admit when we started reading books about Iraq we had many discussions about war and what was happening. It was not an easy topic for us. (I do not let Hazel watch the news to shelter from some of the horrible things that happen in our world.) We took several reference books out of the library and found most of them talked about the war.

Exploring Mesopotamia -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we are exploring Iraq with Global Learning for Kids. Last week we shared our look at the Golden Age of Baghdad with books. As we were reading the stories the Bible story of Abraham popped into my head. Perhaps it is because I have told the Godly Play story: The Great Family. And of course looking at the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the land inbetween like the story. Then there is the mention of the city of Ur in the books we read as well as in the story. All of these connections made me want to study Mesopotamia a bit more. After all the three major religions trace back their lineage to Abraham.

This is what is left of the house that is thought to have been Abraham's in Ur
By Aziz1005 (Own work) [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Golden Age of Islam/Baghdad -- Global Learning for Kids -- Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month

August Multicultural Kid Blogs celebrates Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month. This post is part of this series as well as the first of our Global Learning for Kids for August. Global Learning for Kids is exploring Iraq this month. This summer Hazel has really gotten into the Magic Tree House series and I was very excited to find one that takes Jack and Annie to Iraq. It was the perfect way to introduce this country to Hazel.

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses from Goosebottom Books -- Women's History Month

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Goosebottom Books. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Back in January I had the pleasure of reviewing my first Goosebottom Book for Multicultural Children's Book Day. The book was Hatshepsut of Egypt and we learned about the first female pharaoh of Egypt. At the time I reviewed an e-book and loved the book, but now that I have actually seen the hardcover book I have to tell you the e-book does not do it justice. I actually passed on the book to Hazel's school since the third grade class learns about Hatshepsut during their study of Ancient Egypt. The principal loved the book as well. Along with the hard copy of Hatshepsut of Egypt I was sent five more of the books in the Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses to share with you today. I love learning about these amazing women most of whom I had not heard of previously. Update: My review of Isabella of Castile is now published.

Hatshepsut of Egypt -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Goosebottom Books. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today we are honored to review a book about a very strong woman, Hatshepsut. Have you heard of her? I hadn't, so I found this book fascinating. The book is Hatshepsut of Egypt by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Albert Nguyen. It is part of The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses.

This is a series of books that share real princesses with girls. These are not your average fru fru princesses who wear pretty dresses and sit around waiting to be saved by a prince. These are women who had strength and guts to rule countries.

Exploring Iran with Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these cookbooks free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Last month we explored Lebanon and shared one of the great cookbooks that Tuttle Publishing sent us. This month as part of our exploration of Iran we tried a couple of the Iranian recipes in The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos (this is one of the prizes in the Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month Giveaway). We also made Havij Polou or Rice with Carrots. Hazel loved the carrots and Steve and I liked the chicken.

Kid Friendly Look at the Stories of The Arabian Nights

Only 2 more days to enter to win the 2 Doozers Pod Squad DVDS. Take your preschoolers on STEM Adventures with these DVDS.

 For our last exploration this year of the Middle East, we decided to look at some of the stories of The Arabian Nights. While reading about Middle Eastern mathematicians and scientists I found a comment about how the Iraqi scholar Abu 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abdus al-Jashyari translated Persian, Indian, Iranian, Turkish and Chinese stories into Arabic. He changed the names to the exotic Arabic names we know today like Aladdin, Ali Baba, Scheherazade and Sinbad. He also changed the locations of some of the adventures. After al-Jashyari's death other Muslim scholars added to his collection until it contained the full 1001 stories that the title suggests. (Source: Steffens, Bradley, Ibn al-Haytham, Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Greensboro, NC 2007, page 17) This fascinated me.