kiddieliter

This book is about the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, and shows what kind of celebrations and noises that arise during this time of celebration. It is a really great rhyming book and it’s really colorful too. 

Allen Say describes his grandfather’s journey from Japan to America. On his three-week steamship voyage. He explores by train the western landscapes of huge rock formations and endless farm fields. During his travels, he meets people of different color, certainly a new sight for him. Eventually, his grandfather settles along the coast of California after briefly returning to Japan to marry his childhood sweetheart.

This book is a Pueblo Indian tale about the Lord of the Sun sending a son to earth by way of the sun’s rays. He lives with a maiden and is picked on at school because he doesn’t know who is father is. He goes on a journey to find his father and along the way he tries to talk to many people. No one would answer his question until he came to a wise man who an arrow maker. The man turned the  boy into an arrow and shot him up into the sun where the boy was reunited with his father. His father, the Lord of the Sun, made him endure several things to prove he was his son, so the boy did. Then the father sent him back down to earth to lead the people.

The Five Chinese Brothers is a story of five brothers who all have different gifts. The first Chinese brother could swallow the sea, the second had an iron neck, the third could stretch and stretch his legs, the fourth could not be burned, and the fifth could hold his breath indefinitely. One day, the first Chinese brother took a little boy fishing. He swallowed the sea but told the little boy that he had to come out when he told him to. When the first Chinese brother did, the little boy didn’t listen and the first Chinese brother could no longer hold the sea in his mouth. The boy disappeared under the sea and the people of the village tried and condemned the first Chinese brother. The people of the village try and try to get rid of the brother by beheading, burning, drowning, and suffocating him but little did they know, each time a brother would ask to go home to bid his mother goodbye, they were switching places with each other. Finally, the people of the village agree that the brother is innocent because they could not get rid of him. This is an excellent story that will surely get children interested.

Eric and Julieta are brother and sister, with Eric being the big brother. Their mom and dad are resting and it is Eric’s job to play quietly with Julieta. But just like any little sister, she tends to be a bit annoying to Eric. She never stops talking, or she sits too close to him. Mom and dad will be going out to a party and Grandma is going to baby sit them.

While mom is resting Julieta tries on the party clothes her mother is going to wear that night including make up and jewelry with help from her brother.

The really great part about this story is that the words appear on the page in both Spanish and English!

Grace is a little girl whose love for stories of any kind, along with her vivid imagination, leads her to act out the roles within the stories.  Her penchant for acting, including dressing to fit the parts, comes in handy when she desires to play the role of Peter Pan in her class play.  Grace seemingly becomes doubtful that her desire will be fulfilled when she is told by classmates that her gender and ethnicity exclude her from securing the part, but she is determined to audition for the role anyway.  The loving support of her mother and grandmother bolsters Grace’s confidence.  They remind her that she can be anything that she wants to be when she puts her mind to it, regardless of naysayers.  Her grandmother, Nana, knew that it was time to accept a long-standing offer from her friend in Trinidad.  The friend had been offering Nana tickets to a ballet that featured the friend’s granddaughter.  When Grace saw the friend’s granddaughter perform and her status within the ballet, Grace knew that ability was the deciding factor . . . not gender or ethnicity!

          This book, a selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club and Reading Rainbow, is full of beautiful watercolored illustrations that vividly portray the events within the book.  The delightful outcome for Grace will be enjoyed by young listeners and readers.   How she was selected for the part and by whom will teach everyone who reads, or hears this book being read, that determination and practice lead to good results. 

 Yeh-Shen is a Cinderella story, only this version is from China. In the story, Yeh-Shen is an orphan who grows up oppressed by her stepmother. Her only friend was a beautiful fish, who her stepmother killed. A mysterious stranger told Yeh-Shen to keep the bones of the fish, and when she was in serious need, she could ask them for help. One day, Yeh-Shen wanted to go to the spring festival, where young ladies went hoping to meet the man they would marry. Her stepmother would not allow her to go, so she asked the fish bones for help. She found herself dressed in a beautiful gown with golden slippers. The bones made her promise not to lose her shoes. She went to the ball and turned many heads, but when she heard one of her stepsisters say that she looked like Yeh-Shen, she ran off, losing one of her shoes. Her clothes turned to rags and the bones wouldn’t speak to her, so she cried herself to sleep. The lost slipper ended up in the hands of the king, who was determined to find its owner. He placed it in a pavillion and watched from a hiding place while many women tried it on and failed. Yeh-Shen came in the dead of night to reclaim her shoe, in the hopes that the bones would speak to her once she retrieved it. The king followed her home and asked her to try on the golden slippers. When she did, her dress transformed again, and he asked her to marry him.

  Alemayu is a dreamer. When he goes off to spend all night on a cold mountain, in response to a rich man’s challenge, it takes all the imagination he can muster to survive. And when the rich man cheats him out of the reward, he and his sister must use their wisdom and imagination to come up with a solution. This book is a  re-telling of an Ethiopian folktale.

Alemayu is a dreamer. When he goes off to spend all night on a cold mountain, in response to a rich man’s challenge, it takes all the imagination he can muster to survive. And when the rich man cheats him out of the reward, he and his sister must use their wisdom and imagination to come up with a solution. This book is a re-telling of an Ethiopian folktale.