Showing posts with label grandparents. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2018

Multicultural Children's Book Day and a Linky

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

Hand Over Hand

About the Book:

Book Description:

Nina can't convince her lolo to take her fishing on the old banca boat with him. Lolo's reply is the same as always: "A boat is no place for a girl." When Nina promises to bait her own hook and remove her own catch, her grandfather finally relents, "just for today." Much to the amusement of the other fishermen in their Filipino village, Lolo shows Nina how to jig the lines, set the hook and pull in a fish hand over hand. But no one is laughing when Nina brings in the biggest fish of the day!

Our Review:

Hand Over Hand is an adorable story about a spunky Filipino girl named Nina. She convinces her grandfather to let her come fishing with him even though it's considered men's work. The other fishermen give them a hard time until she proves them wrong.

This story is set in a Filipino fishing village and teaches the value of multi-generations and self-esteem. It has beautiful illustrations painted in soft colors. The text is well placed with fun punches of onomatopoeia written in bold type and staggered. Amanda (age 9) liked it that a girl can also do a man's job and that the grandfather believed in her. I recommend this book for children ages 4 - 8.

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

Current Sponsors:

MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors:

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild

PLATINUM: Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD: Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors:

Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo, Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and MFL Publishing Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

FreeMulticultural Books for Teachers

Free EmpathyClassroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

Disclosure: We received a free digital copy of Hand Over Hand and this is our honest review.

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My Recent Book Reviews:

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold

Sarah's Shadow

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Welcome to my weekend blog hop -

Make My Saturday Sweet #253!

Make My Saturday Sweet is a weekend blog hop for all family friendly blogs. You are welcome to link your favorite post from the past week(s) and to visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment. It's a really easy and fun way to make new friends and to catch up on old acquaintances.

Now on to my blog hop...

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!

Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.

All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to

link them on my Blog Hops page!

I would love for you to follow me on

Google+

Twitter

Facebook
Instagram

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) on one or more links listed above.
Link up a post from your family friendly blog.
Please try to add my hop button on your post or side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment.

Blog Button Code:

Weekend Linky

Visit my Blog Hops page to see
what link-ups I take part in.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Grandma's Love and a Linky

Welcome to my weekend blog hop -

Make My Saturday Sweet #220!

Samantha and I recently saw a program on TV about traditional German food. It inspired me to make a dish that I remember from my childhood. I grew up in the USA and in Germany. I had grandparents living in both countries at the time. The ones in Germany we called Oma and Opa.

One big way that my Oma shows her love is through her cooking. She has always made good food and just thinking about her cooking makes me salivate!

One German dish that came to mind was Goulash and Spätzle. We made it this past weekend. I made the Goulash and I asked Samantha to make the Spätzle. The last time I made it was so long ago that it felt like a first for the kids. I am including a photo below with some tips and links to recipes, if you're interested in giving it a try!

My Opa has subsequently passed away and my Oma has moved to the States. Both of her daughters are there. She first went to stay with my mom and step-dad and now she's staying with my aunt and cousin. My Oma is originally from Brazil, but she has German and American citizenship. She speaks four languages! The countries where she has lived are Brazil, Austria, Germany, the USA, and Mallorca, Spain and currently she is back in the USA. My mom, for example, was born in Brazil but grew up in the States.

The last time we saw my Oma was when we visited the States in 2013. Three of our kids met their great-grandmother for the first time! I shared some of these photos before and I hope you don't mind seeing them again.

This blog is best viewed in Google Chrome.

Click on the images to see them at their best.

4 Generations: My Grandma, My Mom, Me, and My Girls

My Family

My Grandma and My Son

Goulash with Spätzle

Everyone who tried it enjoyed the Goulash and Spätzle that Samantha and I made, pictured above. I didn't follow any recipe exactly. I tend to improvise and Samantha had to as well, since the Spätzle dough needed more milk than what the recipe stated. For that reason, I chose to include two recipe links below that look trustworthy. I also included a recent photo of Samantha.

The key to making Spätzle is to make sure that the dough doesn't get too runny (about 1 cup of milk to 3 cups of flour). The way Samantha made ours was by using a make-shift piping bag and piping worm shapes into a large pot of boiling water. Once the noodles float to the top, spoon them out with a slotted spoon. Scrape the bottom of the pot for any that might be sticking. They only need a few minutes to cook. Add a bit of butter to the bowl of cooked Spätzle to prevent them from sticking together. If Spätzle is a strange concept for you, then think "dumpling noodles." That's all they are really.

Samantha

Food.Com Recipe

Food Network Recipe

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Related Posts:
Picture Books about Great-Grandmas
and a Chicken Soup Recipe

Yumi's Extraordinary Collection

GG and Mamela

GG's Chicken Soup Recipe

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My Latest Book Reviews:

Meet Your Match

Meet Your Match (No Match for Love Book 2) by [Armstrong, Lindzee]

3 Free eBooks by K.C. May

The Kinshield Legacy: An epic fantasy adventure (The Kinshield Saga Book 1) by [May, K.C.]

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What are you doing for
Mother's Day?
Consider sending
an eCard with
Paperless Post

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Make My Saturday Sweet is a weekend blog hop for all family friendly blogs. You are welcome to link your favorite post from the past week(s) and to visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment. It's a really easy and fun way to make new friends and to catch up on old acquaintances.

Now on to my blog hop...

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!

Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.

All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to

link them on my Blog Hops page!

I would love for you to follow me on

Google+

Twitter

Facebook
Instagram

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) on one or more links listed above.
Link up a post from your family friendly blog.
Please try to add my hop button on your post or side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment.

Blog Button Code:

Weekend Linky

Visit my Blog Hops page to see
what link-ups I take part in.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Yumi's Extraordinary Collection

About the Book:

Title: Yumi's Extraordinary Collection | Author: Elsa Takaoka | Illustrator: Catherine Toennisson | Pages: 38 | Recommended Age: 6 - 9

Book Description:

Yumi's Extraordinary Collection is the story of Yumi who was born into a family of collectors who pride themselves with their eccentric and wacky collections. The long line of proud collectors grows and grows until… she comes along. The bond between one generation of collectors and the next takes an unexpected twist with the birth of Yumi, who unlike the rest was not born a natural collector. She is determined to find not just any collection but a truly extraordinary collection. With help from her grandmother, Yumi learns that the greatest things of all.. are not things at all!

Purchase on Amazon:

Kindle | Paperback

My Review:

Amanda and I were thrilled to receive a new picture book from one of our favorite Indie authors, Elsa Takaoka and her amazing illustrator, Catherine Toenisson. These two have been a dynamic team and I hope to see more from them! The book that Elsa gave us is Yumi's Extraordinary Collection. It's the first time she wrote a multicultural story and for an older age group. The recommended age on Amazon is 6 to 9, but my 16-year-old was drawn to the book and read it for herself!

Amanda and I really enjoyed the story. I think it's cleverly written with just the right amount of wonder and discovery. Amanda learned a few new words like porcelain and kimono. This story teaches the value of family, multi-generations and being yourself. I highly recommend it for all children.

My Previous Book Reviews

of Elsa Takaoka's children's books:

Goo and Spot: Under

the Orange Tree

Goo and Spot in the

Do Not Wiggle Riddle

and

A Moat is Not a Goat

About the Author:

Elsa Takaoka

Budding author Elsa Takaoka puts her pen to paper and creates a fun and heart-warming story. Spinning words with natural creativity, Elsa discovered her love of language at a very early age. She then pursued a career in Speech Language Pathology and English as a Second Language until the birth of her first daughter. Reading to her own little girls sparked her whimsical journey through children’s literature. Her dream to write and publish a picture book was achieved with Goo and Spot and The Do Not Wiggle Riddle, the first in the Goo and Spot book series.

Currently, Elsa lives in Fukuoka, Japan with her sources of inspiration- her loving husband and their two adorable little girls.

Author Website * Facebook * Twitter * Google+

About the Illustrator:

Catherine Toennisson

Catherine grew up alongside her twin sister in the small city of Norris Tennessee. Together they climbed trees, and waded through creeks in search of frogs and fairies. Her love of nature and whimsy came with her when she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend The Art Insistute. Graduating with honors, and a Bachelor's of Fine arts in Media arts and Animation. She continued into her career, working as a storyboard revisionist for Big Idea Entertainment, and then into freelance. Illustrating a series of children's books written by Elsa Takaoka. Currently she's writing her own books, and working late nights in her home studio. In her free time she enjoys doll making, watching Ghibli films, swimming, and can never pass up a good cup of coffee, or a stroll through the woods.

Visit her website: Painted Deer

Disclosure: Amanda and I received this new picture book as a gift and we were not asked to do anything in return. I chose to do this review because I wanted to.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Happy Mother's Day with Weekend #Linky

Welcome to my weekend blog hop -

Make My Saturday Sweet #173!

Wishing all moms, grandmas,

and great-grandmas a wonderful

Happy Mother's Day!

This blog is best viewed in Google Chrome.

Click on the images to see them at their best!

Afrikaans: Ouma
English: Grandma

My daughters and I

My 3 Girls

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Looking for that perfect

Mother's Day gift?

The books below
do not contain
any affiliate links.

Inspirational Coloring for Mom

Great-Grandma's Gifts

Awesome Animal Moms

Sharing with Shari

An Open Letter to Moms

from Kid President

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Make My Saturday Sweet is a weekend blog hop for all family friendly blogs. You are welcome to link your favorite post from the past week(s) and to visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment. It's a really easy and fun way to make new friends and to catch up on old acquaintances.

Now on to my blog hop...

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!

Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.

All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to

link them on my Blog Hops page!

I would love for you to follow me on

Google+

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook
Instagram

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) on one or more links listed above.
Link up a post from your family friendly blog.
Please try to add my hop button on your post or side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Visit the last link before yours and leave a sweet comment.

Blog Button Code:

Weekend Linky

This is a blog hop!

Visit my Blog Hops page to see
what link-ups I take part in.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Great-Grandma's Gifts

About the Book:

Great-Grandma's Gifts

Arlene is a little girl who loves to make things. She begins by making presents for her doll, Maggie. As she grows up, she moves on to creating gifts for her own children and grandchildren. This is a lovely story that is designed to help children see a different side of the elders in their lives and understand that they were once children, too.

Purchase:

Amazon | Indigo | Goodreads

My Review:

Great-Grandma's Gifts is a picture book that celebrates the multi-generational family. It reminds us that our moms, grandmas, and great-grandmas were all children once and they have stories to tell. It helps to bridge the age gap and to bring granddaughters and great-granddaughters closer to their elders.

Amanda liked all the pretty colors of the quilts and all the ideas that Arlene had. Amanda even giggled when little Arlene copied her mother's words. I thought it was interesting how her sewing projects changed as the years went by and the needs changed.

Don't forget Mother's Day! This would be the perfect gift for a great-grandma, grandma, mom, or daughter.

About the Author:

Marianne Jones

Marianne Jones is a retired teacher from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Canadian Living, The Globe and Mail, and numerous literary and denominational publications. Her books include The Land of Mogan, a children’s fantasy novel, Here, on the Ground, an award-winning collection of poetry, Great- Grandma’s Gifts, a picture book for preschool and early elementary, and The Serenity Stone Murder, a cozy mystery set in Thunder Bay. Her most recent book, The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, is the as-told-to memoir of Linda Stewardson. The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die was the winning entry in the 2015 Word Alive publishing contest.

Marianne has been named International Poet Laureate by Utmost Christian Writers. Her poetry has won numerous awards, and while not all her words are carved in stone, some of her poems are, at the Marina Park.

Marianne is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, The Writers Union of Canada, and The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW).

Website | Facebook Author Page

How I Came to Write Great-Grandma’s Gifts

by Marianne Jones

Sewing was both my mother’s creative outlet, and a means of economizing. She delighted in her ten grandchildren, but didn’t have the funds to spoil them with expensive presents. So with her talent for sewing and her accumulation of fabric scraps from years of dressmaking, she began making countless dolls and stuffed animals, toys and nativity sets to delight herself and her grandkiddies. A favourite of my children was a fuzzy peach-coloured cat they promptly named “Peachy Keen.” Soon, all the grandchildren had to have their own Peachy Keens. Peachy was more cool than Barbie.

Alas, even grandchildren, like their parents before them, grow up into adults. My mother cast about for a way to continue expressing her love with thread and needle. When she saw a picture of a Victorian crazy quilt, she knew she had found her niche. She set about making wedding quilts for each grandchild from her growing collection of silk and velvet scraps donated by friends and family. When my oldest daughter worked in the wardrobe department of the Shaw Festival, she collected the discarded scraps of exquisite costuming materials to mail to her grandmother. Those scraps became part of her new art form.

When my long-awaited first granddaughter was born, I wanted her to grow up knowing about her great-grandmother, and her legacy of creativity, thrift, and love of children. I enlisted my sister’s help as a watercolour artist, and “Great Grandma’s Gifts” was the result. But I think it’s about more than our mother. I hope it speaks to a time when people expressed love, not by buying things, but through the gifts of time, patience, and the work of their hands and hearts.

Disclosure: I received a free digital copy of this book for my honest review.