I talked a bit about Multicultural Children’s Book Day-Celebrating Diversity in Children’s Literature this week and about the book I am reviewing for this event – The Girl with a Brave Heart.   January 27th is the big day, so pop to the library and grab a book about a different culture to read to the kids.  If you need any ideas for books, check out any of the links at the bottom of this post or visit Pragmatic Mom or Jump Into a Book.

When ‘The Girl with a Brave Heart’ by Rita Jahanforuz and Vali Mintzi arrived from Barefoot Books, the first thing that struck me was that it is a gorgeous vibrant book with fabulous colorful illustrations.   Is it me, or does every book published by Barefoot Books consist of wonderful read aloud stories alongside stunning illustrations?  I can’t thank them enough for letting me read and review this book.

We read the book as soon as we received it and we tried to guess what was going to happen in the story and why.   The story is a successful mix of well loved fairy tale and folklore but doesn’t rely on these traits, it takes it’s own path and the end has a sound moral.

‘Two thumbs up’ was our verdict for the story and the wonderful illustrations.

I also read the book to the third grade class this week and they all went wide eyed as soon as I started as they recognized lots of the beloved classic fairy tales especially ‘Cinderella’ in the first few pages. As the book went on, they were drawn into the unexpected turns of the story.

‘Is it the same house? The same lady?’ Some of the children asked as they tried to figure out the story.
Lots of ideas about whether the lady in question was magic or were the pools magic and lots of satisfied gasps and exclamations at the last page where the ‘moral’ is explained.

This is the most important page of the book for the kids to understand and wholeheartedly agree with the story.  It confirms the message in a very positive way which the children can relate to and agree with.

‘The story sounds as if it has been passed down through generations’  was one comment,  ‘If someone is sad, they act and feel differently to how they normally would’ was another.   I was impressed at how the children listened and responded to the book.

Some of the boys thought she should have done as she was told and smashed everything but most of the kids were horrified at the smashing by Monir and related this back to their own houses and china and glassware. ‘It would be dangerous to smash glass’ they agreed.

I love that they all spotted different things and had many opinions and thoughts about the book.  I would say that is a sign of a good story.

Want some more ideas for books to read this Multicultural Children’s Book day?  All of these wonderful sites have suggestions and reviews.  Go see!

2GirlsLostInaBook · 365 Days of Motherhood · A Bilingual Baby · A Simple Life, Really? · Africa to America · After School Smarty Pants · All Done Monkey · Andi’s Kids Books · Anita Brown Bag  · Austin Gilkeson · Barbara Ann Mojica ·  Books My Kids Read · Bottom Shelf Books · Cats Eat Dogs · Chasing The Donkey · Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac · Children’s Books Heal · Church o Books · CitizenBeta · Crafty Moms Share · Discovering The World Through My Son’s Eyes · Early Words · Flowering Minds · Franticmommy · Gathering Books · GEO Librarian · Gladys Barbieri · Going in Circles · Growing Book by Book · iGame Mom · I’m Not The Nanny · InCulture Parent · Itsy Bitsy Mom ·Just Children’s Books– Kid World Citizen · Kristi’s Book Nook · Mama Lady Books · Mama Smiles · Mission Read · Mother Daughter Book Reviews · Mrs AOk · MrsTeeLoveLifeLaughter · Ms. Yingling Reads · Multicultural Kids Blog · One Sweet World · Open Wide The World · P is for Preschooler · Rapenzel Dreams · School4Boys · Sharon the Librarian · Spanish Playground · Sprout’s Bookshelf · Squishable Baby · Stanley and Katrina · Teach Mama · The Art of Home Education · The Brain Lair · The Educators’ Spin On It · The Family-Ship Experience · The Yellow Door Paperie · This Kid Reviews Books  · Trishap’s Books · Unconventional Librarian · Vicki Arnold · We3Three · World for Learning · Wrapped in Foil 

Here are the sponsors of Multicultural Children’s Book Day, they made the whole thing possible and amazing. So, thanks to –  Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books and Chronicle Books, along with Susan Daniel Fayad, author of My Grandfather’s Masbaha .

Full disclosure: Barefoot Books provided a copy of ‘The Girl with a Brave Heart’ to review.  All opinions expressed are my own.