Read Your World - Multicultural Children's Book Day

Today's  Book Bag book is part of Multicultural Children's Book Day. There are some great reviews of some brilliant books coming up and a whole host of amazing books to win!

The book we got assigned is called Obstacles by Gregory E Ransom Published by Lulu Publishing Services.

Now I have to be totally honest here, we haven't quite finished it yet, it's a chapter book and we decided to read out loud, together. So,  it's taking a bit longer than usual to get through it. That and the fact that now Ebi-kun is in the 5th grade we get very little downtime together.

Obstacles is a giant but he has a problem, he is little, which if you are supposed to be a giant, it's huge problem. Needless to say the other giants don't think he's up to much. He gets bullied by the local giant kids and ends up getting sent to a school up in the mountains but to get there is has to go through places like the Forests Of Future Regret and The Lake Of Lost Souls.

As soon as we started reading and discovered that Obstacles was being bullied I noticed Ebi-kun getting drawn in and giving advice on how Obstacles could handle the situation, for new readers here, we went through our own bullying incident when he started school so it is very much something he relates to. Plus he is mixed race, somewhat a minority in this neck of the woods, he understood what Obstacles was going through.

Obstacles character shines, the courageous talk and the self doubt, the stubbornness that won't let him quit, his empathy and love and his quiet determination to get through the problem no matter what makes him a lovable and relatable character even if he is a giant.

I think this would make a great book to read in class as well as one to read at home, it brings up some great topics for discussion and makes it easier to broach subjects that kids might not want to talk about.

We are looking forward to seeing where the tale takes us, both of us are enjoying the book and Ebi-kun asks each day to read it.

Activity

As bullying is one of the topics of the book and it is something that is close to my heart. I would love for you to show your kids this short video. I demonstarted this to my sons headmaster and was so happy that he showed the whole school in assembly, it was something that he hadn't come across before and there are almost 1400 kids at Ebi-kuns elementary school so that is a lot of kids to be touching by this simple gesture.

So take 10 minutes, show this to your kids and then talk about it.

Ready to join the fun? 

Use the #readyourworld to share your multicultural children's book day finds and to find what others are sharing!

More About Multicultural Children's Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s 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.  

Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of colour, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.

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 work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

MCBD Links to remember:

MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators:
http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/

Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i

And info on the Twitter party and giveaways are HERE

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2017 is honoured to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press,  Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books

Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Delores Connors, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin,  Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson,  Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O'Malley, Stacy McAnulty,  Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato,  Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang

In The Book Bag - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

My best mate Di bought the box set of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children for me for Christmas and I demolished the first book in just over 2 days, taking time off from work really frees up reading time!

I didn't know much about the book before I got it, just that it revolved around some old photographs, the whole concept is amazing and I love the intrigue of it all.

The book, written by Ransom Riggs is about a boy, his relationship with his grandfather, time travel and some peculiar children. I have to admit I didn't know about the time travel element before I started reading and it might have put me off, not my usual cup of tea but as it turned out it was fascinating.

I found myself not wanting to cook dinner because I needed to know what happened next.

My box set came with a set of photos, apparently these are all real photos that the author found from collectors and from the pictures he wove the tale.

The book is fascinating, a little bit weird and little bit romantic and very addictive. The first couple of chapters I thought it was going to be psychologically deep and scary, not suitable for kids but as I read on it didn't go as I expected. I would have LOVED this book as a kid, maybe age 10 and up and I'm sure Ebi-kun will enjoy it too.

The film is out here but not anywhere near us so I doubt I'll get to see it on the big screen, which is a shame, I would have liked to have seen it. Hopefully Ebi-kun will have read it by the time it comes out on the small screen!

Do I recommend this? Absolutely!

I'll do an update when I get round to reading the other two books in the set, I haven't started them yet because I have a sneaky suspicion that I won't be able to put them down!

Fantastic Beasts

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them

If you haven't seen this yet then go and watch it!

The film is set in New York in the 1920's . Newt Scamander (the main character) is a Brit visiting New York and some of his magically beasts escape his suitcase.

The story isn't really about the book of the same name but the book does get a mention.

The book is an encyclopedia of sorts that Newt is still writing in the film. A lots of the beast in the book make an appearance, and I think everyone comes out wanting a pet niffler (myself included!)

There is also the muggles vs wizards and good vs evil twisted into the storyline and of course no mention of Harry Potter but Hogwarts and Dumbledore are brought up in conversation as with a few more names which is really setting everything up for the next film.

Which, I can't wait to see!

I don't want to share too much but do look out for the surprise appearance at the end, I had NO idea and nearly chocked on my popcorn!

Is it suitable for little kids?

I think it very much depends on the child. We watched it in 3D, which makes it more exciting and more scary. Like the HP films there is far more to be read into the story than what is shown on the surface.

It is quite violent in places and I can imagine the black magical force could upset some kids. Ebi-Kun wouldn't have enjoyed this film when he was 5 or 6. And I doubt kids that age really grasp the main story.

I'm sure 4D would have been brilliant but they were only showing it in Japanese - boo!

We can't wait for the next one and Ebi-kun is pestering to see this one in 4D, it would be fun!

Have you seen it?

What did you think?

Sherlock Holmes is in the Book Bag

As you know, Ebi-kun is an avid reader and ever since he started stringing words together, he will pick up anything and attempt to read it! I have a number of books left over from my teaching days, they have been sat on the shelf and recently Ebi-kun has been dipping in!

He was totally hooked on this Sherlock book, with three short stories, his nose was stuck in and didn't come out again until he was done!

This is the version he was reading, it's an OUP bookworm 2 book (cassette tape available lol!) but I have just found the whole collection of short stories for free on kindle, you can get it HERE.

Ebi-kun can tell you himself how he felt about it...

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In The Book Bag - Let's Pretend This Never Happened

I made a pact with myself to start reading more. It's not that I don't read but I rarely sit down and read just for pleasure these days, good meaty books that you can get lost in. And that makes me sad because I have lost many an hour buried in a good book!

I picked out Let's Pretend It Never Happened on a whim, it sounded light and fun, just what the doctor ordered.

OMG - this book is hysterical. I went through an emotional roller coaster reading it, from Nooooo that can't happen to what the heck and almost wetting my knickers.

I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this in a long time. maybe because I could relate to the misfit incidents or maybe because it was written in a way that just hits my funny button. There are some serious under-lying issues in the humour, if you take it just as antidotal humour and don't go all PC brigade, you'll be fine with it.

To be honest I'm still not sure how much of this is true and how much is embellished but as entertainment goes it doesn't really matter, the book takes us through the life to date of the writer. from growing up with a taxidermist and slightly mad father to giving birth to her daughter and everything in between. 

DON'T even look at the cover of this book, let alone buy it if you are offended by cursing or just easily offended! 

I also don't recommend reading the book whilst eating or drinking (chance of snorting whatever you are consuming then spitting it everywhere are very high) or in public unless you don't mind people looking like you as if you are a crazed lunatic!

If that hasn't put you off you are probably hardcore enough to read it! And if you do, or you already have, let me know what you think in the comments.

Get your copy of Let's Pretend This Never Happened here (aff link)

I'm also on the look out for similar, LOL type books, if you have any recommendations, I'm all ears.

In The Book Bag...

Ebi-kun has a new fad, thanks to his sensei. The books are called Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda, he has been reading them in Japanese but wants to read them in English too so he can compare the translation!

They are exciting fantasy books, I think 8 in the first series. He is ploughing through them, a book a day! Thankfully we joined the library a couple of weeks ago otherwise I might have to get a second job to keep the boy in books!

I know it seems odd that we have only just joined the local library but the reason is two-fold. Firstly, it's miles away! Secondly, it's all Japanese books and I have always encouraged him to read more English at home. They have a reading card for school where the kids are supposed to keep track of how many book they have read and how many pages. Ebi-kun has finally started using it! He was already 5 books down, 5 days into the month, all with 205 pages each.

We did discover that that there is a drop off point at school so he can just post the books there when he is done with them and the library truck comes round to school once a week so he can now borrow books from there too - he is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to books.

We have just finished Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire, it's fun reading them again, it is so long since I first read the series that I don't remember what half the story is about anyway! Ebi-kun wants to watch the film before we start on the next book, I think we might take a HP break over the summer and start again after we come back from the UK.

Now we are reading Beowolf by Micheal Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman and the illustrations are beautiful, fit perfectly with the text. Beowolf was one of my favourite books as a kid so I'm hoping Ebi-kun will fall in love with it too, might have to get him the old English version to read, then he can compare those two texts too!

Another book that is popular with him at the moment is Girls Who Rocked The World, this is a great book to dip in and out of since the stories are short. I also love the questions that they bring up, in fact when we were at the Magritte exhibition Ebi-kun asked why most of the famous artists were men. I'm happy that it's on his radar and he is noticing these things.

As for me, I have picked up E3 by Pam Grout. We had fun doing the experiments in E2 so I want to have a go with her next book. It's about abundance, manifesting money and woo-woo stuff, quite interesting when you start doing the experiments!

What's in your book bag at the moment? How about the kids?

Football, Coffee and a Good Book...

The boys had football on Saturday, it's lads and dads, more lads than dads to be honest!

Good excuse to have a play with my camera too. It was a lovely day, spring is on it's way, unfortunately that means the hay fever season is here too - my eyes were streaming after being outside for a few hours!

Daddy Ebi managed to twist his ankle when he was playing, which later swelled up like a tennis ball. He ended up going to get it x-rays but it's just a sprain, his football dad career isn't over yet...

They do make a good coffee at the Footpal place which I supped on as  I'm working my way through Tony Robbin's new book Money: Master The Game. It's a great read but I'm having to take it slowly as I have no knowledge when it comes to hedge funds, 401Ks and other financial jargon! Luckily it's written so even I can understand it. Might take me a while to finish it, hopefully before retirement! It's one BIG book!

I'm about half way through and have just started the part where he tells you how to invest your money, I'll do a proper review when I finish it...

International Book Giving day is HERE

Hurrah! How are you celebrating?

We joined a book swap organized by Zoe from Playing By The Book. Our swap partner Anabel, from Anabel's Blog, is in Scotland so we decided to send a novel version or Totoro, I hope she loves it!

She sent Ebi-kun Attack Of The Giant Robot Chickens which is by the Scottish author Alex McCall and it has won various awards, and Anabel has met the author, looks like a fun read! We will do a review when he had read it.

Ebi-kun did well for book because I also bought him the National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts 2, that should keep him quiet for a while!

For more about International Book Giving day and how to get involved pop over HERE and if you haven't entered the book giveaway yet (what's wrong with you?) pop over HERE

Great New Book By Kristi Kremers

We have some book related posts this week for International Book Giving Day...

Yes,  I know you think February 14th is all about the romance, the roses and the chocolates but it should be about books too! Hands up if you'd prefer a good book rather than something that is going to add inches to your hips or die in a matter of days - see, not such a daft idea after all!

I have some good stuff lined up for you this week and I want to hear about your book giving escapades too!

So let's get things rolling, today we are reviewing Who Is A Leader by Kristi Kremers.

Who Is A Leader is like a traditional picture book, aimed at elementary aged children and filled with cute illustrations. It talks about 4 world leaders and the qualities that a leader has. Now, the clever part of this book is at the back where there are questions for teachers and parents so that you can expand on the conversation and dig deeper with the kids. I think this is especially useful for parents who, lets face it, most of which haven't done any kind of teacher training, so this kind of thing often doesn't come naturally. 

Who Is A leader will be free to download on Feb 10th & 11th (Amazon.com time, no idea which timezone that is!)

It would be a perfect book as a springboard for so many discussion or projects and I will be using it when we next study about a leader.

I also got to interview Kristi about the book and her fascinating story, pop over to My Organized Chaos to listen in.

PS - did you pop your name in the hat for the giveaway? It's over HERE

International Book Giving Day Giveaway 2015 - CLOSED

It's that time of year again, yep, International Book Giving Day!

There are lots of exciting things going on around the world, so make sure you are following on social media so that you don't miss out on any of the goodies! Bookgivingday.com is the central hub for all this excitement! Or you can use #giveabook on social media.

International Book Giving Day

Just in case you have absolutely NO idea what I'm talking about, International Book Giving Day was set up with the aim of getting more books into the hands of children. Those of us involved believe that chocolate and flowers are all very fine and dandy but books, well books are just magically and last much longer than a box of chocolates. So instead of giving the kids chocolates for valentines day (which will make them fat and their teeth fall out - maybe) why not give a book instead?

Want to do more? Here are some ideas...

+ Sort through your book shelves and donate unwanted books, you could give them to a children's hospital, a shelter, charity shop...

+ Get sneaky and leave a book in a public place like a waiting room, somewhere that kids get stuck and would love something to look through

+ Give a book to a friend or relative

+ Share the IBGD love online and help us get the word out!

+ Run a giveaway - just like this one, on your blog

Which brings me to todays giveaway!

For your chance to win one of the books, just fill in the form below.
There will be 2 winners, one of each to win Kids Around The World Cook and Kids Around The World Celebrate.

T&C

By entering your name in the draw you are also agreeing to be added to the My Organized Chaos Weekly newsletter - if it's not your cup of tea you can unsubscribe at any time.
The competition is open worldwide
The draw will close Sunday, February 16th, 9am JST
The winners will be notified by email, if the winner does not respond in 5 days a new winner will be selected.
Winners will be chosen at random.

3 years of conversation

A new habit in the Ebi-house is filling in this book. Q & A a day for kids by Betsy Franco. It's a diary, each page has one question then three sections to fill in for year 1, 2 and 3, so as the child gets older you can see how their answers change. There are 5 lines per entry so I've been encouraging longer answers with a reason rather than a one word answer.

Some of the sample questions are:

What would you like more of?

Who is your hero?

What seems to be dangerous to you?

Describe a time you were angry...

Now, there are a couple of reasons I bought this. Firstly I want Ebi-kun to develop good morning habits, it's well documented that successful people have morning rituals and routines. As it happens Ebi-kun is already an early riser and is up before me and my husband, he is usually dressed with his nose in a book when we come down in a morning. And I LOVE this, even at the weekend when he is allowed to watch TV, he reads first, it's like the written word is his alarm clock. So adding a writing habit into the mix is a good step forward.

Secondly, as Ebi-kun is in Japanese school all day and as he gets older his free time gets shorter, I needed a way to sneak some fun writing in English in. the Montessorian in me doesn't believe in doing drill books or forcing a tired child to sit down and do more studying when they have been at school all day (Don't get me started on the whole juku/cram school rant!) BUT I still want to keep his English level appropriate to his age. Speaking and reading are no problem, writing is the area we need to work at.

And finally, morning are our family time, daddy Ebi gets back late most nights so it's good to spend some time in the morning to talk about what we've been doing and what we plan to do. Adding the daily question into the mix makes it more fun. We deliberatly get up earlier than we actually need to so that our mornings are relaxed and easy going, I hate starting the day stressed out and harried.

If you like this idea for yourself, there is an adults version too.

International Book Giving Day Big Reveal

As one of the hosts I was really excited to see the fab artwork for next years International Book Giving Day. It will the 4th year that it has run and people across the globe are encouraged to give books on Valentines day, getting as many books as possible into the hands of kids around the world.

The talented and award winning Chris Haughton has designed the poster, isn't it great ? You can download the poster HERE

I will be organising something fun nearer the day but if you want to get on board right now, Zoe from Playing By The Book is hosting a book swap, sign up over HERE. And for more info about International Book Giving day, click HERE.

There are some great freebies to be had soon, so keep posted...

My Little One-Yard Wonders has arrived…

About this time of year, two years ago, I was asked it I would like to contribute to the latest One Yard Wonder book, this one would have the focus on kids. Although I was moving away from the sewing side of things I said yes because…well I just like making stuff, especially for kids!

I had sort of forgotten about the project until I received a recent email and I was chuffed to bits to have this delivered…

About the book, it's called Little One-Yard Wonders from Storey Publishing available on Amazon and the Book Depository (free international shipping). At the bottom of the post I will tell you how you can maybe get a free copy! Its spiral bound which means it lies flat when you are using it - great when you are sewing! 

There are 101 projects all using 1 yard of fabric and there is a good mix of fabrics too. If you like sewing and you have little ones you want to make gifts for, you'll love it because there are so many cute ideas. Boys get a good few projects too (I tend to find boys barely get a look-in usually) and I have already earmarked several projects, like this…

This is one of mine, a chair tidy and cushion, it is designed in a way that you can make it to fit any chair…

And the story cushion, great for telling stories or just for keeping special treasure in…

One final thing that I love, is the pocket with the patterns. It really annoys me when you spend good money on a book and then they expect you to go and photocopy and enlarge the pattern pieces, so I was really happy to see this feature. 

I haven't had chance to try any of the patterns out yet, I will keep you posted when I do!

You want to get your hands on a free copy? Well…next week I am hosting a 2 year anniversary giveaway over on My Organized Chaos and Storey Publishing have kindly agreed to donate 2 copies of Little One Yard Wonders. The giveaway bundle is worth over $3700! If you are not already on the MOC playbook list, hop on below so you can be sure not to miss out of the BIG giveaway!

Win A Book…

Last chance to win a book, pop over to My Organized Chaos to put your name in the hat!

Adventuring In The Book Bag…

It is International Book Giving Day this week, so I have books on the brain! Are you taking part? Let me know what you are doing.

It has been quite a while since I did one of these posts! This is what we have been reading recently…

Half Spoon Of Rice by Icy Smith, obviously genocide is not an easy topic to talk about with kids but I feel like this book did it well. It follows the story of a little boy who was taken by the Khemer Rouge, separated from his family and forced to work in the fields. His journey explains how they were not allowed to talk, worked really long days and lived in constant fear and how they only got a half spoon of rice to eat each day. When he eventually reaches freedom there is talk about seeing lots of dead bodies but they are not show graphically. This is a page where a solider is hitting a child and another where the boy has pulled a leg off a frog to eat it. 

Despite the grim topic and somber artwork there is a happy ending and he finds his family again! There are also author notes at the end of the book which talk about actual prisons and a handful of photos so you can take the discussion further if you wish.

This is definitely one of those books where you need to consider the personality and age of your child, Ebi-kun is eight and a half now, we read it together the first time and he had some questions, then later he read it by himself a few times. At one point he told me how lucky he was to live the life he does, I have to agree with that!

Available on Amazon and The Book Depository (free international shipping)

Next in the book bag is Gold Of The Gods by Bear Gyrlls, Ebi-kun could not put this book down! I have finally found something to replace Beast Quest! He took this on holiday with us and started it when we got to the elephant sanctuary, when he wasn't elephanting he had his nose stuck in this! It is an exciting (of course, it is Bear Gyrlls we are talking about) book about Beck Granger, who is the youngest survival expert in the world and it include special tips on how to survive in the wild - you know, for when you plane crashes in the Amazon jungle…

Available on The Book Depository (FREE international shipping)

And talking of Bear Gyrlls, I have just finished his autobiography Mud, Sweat And Tears. Great book, really interesting to learn that he isn't Mr Macho and how he really struggled at times. I had no idea he failed to get in the SAS first time round or exactly how gruelling the selection process is and then from how he broke his back but picked himself up and went on to climb Everest. He also has a junior version of the book, which Ebi-kun has got but hasn't read yet, I imagine it has been toned down somewhat for the kids version. If you are looking for a motivational book to read then this would be a good choice.

Available on Amazon and The Book Depository (Free international shipping)

Ebi-kun got The National Geographic Kids Infopedia 2014 for Christmas and it has been a big hit, he is forever reeling off random facts about polar bears, rocks, holidays around the world and coral reefs, to name but a few. It is one of those books you pick up, dip in and read a few pages and then get inspired to learn more. It covers no end of information and of course has stunning photography!

Available of The Book Depository (Free international shipping)

Last but not least, I want to give Exploring Angkor by Sun Heng Meng Chheang & Huot Sarith a mention, we picked this up at the National Museum in Seim Reap and also saw it at the airport shop. If you are visiting Angkor with kids it is a must buy, sadly I can't find any online retailer and it doesn't have an ISBN number. It is a great kids book, well written and broken down so a child can read it without getting bogged down too much with all the history details and stories, which happens in a lot of the adult books about Angkor. Plus it has photos and cute illustrations. Ebi-kun  gives it a thumbs up!

What are your kids reading at the moment and what about you? Got any good book recommendations to share? pop them in the comments please!