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Multicultural Children’s Book Day Jan 27th, 2017 )Book Review
Guest post from author Shoumi Sen
I am honored to be a part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day and for getting the opportunity to review books from the series If You Were Me and Lived in…by Carole P Roman. The author was very generous to send me a few of her books, thank you Carole!
To make our daughter more aware of the different cultures and countries around the world, we recently bought a wall map and have been supplementing story time at nights with a mini geography lesson, talking about the countries that we have visited or the ones she has been learning about in school. Therefore, the timing of receiving these books from Carole couldn’t have been better!
Book Review
If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient China
Written by Carole P Roman and illustrated by Mateya Arkova.
The protagonist is a boy growing up during the Han dynasty in ancient China. The book gives us a good insight into what life was like during those times. We learn about what some typical Chinese names would be for a boy or a girl and get a glimpse into an ancient Chinese city.
There is a lot of focus on family life and it is interesting to learn what a home in ancient China may have looked like, what kind of clothes people wore and what kind of industries were common during those times. There were four major professions – doctors, warriors, scholars and advisors to the emperor, and it was an unwritten rule that children would continue in the same line as their father. In this book, the boy’s father is a doctor and it is expected that he will follow in his father’s footsteps even though he really wants to be a noodle maker! The author talks about the emergence of the Silk Road, the importance of silk in China’s economy as well as the invention of paper. We learn about hobbies, religion and cultural aspects of the day. There are some interesting tidbits thrown in as well – did you know that everyone had long hair and that short hair was a sign that you were being punished? We also learn about the Chinese New Year and how it was celebrated. Some words and names have a pronunciation guide which is very helpful and the section on Famous people and the Glossary are great additions!
The book is probably good for ages 8 and above, mainly because of the length of the book and the amount of detail included. The format is more instructional than story-like and would be a good addition to your library especially if your child was learning about China in school. Thank you to the author for making books like this available!
The world is getting flatter and it is more important, now than ever, for our children to be aware of the different aspects of our multicultural societies. Being a children’s book author myself, I commend the founders, supporters and sponsors of MCCBD for making this initiative possible so we can be more aware of the wonderful books available to us and the talented writers and illustrators who work tirelessly to help create a world full of global citizens!
All of these books below follow a similar pattern, here are some photos.
If You Were Me and Lived in…the Ancient Mali Empire (Illustrated by Mateya Arkova)
If You Were Me and Lived in…Viking Europe (Illustrated by Mateya Arkova)
If You Were Me and Lived in…Elizabethan England (Illustrated by Paula Tabor)
All of Carole P Roman’s books are wonderful! Go here to learn more about her and the 35+ multicultural children’s book titles she offers.
About Shoumi Sen
The creator of the children’s book series ‘From The Toddler Diaries’, Shoumi Sen is a Strategy, Sales and Marketing professional at a leading Energy Management company. She loves to travel, has lived and worked in many countries, and currently lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband and daughter. Woven in poetry and color, ‘From The Toddler Diaries’ is a series of children’s books on Indian culture & mythology. ‘’ celebrates the Indian festival of Durga Puja as experienced by 3 year old Riya.
In ‘’, Riya and her friends immerse everyone in a spectacular carnival of colors, while we learn about the story behind the celebration.
Connect with Shoumi on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FromTheToddlerDiaries/
or Twitter: https://twitter.com/toddler_diaries
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 color, 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.
Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored 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, 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
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
Such a great series! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your review and for celebrating with us. #readyourworld