D is for Drinking Gourd

L is for Little Rock Nine,

the students who integrated school

at Little Rock, Arkansas's Central High -

protected under military rule.

D is for Drinking Gourd is a wonderful picture book that tells the African-American story with beautiful illustrations and comprehensive facts, offering a great introduction to African-American history for young children ages 2-10.

The book begins with "A is for abolitionists" and continues with other important highlights of Black history including "E is for Emancipation," "G is for the Great Migration," and "H is for Harlem Renaissance," all in a way that is understandable to young children. It is a great tool for sharing African-American history to young children in a factual, yet heartfelt way that doesn't only tell of the atrocities of Black history, but also of the triumphs and victories.

One of my favorite references in the book is "D is for Drinking Gourd" from the book title, which explains how fugitive slaves referred to the Big Dipper as "Drinking Gourd." The book explains how this constellation helped slaves locate the North Star which guided them toward freedom.

Other significant events highlighted in the book include the founding of the NAACP, history of the Tuskegee Airmen, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, and the congressional terms of African-Americans including Hiram Revels, who is unknown to many, but  in 1870 became the first African-American United States senator.

D is for Drinking Gourd is a must for any adult who wants to introduce Black history to a child, and it is a great way for teachers to celebrate Black History with students. It is a truly heartfelt compilation of both heartbreaking – and victorious moments in Black history and should be read by adult of all races who want to share an accurate and heartfelt history of the African-American experience.

Bijoy and the Big River

January 27th is Multicultural Children's Book Day and to celebrate I am reviewing Bijoy and the Big River. Learn about the daily lives through a young boy's journey through the Brahmaputri River, also known as the Burha Luit or "Big River" in his Indian village of Assam.

Bijoy loves living near the water because it has many facets, one of which is the xihu, (pronounced hihu). Xihu is an endangered Gangetic river dolphin that lives and swims sideways in the Big River, and one of the native animals that Bijoy has come face to face with. Other animals native to India in the book are silkworms and their unique cocoons, elephants, and the endangered one-horned rhino. Learn also about materials from trees native to India, including bamboo and cane, that are used to build houses in Bijoy's village of Assam. 

Bijoy and the Big River is a great book to read to your child who is interested in India, has family in India, or children who simply like learning about different countries. Not only does it tell of native animals and plants, it explores native foods and festivals.

Reading Bijoy and the Big River is a great way to introduce your child to another culture! Take it one step further and introduce your child to the food of India by going to and Indian restaurant or making a home-cooked meal of mustard greens and bamboo shoots, both foods that are native to India. However you choose to celebrate the day, make sure that you make it fun!

Bijoy and the Big River

Written by: Meera Sriram and Praba Ram

About Multicultural Children's Book Day2015  (MCCBD)

Creators: Co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. You can find a bio for Mia and Valarie here.

Mission: To raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries. 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, Mia and Valarie are on a mission to change all of that. Their mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries. Another goal of this exciting event is create a compilation of books and favorite reads that will provide not only a new reading list for the winter, but also a way to expose brilliant books to families, teachers, and libraries.

“MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.”

2015 Sponsors: Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, 

Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  MulticulturalKids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, 

Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing. 

Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author FeliciaCapers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.

Co-hosts: Find a list of co-hosts on the Multicultural Children's Book Day website here.

Virtual Book Drive w/ First Book: MCCBD is partnering with First Book to offer a Virtual Book Drive that will help donate multicultural children’s books through their channels during the week of the event. We want to help get diversity books into the hands of kids who most need it and now we have a way to do it! The Virtual Book Drive is LIVE and can be found HERE.

Special Contributor: Children’s Book Council: MCCBD is collaborating with Children’s Book Council to highlight wonderful diversity books and authors on an ongoing basis all year.

of THEE I SING: A Letter to My Daughters by President Barack Obama

In honor of President's Day I am reviewing of THEE I SING: A Letter to My Daughters by our very own president, Barack Obama. This book can be appreciated by Democrat and Republicans alike because it is a book about historical figures who made a difference in America, and more importantly it is a beautiful letter from a father to his daughters about his love for them and hope for their future. For that reason, it is sure to be a much loved American classic.



of THEE I SING highlights activists and social reformers, artists and inventors, and presidents and others that our children may or may not have heard of, but should know about. Reading the book to your children will not only educate them, but empower them, giving them confidence to want to make their own mark in this world.



In of THE I SING, Obama tells his children stories of trailblazers who remind him of their own wonderful traits - bravery, creativity and strength. He tells of artistic, political and even scientific strides made by different trailblazers from the United States and abroad. Some of the people featured are Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Helen Keller and Sitting Bull. He tells of their work and the extraordinary progress each made that made our world a better place.



The only criticism I have with the book is that Mahatma Gandhi should have been included because Gandhi is a great example of bravery, strength and unity; qualities represented by characters in the book; qualities of which Gandhi certainly possessed as well. Other than this exclusion, the book is historic gold, and is a great for handing down generation to generation.


Of Thee I Sing tells great stories of great leaders, and includes on the last page of the book, mini bios of each extraordinary individual's beginnings. The beautiful prose and colorful illustrations by Loren makes the book a treasure. I highly recommend it, because it is a great history lesson for children, it promotes respect for all people, and it acknowledge the contributions and gifts that all people, regardless of race, disability or religion have brought to our world, and to our lives.