The concept’s basically sound, and despite flaws, the book could be useful when combined with other resources.
A roundup of traditional breakfast foods from around the world.
Brimming with foods—there’s Australia’s Vegemite on toast, Jamaica’s cornmeal porridge, and hagleslag (chocolate sprinkles) in the Netherlands—this colorful tome is a fun tribute to global foods and cultures. Each of the 12 countries has a dedicated two-page spread. One page is written in rhyme while the second page offers descriptions and cultural details in prose. Unfortunately, McGinty’s stunted rhymes break up the flow and detract from the book’s true potential. “Breakfast in Australia / is a black and salty paste. / Thinly spread on toasted bread… / It’s quite a shocking taste!” Most disappointing? McGinty loses a huge opportunity to encapsulate “breakfast around the world” by ignoring the plurality of America’s multicultural population. Americans don’t all eat bagels, cereal, or eggs and bacon for breakfast! Thank goodness for Suzuki’s playful illustrations. Attentive readers will spot lovely details beyond just food; the cultures themselves are on show, particularly how children live and play in other countries. Larger-than-life pictures of congee and shakshuka are flanked by fruit, flora and fauna, famous landmarks and symbols, as well as diverse children in everyday settings. The book also highlights different eating habits. For example, families in India gather on the floor to eat off banana leaves with fingers instead of silverware.
The concept’s basically sound, and despite flaws, the book could be useful when combined with other resources. (map) (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-499-80712-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
The large format and attractive, cartoonlike illustrations provide an inviting look at a country not often included in many...
Three cousins representing the diverse cultural groups who inhabit the Philippines take readers on a tour of the many islands that make up the archipelago.
Mary, Jaime, and Ari are the offspring of three sisters from the Ifugao people of Luzon, but their fathers are of Chinese, Spanish, and Muslim Arab descent. This device lends an artificial, idealized spin to the diversity question, but it gets the job done. No mention is made of the contemporary rise of Muslim separatists, although the section on history notes that the Americans “impos[ed] their style of democratic authority.” The emphasis is on cultural activities, including religious holidays, and favorite foods (with recipes for pancit, a noodle dish; polveron, a candy made from powdered milk; and halo-halo, a combination of fruits and beans with ice, sugar, and milk). There are descriptions of games including sipa, which is similar to hacky sack, with directions for making your own sipa, and sungka, also known as mancala in Africa and the Middle East. Unfortunately, instructions are not clear enough to really play. The only craft is a modified parol, a Christmas decoration. A creation myth and one song are included, but the book’s real strength is the description of activities and life in different parts of the country.
The large format and attractive, cartoonlike illustrations provide an inviting look at a country not often included in many other resources for children. (websites, index ) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8048-4072-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tuttle
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
Broader in purview than most such celebratory guides, though it represents a pre-pandemic reality.
A summertime tour of child-friendly sites and sights in the Big Apple, from the Bronx Zoo to Rockaway Beach.
Spinning off from the Little Kid Big City website and Instagram account, this effervescent travelogue is arranged as a series of self-chosen itineraries. After crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, for instance, readers have the option of turning to one page to explore Brooklyn Bridge Park and other attractions on that side of the East River or turning to another to head back toward the National September 11 Memorial in Manhattan. The book exists in a pandemic-free vacuum, and the fact that many of the stops, shops, and festivals highlighted here are either closed or, at best, offering limited access for the foreseeable future goes unmentioned. Nor do the racially and ethnically diverse groups of smiling, casually posed figures in Maher’s bright, informally drawn street scenes wear masks or practice social distancing. But though Beckman plays a bit fast and loose with her facts too (New York’s transit system is arguably not “the world’s oldest”), in making her selections of places worth visiting she delivers more than perfunctory nods to the city’s outer regions. A foldout map (not seen) and a set of URLs and further details about each stop at the end will (under non-pandemic circumstances) help prospective young visitors plan their excursions. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)
Broader in purview than most such celebratory guides, though it represents a pre-pandemic reality. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68369-244-7
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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