Climbing the Stairs

I just finished Padma Venkatraman's WONDERFUL Climbing the Stairs. I was sent this ARC Copy and asked to review this on my blog. As I thoroughly enjoy literature set in India - I was thrilled to do so! It was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed seeing the culture of India through 15 year-old Vidya's eyes. Vidya is not at all trapped by her society's view of women - she wants to go to college and progress on her own terms! I like that about this fun protagonist - she is spunky and not afraid to "buck" a bit. Her life is not easy - but that is the beauty of this book! I was captured from page one and plan to tell my teens all about it! This one is NOT to be missed!

Global Wonders

I absolutely LOVE Global Wonders - their DVD's have been checking out like crazy at our library and my own daugther begs me often to bring another one home!! SO when they sent me their CD: Around the World Music - I was thrilled. It DOES NOT disappoint - the music is fun and gives a nice feel for music from other cultures. Don't miss this one! It is planned to be a series, and I am excited about that!

Here is what Global Wonders says:

Global Wonders™ Unveils ‘Around the World Music,’ Bringing Children and Families an Authentic Global Musical Experience Just in time for World Music Day

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Available Exclusively Beginning May 19^th on iTunes and May 26^th on Amazon.com

Features Emmy Award Winning Composer and Culturally Authentic Musical Performances Creating a Fun and Educational Experience

Global Wonders: Around the World Music. Featuring authentic cultural styles, original compositions and fun sing-a-long songs, the album helps parents nurture cultural awareness in their children by exploring new rhythms and musical genres from around the world.

Global Wonders is an award-winning brand of children’s cross-cultural entertainment and education. The new album follows the successful launch of the Global Wonders DVD series and iTunes children’s video podcast, which shot to the top 10 in iTunes’ Kids & Family category.

Global Wonders: Around the World Music is produced and composed by Emmy Award winner Jim Latham, whose work includes original songs, themes and scores for a variety of children's programming (JoJo's Circus, Dragon Tales, and Disney Princess: A Christmas of Enchantment). For Global Wonders, Latham leveraged his broad musical experiences to meet the challenge of creating an album that was kid-friendly, culturally authentic and educational.

The first album in what will be an ongoing series , Around the World Music includes the Global Wonders Theme Song (A Great Big World) featuring a catchy sing-along chorus with layers of instruments from eight different countries, including an Indian Sitar, Australian Didgeridoo, Japanese Koto, a Ghana log drum and a Scottish Bagpipe. In Global Wonders Hello, children are introduced to words and phrases to say “Hello” in 10 different languages.

The album includes 19 songs covering cultures and musical styles from India, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Argentina, Japan, Ireland, Cuba and the United States (New Orleans Jazz, and Hawaiian Tiki). Highlights include a unique version of Vande Mataram, (India’s national song and the second most popular song in the world, per the BBC), incorporating a children’s choir into the chorus; Go Go Greece, a get-up-and-dance traditional Greek song; Banda Dance from Mexico; the Bollywood style India Celebrations; and America The Beautiful in a gospel vibe.

Global Wonders: Around the World Music will be available exclusively for download on iTunes beginning May 19, and for order at Amazon.com as of May 26; suggested retail price is $9.99. A music video, Global Wonders: Hello, also is available on iTunes .

Global Wonders

If you know anything about me - you know I am ALL about cultural awareness. Even long before we adopted our daughter, Chloe, from China, I tried to fill my boys' lives with awareness of other cultures. Being a librarian - we read books that build a sense of "culture" into our lives, I do what I can to stress that America isn't the only culture out there and that, even in America, we all live very differently. We make it a point to learn about where the missionaries our church supports live - we even email them periodically just to get a "feel" for their culture. We have done different reports on countries that we want to learn more about; and our favorite?? We celebrate holidays from other cultures. Since getting Chloe, we celebrate the New Moon Festival every fall AND Chinese New Year. We attend an FCC Chinese New Year event each year that our whole family looks forward to. We are BIG fans of Putumayo CD's - and bringing music from different cultures into our home as well. SO, when I saw an annoucenment for these DVD's on TwitterMoms - I was just thrilled. We need more awareness of how others live - and these DVD's look wonderful for helping us do just that. Global Wonders are a set of DVD's that are put out to encourage kids to celebrate and learn about other cultures. They are quality - they have catchy tunes and characters that keep kids excited and interested. There are 4 DVD's out now - Around the World, Mexico, India, and African-American - with more to be relased soon - China, Italy and America. Make sure and check out their accompanying CD's - what a great series!
I would love, if you read this, for you to leave me a comment telling us all what you do to encourage cultural awareness - let's share the ideas and ALL benefit!!

Kane Miller at its Best!!

One of my favorite publishers of all times???? It has to be Kane Miller - They are marvelous at representing multicultural literature and this box is no exception.



New Clothes for New Year's Day by Hyun-Joo Bae is first of all, BEAUTIFUL!! The illustrations are wonderful and give the feel beautifully for this New Year holiday - Korean style. Totally endearing - one that is already on my daughter's shelf!

Who's Hiding by Satoru Onishi. I LOVE this one!! It is very fun and you could use it with younger children. Each 2 pg. spread asks you to find an animal - one who is ..... hiding, crying, etc. VERY FUN!

My Father's Shop by Satomi Ichikawa - this is a fun story. It takes place in this boy's father's shop - all because he has a rooster that everyone wants to see! I love this because you can see how to make rooster sounds in ALL different languages. Very fun!

Here's a fun one! What happens when a rabbit escapes out of his cage and has the WHOLE house to himself?!?! While We Were Out by Ho Baek Lee is just that story - very cute and perfect for toddler storytime as well.

Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen is a WONDERFUL tale about a brilliant crocodile that hatches in a nest of ducks!! I am telling you - this one is hilarious AND fun!! Don't miss it!

Singing to the Sun by Vivian French and illustrated by Jackie Morris. This is a gorgeous fairy tale - and I mean gorgeous. It is thought-provoking tale of Thorfinn and his process to choose a bride.

Cat by Mike Dumbleton and illustrated by Craig Smith is simple yet profound! I love this one!! Cat meets up with all sorts of wonderful adventures. My favorite?? See what happens when she meets the sprinkler!

I am telling you - you just can't go wrong with Kane Miller!