Saturday, May 9, 2009

Celebrate Connections among Cultures

Celebrate Connections among Cultures

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Colorful, inviting photographs introduce readers to connections among cultures from around the world. The book looks at celebrations among the Tibetans and Sherpas of the Himalaya, Tuareg of the Sahara, Aborigines of Australia, Sami of the Arctic Circle, Yanomami of the Amazon, Inuit of North America, and Balinese of South Asia, and includes corresponding entries from the U.S. Reynolds clearly shows that while every culture has its own traditions and reasons for celebrating, these events have much in common–people gather together, eat and drink, decorate themselves, make music, dance, and use fire. The excellent-quality photographs and the brief, engaging text come together to promote the theme: We are one human family celebrating life on Earth! A pronunciation guide, author's note, and map are appended. A welcome addition to multicultural literature.–Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH
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From Booklist
Gr. 3-5. Far from a generic view of "primitive" peoples, this photo-essay draws on Reynolds' experiences while she lived with a variety of families around the world. Beautiful color photos show how indigenous peoples everywhere "mark changes, express thanks, and honor important people and events," with feasts, costumes, music, and more--from the Tibetans in the Himalayas, the Tuareg in the Sahara, and the Yanomami in the Amazon rain forest to families across the U.S. With each photo, Reynolds includes a brief explanation of the source of the tradition and how it is celebrated now. It's a lot for one small book to handle, but the lively photos and the connections Reynolds makes will encourage children to go on to the titles in the appended bibliography and to the books in Reynolds' Vanishing Culture series to find out more. Hazel Rochman

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