A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu is the book I received for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019. The official website for the book is at this link. The publisher has a teacher guide which may be downloaded here, also. The book is also part of a book collection by Lee and Low publishing for helping establish grade one classroom communities. The publisher is Lee and Low Books.
As a teacher, I find this book makes an excellent mentor text for writing workshop as the figurative language is child-appropriate and understandable. Children like to act out what they are reading, and the illustrations and familiarity with Yoga, Karate, and Tai Chi will support mind-body brain-based learning. Some of Mei Mei’s actions might be pantomimed. Gong Gong (grandpa) is excellent at Tai Chi, while Mei Mei is more active at exercising. Classrooms with brain breaks and mindfulness programs will benefit from the illustrated Yoga and Tai Chi exercises at the end of the book.
I appreciate books with Asian characters as I have an adopted daughter from Korea. I feel there should be more diverse picture books. I received this book free as part of the Multicultural Children’s Book Day even for January 2019. It will be donated to a kindergarten at Forest Elementary in Robbinsdale where I volunteer.
For several years, I have participated in MCBD, and the links to the other book reviews and free printable educational resources are further down in the post.
This is the official book trailer.
K-2-simile-and-metaphor-garden-theme-freebie
My free printable has letter-sized teaching posters that could be used in a discussion with a large group, small group, or on a bulletin board. It has a garden theme to match the illustration in the book. Other books could also be used, although it would be so nice to have A Morning with Grandpa on hand. Children know it can be difficult to explain something and may realize they have even used a simile or metaphor themselves.
An example of a simile poster is in the next image.
And metaphor can be difficult but at the most simple level, it is a simile without using the words like or as. That is good enough for primary grades to begin to understand. They will probably think of a bunch of balloon color metaphors.
One poster suggests the teacher will now read a story with figurative language for the children to notice. The poster doesn’t name a book, so the teacher has a choice of texts. Eventually, the students may hear language in other stories or in spoken words as the days progress. Hopefully you can read A Morning with Grandpa.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!
Medallion Level Sponsors
Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.
Super Platinum: Make A Way Media
GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,
SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,
BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board
Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,
Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC
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 works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual @McChildsBookDay Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party ( a prize every 5 minutes!). GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: https://
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
You might also like the book reiviews and free educational resources from previous Read Your World Years.
Abe Lincoln’s Hat has a free supplemental book activity at this link. Free instant download PDF.
Arthur Meets the President free book companion Comprehention multiple choice, manuscript printing practice page, and coloring page.
The Breadwinner is a novel set in Afganistan based on interviews with children. Free novel companion at the post.
Chinese zodiac free printable activity and placemat PDFs.
Coronavirus information and writing thank yous to community helpers free download PDF.
Government Discussion Pages based on Minnesota Social Studies Standards, opens here.
Printable placemats freebie and informative post about a Machu Picchu trip.
A Pony for Quarantine by O’Beara for Read Around the World
Word wall for a study of China, and word search printable PDF free instant download.
Printable Chinese Vocabulary and Word Search — Opens here
A Different Pond book companion freebie. The father in the picture book story for children reflects on his previous life in war-torn Vietnam.
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz is a story from World War 2 that resonates with today’s children as it is child-centered and informative.
Symbols of Japan bingo game for grades K-4.
Read then compare and contrast the Korean Cinderella with the usual USA Cinderella Story.
Printable placemats freebie and informative post about a Machu Picchu trip.
Visit to Disneyland, Paris, France and free printable placemat PDF.
Parvana’s Journey is set in Afghanistan and is the second in the trilogy of three books. Free novel companion instant download at the post.
Printable with a map of La Reunion Island and a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast it with Madagascar. Answers provided.
World Landmarks 3-part-cards-freebie printable PDF
Free Printable for St. Nick Day in the Netherlands, this one is on Teachers Pay Teachers
Free PDF printable cards and writing frames for children to fill out and express their thanks to veterans and active-duty personnel.