Children's Nonfiction Birthdays
Birthdays Around the World
- Publisher
- Kids Can Press
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2017
- Category
- Birthdays, General, Other, Non-Religious
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781771386241
- Publish Date
- Sep 2017
- List Price
- $29.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 3 to 7
- Grade: p to 2
- Reading age: 3 to 7
Description
Everyone in the world has a birthday. But birthdays are not celebrated in the same way everywhere. Meet Mercedes in Peru, who eats a cake and a purple pudding called mazamorra morada. Ieva in Latvia is raised in the birthday chair, one lift for each year. And rather than celebrating his own birthday, Phúc Khang in Vietnam joins in the festivities during Tet, when everyone in the country turns one year older. Based on interviews with real people, award-winning author Margriet Ruurs tells the unique stories of how seventeen children from all around the globe celebrate a birthday, including how they each say happy birthday in their native language. Following the memorable stories, children are invited to compare their own birthday traditions with the ones they've learned about in the book.
Birthdays can be a yearly highlight and a shared experience for children, which make them a perfect subject for introducing different customs around the world. As with all the titles in the bestselling Around the World series, this fascinating book provides cross-curricular applications in language arts, global studies and geography. Ashley Barron's beautiful cut-paper collage artwork adds a contemporary, stylized feel to the pages. Enriching the reading experience are a world map that pinpoints all the locations of the children in the book; a two-page spread containing six activities that facilitate a closer reading of the text; and a glossary containing translations, pronunciations and foreign scripts for the foreign words and phrases in the book.
About the authors
Margriet Ruurs is the award-winning author of forty books for children. Passionate about literacy, she writes children's and educational materials and conducts author visits and writing workshops at international schools around the world. Her picture book biography A Brush Full of Colour: The World of Ted Harrison won the Canadian Children’s Literature Roundtables Information Book Award and the Crystal Kite Award, and was nominated for several others. Born in the Netherlands, Margriet raised her family in the Yukon, Canada. Today, when she isn't travelling, she runs a booklover's bed and breakfast on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
Ashley Barron moved to Toronto upon graduating from OCAD’s illustration program in 2007. She lives and works as an illustrator from her studio near Kensington market. She uses paper collage to illustrate just about everything for magazines, advertising, and animation. Over the past two years, Ashley illustrated the four Math in Nature books for Owlkids. She is an avid gardener and lover of flora and fauna, the details of which can be found in her art.
Awards
- Winner, Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College
- Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre
Editorial Reviews
Young readers will have lots to discover as they flip through the colourful pages while older readers will enjoy reading and learning from this informational picture book.
CM Magazine
... a good choice for introductory conversations about cultural differences.
School Library Journal
An easy, enjoyable way to start thinking about similarities and differences around the world.
Kirkus Reviews
... a cheerful, inviting introduction to birthdays.
Booklist
... a delightful book with engaging artwork perfectly suitable for reading out loud to children.
Quebec Library Association
... a great book to share with young children on their birthday or in a class- room when talking about different cultural celebrations.
Resource Links
Other titles by Margriet Ruurs
Where We Live
Mapping Neighborhoods of Kids Around the Globe
Come, Read With Me
Ghost of the Mill House
Robert Bateman: The Boy Who Painted Nature
Robert Bateman: The Boy Who Painted Nature Read-Along
Bus to the Badlands
Elephant Keeper, The
Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia
Families Around the World
Stepping Stones / حَصى الطُرُقات
A Refugee Family's Journey / رحلة عائلة لاجئة
Stepping Stones / حَصى الطُرُقات Read-Along
A Refugee Family's Journey / رحلة عائلة لاجئة
