Celebrate Connections among Cultures [Hardcover]

Jan Reynolds (Author)

Editorial Reviews

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
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Lee & Low Books (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584302534
• ISBN-13: 978-1584302537
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 10.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,718,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrate, May 15, 2006

By 

Camille "at the BookMoot!" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Celebrate Connections among Cultures (Hardcover)

Through photographs and well-designed text placement, Jan Reynolds demonstrates the common ways we celebrate. We gather together, we eat and drink, we play music, we dance, we use fire!

Children will recognize themselves dressed-up in Halloween costumes then admire the Inuit boy in a real wolf skin and the Sami girl in beautiful reindeer hide shoes. They will appreciate a view of a familiar birthday cake decorated with candles and then, connect the use of fire to burn a ceremonial mandala painting in a Tibetan celebration.

Reynolds examines Tibetans and Sherpas from the Himalaya, Aborigines in Australia, the Yanomami from the Amazon rain forest, the Balinese, the Tuareg of the Sahara, the Sami who live above the Artic Circle, and the Inuit! A well-designed map helps place these cultures on the globe. Her photographs are rich with color and life.

I usually do not like books that scream, "Buy me because I am multicultural!" as so often, they are preachy-teachy. Celebrate is just a terrific book and it rejoices in how similar the people of this planet are.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly illustrated descriptive survey of diverse cultures around the world, July 12, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celebrate Connections among Cultures (Hardcover)

Celebrate!: Connections Among Cultures by Jan Reynolds is a superbly illustrated descriptive survey of diverse cultures around the world, and the similarities many of them share. Carrying young readers ages 5 to 9 through an outstanding collection of photographs combined with a "kid friendly" text, Celebrate! offers an intriguing look into the celebrations of such different people and cultures as those of the Australian Outback, Bali, the Amazon basin of South America, the tropical islands of Indonesia in South Asia, and so many more. An important contribution to school and community library "Other Lands, Other People" reference collections for children, Celebrate! is very strongly recommended for anthropological compendium of facts for elementary school level social studies and world culture curriculum supplemental reading lists.