Customer Reviews

The Sandwich Swap

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Her Majesty Queen Rania has brought us such an inspiring tale! I am such a strong advocate of "bridging the gap" between cultures and ideas...sharing, growing, learning. I highly recommend this sweet story!

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan is known for her humanitarian work and I'm especially appreciative of her efforts to make education accessible to the more than 70 million children who are deprived of education throughout the world. "The Sandwich Swap" can be seen as part of her effort to promote cross-cultural understanding amongst young readers. It is a heartwarming picture book with an inspiring and positive message. The story is inspired by an experience during Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan's own childhood. In the book, two girls, Lily and Salma are best friends, but that close friendship is put to the test one day during lunchtime when each girl tells the other that her lunch seems gross. Salma and Lily come from different cultural backgrounds and their lunches reflect this difference, i.e. Salma brings a hummus sandwich to school and Lily eats a PBJ sandwich. Will this spell the end of the girls' friendship, or will they find a way to see past their differences and celebrate their friendship?

The illustrations by Tricia Tusa are delightful to look at, especially in the scene where there is a food fight - truly cute and hilarious! This is a picture book that is appropriate for children ages 4-8, and might be used in the Pre-K- early elementary classroom to discuss cultural differences and how to appreciate diversity and the uniqueness of other cultures. It is never too early to inculcate a tolerance and appreciation of those deemed 'different', especially in the global context of an increasingly connected world.

This book with its charming watercolour illustrations holds the interest of children easily. It can also be used as a discussion starter in a classroom or home setting.

I read it to the first graders in our school at the end of the school year and each group was enthralled by the story and readily identified with the characters.

As well as being used to discuss cultural differences, the story could also be used to discuss friendship or being open to new experiences and as an introduction to foods that are specific to different cultures.

I found this book while browsing our local bookstore. What a wonderful find. My daughter (just turned 4) loves it and requests it almost every night at bedtime. She asks lots of questions and the more I read the book the more she seems to understand about cultural differences. I think this book should be read to every young child with possibly a question and answer session that follows. Truly wonderful.

This book is a great read for children aged 3 years an up! It is also a great story for adults too!

I like that it is written by a queen.

The simple text and lovely illustrations make it a joy to read.

I think many Early Childhood Education settings could make great use of this book as an initial discussion about similarities and differences. A great book to enhance of begin discussions about equality.

Awards should be plastered all over this book's cover. Which by the way, is the most darling cutest cover I have just about ever seen. The students took one look at The Sandwich Swap and said, "Read us that one!!" Sometimes I bring in a few books to each of my lessons to give them a preview of next weeks story. Even in the hallway, a second grade student said to me, "When are you going to read us The Sandwich Swap?" Apparently, they can sniff out a good book just by it's cover. But this is more than good, it is GREAT.

The lessons learned by both girls in the story is EXACTLY the kind of message students need to hear. Working in a culturally diverse school I know students have many curiosities about one another. But sometimes, those curiosities can sadly turn into put-downs towards one another. It divides everyone which is what happens in the story. Just look around the world, it's pretty obvious we need to start these conversations and teachings early in life. A first grade student said, "I hope everyone goes to multi-cultural night tomorrow to make more friends!" The lovely 'pot-luck' ending will make you think about what your own school is doing to help promote cultural diversity.

The Sandwich Swap is a wonderful reminder and encourager to embrace and appreciate other's differences. It's amazing how a book can increase awareness, sensitivity, and open hearts and minds. This was an impactful read and there is no doubt it has helped increased my school climate. The students clapped as I finished reading the last page. Clapping for diversity! Love it.

My wife bought it rather randomly yesterday. I read it to our girls tonight and was so moved... and then shocked and heartened to look to see who the author is. This book should be in every kindergarten classroom in the world. It should also win awards and become a staple in the children's literature cannon.

I bought this book for my 7 year old granddaughter for Christmas. This is a meaningful story with beautiful illustrations. It is written in a language that children will enjoy and relate to, and yet the story has a very important message.

I love this book! Told in an engaging manner with fantastic illustrations. I got several to give to all the kids on my Christmas list!

I purchased 21 copies of this book to distribute the the members of our family child care association. I was looking for a book that addressed cultural diversity after a workshop we took and it fit the bill. It was highly recommended in our local newspaper. I have read it to the 2-5 year old children in my care and they enjoyed the story very much,especially the food fight in school. Even amongst such young children, it opened dialogue about the ways we are all different and the ways we are the same. The illustrations are beautiful and captivating and kept the children drawn in. I wuld recommend this book right up to age 7 or 8.