Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Barnabas Kindersley (Author)
Key Phrases: Fête des Mères, National Day, May Day, New Year (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dorling Kindersley Publishers never fail to create beautiful, engaging children's books, packed with fascinating information. In Celebrations, photographer Barnabas Kindersley teams up with writer Anabel Kindersley and UNICEF to create a fascinating journey exploring the cultural traditions of children all over the world. Harry Belefonte notes in his introduction, "Here is your opportunity to travel by book to nearly every corner of the globe ... [and] join children everywhere in celebrating important events in their lives." In addition to photographs of traditional costumes and customs, each child from the wide range of countries represented gives a first-person account of how holidays are celebrated. Children will enjoy learning about how kids like just like them have fun, and in the process will broaden their cultural horizons. (Ages 8 to 12)

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-6?A rich, multicultural look at holidays around the world. The celebrations are arranged by season and include: Christmas in Germany, Halloween in Canada, Hanukkah in the U.S., Diwali in India, Hina Matsuri in Japan, and Egemenlik Bayrami in Turkey. Each holiday is shown on a two-page spread with a large photograph of a featured child or children and many smaller captioned photographs of the festivities and the culture. A preface by Harry Belafonte in his role as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF opens the book. It is a superb addition to country/cultural teaching units, and also makes a wonderful lead-in to writing, art, and creative-drama activities used to teach holidays. An enjoyable visual experience.?Stephani Hutchinson, Pioneer Elementary School, Sunnyside, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st American Edition edition (October 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789420279
• ISBN-13: 978-0789420275
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Books > Children's Books > Holidays & Festivals > Around the World
  #80 in	Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Social Science > Customs, Traditions, Anthropology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children Just Like Me (the first one), November 26, 2000

By A Customer

I am a first grade teacher in Phoenix, Arizona who teaches a wide variety of cultures. Some of the children in my class are Mexican American, Spanish, Bosnian, African American, German and Native American (Navajo and Apache). Recently, during an ESL staff development class, a wonderful instructor introduced this book to me and I was absoultly amazed! It has the most fascinating pictures and text. I had to read it from cover to cover. I had to buy it to have in my class. It must be a permanent source of enjoyment for my classes for years to come. I can't wait for my students to have the opportunity to browse through this book. We will use it so much. Thank you Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley, for putting together such a fabulous children's book!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't say enough great things about this book!, May 12, 2000

By	Gowie "gowie" (CO USA) - See all my reviews

What a fabulous book! My 5 year old daughter was delighted to see that children who at first glance appear so different also share her love for soccer, animals, noodles, etc. Each child's bio includes information about their family, home, school, church, clothing, pets and favorite food. This book has great photos, particularly of the children. Although there is much writing on each page, it is not overwhelming for her, and we can stop after one page, and easily pick it up again later. This is the first children's book that I've wanted to read by myself after she's gone to bed!

****

Four years later, I'm adding this paragraph to this review. I continue to use this book with my now 5 and 9 year old children. It's an fun way for them to learn a little more about families who live in countries that we learn about. It's easy to read something in this book that leads to a much wider discussion. They also remember a lot of details from this book that they bring up at other times, such as "People from _____ live in _______ kinds of houses!"

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting and joyful, April 26, 2005

By	Moema (Uppsala, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This is a very interesting book, with wonderful pictures and lots of joy. It's a book that makes you happy. Many of the celebrations were unknown to me, and it was fun to see that the Swedish celebration of St. Lucia is described correctly in the book (I'm Swedish).
The only doubtful thing about this book is that the mix of different religions isn't very good. Most celebrations are Christian or Hindu - only one is Muslim and none is purely Buddhist. That's a bit of a pity. Anyway, great book.