Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016 with Sunbelievable by Jo Ann Kairys. I’m so excited to share this book review by Ronna Mandel at GoodReadsWithRonna as a way to celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016. I’m honored to participate along with her and hundreds of amazing authors and bloggers!
GOOD READS WITH RONNA IS A PROUD PARTICIPANT IN MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN’S BOOK DAY 2016.
FEATURING SUNBELIEVABLE FROM STORY QUEST BOOKS
Welcome to Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016!
We’re delighted you stopped by. We’ve got a review of a terrific and unique picture book from our friends at Story Quest Books today. But before you get the scoop on Sunbelievable, please take a few minutes to learn more about MCCBD and help us celebrate and promote diversity in kidlit. Use the hashtag #ReadYourWorld and spread the word!
The Mission of Multicultural Children’s Book Day:
The MCCBD mission is to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.
Picture Book Review:
SUNBELIEVABLE
Connecting Children with Science and Nature
Written by Jo Ann Kairys and Daniel Kairys, M.D.
Illustrated by Jo Ann Kairys and Frank Thompson
(Story Quest Books; $15.95, Ages 4-8)
This multiple award-winning picture book will draw young readers in immediately with its magical mood, vibrant colors and creative artwork done by cleverly combining photography and collage. Readers will feel as though they’ve stepped inside the book alongside the two adorable main characters.
Interior artwork from Sunbelievable by Jo Ann Kairys and Daniel Kairys, M.D. with illustrations by Jo Ann Kairys and Frank Thompson ©2011.
The charming story opens with sisters YaYa and Leen at the beach as dusk approaches after what was clearly a busy afternoon of building sandcastles and collecting shells. Later, back at home, when it’s bedtime, little Leen doesn’t want to go to sleep so big sister YaYa makes up a story to lull her sister off to dreamland. While bringing inventive ideas into her whimsical tale of the sun’s power and all the wild and zany things it can do, YaYa manages to enthrall and entertain Leen.
Does the sun really teach at Firefly School? Can flowers talk to each other? Can the sun talk to birds? Can it scrub its rays clean? The interplay between the siblings is delightful and soon Leen is joining in with a story of her own. Both girls happily drift off to sleep full of sunbeams and the promise of a beautiful sunrise the next morning.
Using peppy dialogue that kids can relate to, the authors have created a fast-paced story with jump-off-the-page illustrations that not only complement the text, but definitely add another layer of appeal to Sunbelievable. I also love the playful handling of the topic of the sun’s various roles that provide inspiration for these two young girls’ imaginations.
What better way to put your own child to bed at night than with a picture book that fills growing minds with new STEM ideas to dream about? I can just hear the conversation you’ll have with your child after reading this story! This is not only a sun power story, but a girl power one as well.
Interior artwork from Sunbelievable by Jo Ann Kairys and Daniel Kairys, M.D. with illustrations by Jo Ann Kairys and Frank Thompson ©2011.
In the back matter, you’ll find helpful educational information about the sun courtesy of NASA’s Chief Technologist, Robert D. Braun, Ph.D. Also included is a Firefly Lullaby poem. Its accompanying music can be listened to online at StoryQuestPublishing.com.
But why is this book included in Multicultural Children’s Book Day you may ask? Because children of all races, ethnicities, and abilities should be represented in literature so that, as the MCCBD mission states, young readers can “see themselves within the pages of a book.” Sunbelievable is an excellent example!
MCCBD Founders:
The wonderful co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. You can find a bio for Mia and Valarie here.
