The third, and final, book that we were lucky enough to be able to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 is:
Ayo’s Money Jar written by Charlene Hill Fadirepo and illustrated by Aniekan Udoa
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First for some basics about the book itself… it is a picture book with short rhyming verses for children to learn about Money Management. It is listed as being for age range of 2-6 yrs. It has 32 pages, and is published by , CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, a product of Amazon, and is written in English. It is the first in the SmartChoiceNation Kids Series: Money Management. It was written by Charlene Hill Fadirepo and illustrated by Aniekan Udofia. If you like the book (and I think you will) you can check out more books like it at their Facebook page, on Twitter, or you can email the author at Charlene@smartchoicenation.com . You can also find more about the illustrator at his Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter (you definitely should.. his work is amazing!)
Ayo, short for Ayodele, is a kid from a multicultural family. His mother is African American from the U.S. and his dad is from Ibadan, Nigeria. This book not only focuses on teaching little kids about Money Management but also spends some time towards the back of the book teaching you more about Ayo, his family, and some information about different languages and naming traditions. I liked this in particular because it opens a dialect to talk with your kids about diversity and multiculturalism.
For the main body of the book, it is a collection of brightly colored pictures illustrated by the amazing artist Aniekan Udofia. If you like the art in Ayo’s Money Jar, then you should definitely go check out his other work. It’s vibrant, intriguing, thought provoking, dynamic, and is just plain lovely to look at.
Atop the gorgeous artwork are short rhyming stanzas that teach kids the idea of saving money, giving to others, being aware of spending, and helping out. While reading the story to my daughter, I enjoyed how simplistic and engaging the text was, while also being educational. Even though we already try to talk to her about money and saving (she loves collecting coins and putting them in her piggy bank!), it was nice to see her intrigued by watching the money grow.
If you want to start teaching your young children about Money Management then this is your go to book! It not only covers saving, it covers helping around the house, spending responsibly, giving back to others, and to top it all off it starts a conversation about multiculturalism and diversity. Oh, and did I mention its interesting to look at and fun to read?!
In the back of the book the author has already put together 3 splendid and informational Activities that you can do with your children. My daughter and I decided to make her own Money Jar (Activity #1). We gathered a jar, I put stickers on it that spelled out “Money Jar” and then my daughter decorated it with stickers. When were done she earned some change to start off her savings because she helped mom out with her review!
In case you were wondering (you should be)… you can purchase this adorable, yet educating book on Amazon.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.
Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books
Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang
We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
MCBD Links to remember:
MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/
Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
– Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay
– Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay
Hope you enjoy!
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