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I Know How to Ni-hao, a Multicultural Children’s Book Day review

January 25, 2015 Claire Annette Noland 5 Comments

MC Book Day blogger-button

 

I Know How to Ni-hao by Susan Aspley (author) and Lucas Richards (illustrator) published by Susan Aspley as part of the I Know How To series.

I am always on the lookout for books that introduce and celebrate a broad variety of cultures and introduce children to people of different backgrounds. I was thrilled to be matched as a book review blogger with I Know How to Ni-hao written by Susanne Aspley with illustrations by Lucas Richards for Multicultural Children’s Book Day.

Ni-hao

I Know How to Ni-Hao follows a child on her first day in a language immersion school. Most children have some trepidation when going into a new classroom but this child is going into a classroom where the lessons are taught in Mandarin!

“Crisp clothes, pointy crayons and a purple back pack!
Red notebook, ten pencils, and a healthy snack!
First day of school, who will I meet?
Where is my cubby? Where is my seat?
“Ni Hao,” said my teacher, with a delightful face.
She said some more words and I took my place.”

The story is written in light and lovely rhyme accompanied by cheerful illustrations which depict characters from many cultures. The text is written in Chinese characters accompanied by pin yin, the phonetic system for transcribing Mandarin.

The illustrations depict all the things in a typical classroom such as pencils, books, desks and friends. The story with labeled illustrations continues as the girl walks home and tells her mother about her day and concludes with the message “We’re alike more than different. We sing, laugh and play, learning new languages just opens a way.” I couldn’t agree more. The book includes a number of activities and a glossary of words included in the book in English, Mandarin and pin yin.

ni hao good bye

I Know How to Ni-hao is one of three books in Aspley’s “I know how to” series intended for children in language immersion classes. I think that these books would also be helpful for children who are learning English.

The author, Susanne Aspley, has a fascinating background having served in the army, being a photojournalist, and a Peace Corps volunteer.  She has a website where you can find more information about the “I Know How to” book series and language immersion.

I believe it is crucial for children born in other countries to learn as much as they can about the customs, culture and language of their birth country. TaylorTaylor Spivey is a young artist living San Francisco, California.  She was adopted in China and always is interested in learning more about Chinese language and culture.  She travels to China frequently and loves art. Taylor created a coloring page to go along with I Know How to Ni-hao.

Want to know more about Multicultural Children’s Book Day?

MCBookDay-white-21-300x234

Multicultural Children’s Book Day: Read Your World

January 27, 2015

Our mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.

Children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom teamed up in late 2013 to create an ambitious (and much needed) national event. On January 27th, 2015 this dynamic duo will be hosting yet another Multicultural Children’s Book Day as a way of celebrating diversity in children’s books.

 

The Multicultural Children’s Book Day team hopes 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 via book reviews, author visits, multicultural booklists and visit the huge multicultural book review link-up that will occur on the MCCBD website 1/27/15.

 

Other Fun Details:

Our Sponsor Line-up Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  MulticulturalKids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author FeliciaCapers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.

Our CoHosts: We have NINE amazing Co-Hosts. You can view them here.

 

-Connect on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay

-Connect on Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay

Help get books to children who need them.  MCCBD has partnered with First Book to create a Virtual Book Drive connected to their Stories for All initiative which features books that contain a diverse array of characters and cultures. We have created our own Virtual Book Drive page to raise funds to purchase multicultural books that First Book will work to distribute to under-served children. The MCCBD Virtual Book Driveis now LIVE so please visit the page and do your part on getting books into the hands of kids!If you would like more information, or have questions regarding Multicultural Children’s Book Day, please contact Valarie Budayr at Valarie@AudreyPress.com or Mia Wenjen at pragmaticmomblog@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: #Read My World, Children's Books on Chinese, Chinese Language Learning, I Know How to Ni-hao, Language Immersion, Multicultural Children's Book Day, Taylor Spivey-artist

Previous Post: « Multicultural Children’s Book Day #ReadYourWorld
Next Post: My Grasshopper Buddy and My Ducky Buddy – A Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. evelyneholingue says

    January 26, 2015 at 8:51 pm

    I didn’t know this book, Claire. Like you, I agree that learning (at least a little bit) about your native land is great. For kids adopted from far away countries it is certainly essential. My onw kids, although not adopted but living far from my native France, enjoy learning some basics through such picture bools. See you soon. for more books.

    Reply
  2. Mary @ Sprout's Bookshelf says

    January 27, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    The illustrations in this one look totally adorable! Thank you for sharing your thoughtful review, and for your support of Multicultural Children’s Book Day. It’s great to have so many terrific bloggers spotlighting diversity!

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      January 30, 2015 at 7:44 pm

      Hi Mary, Thanks for visiting my blog. I did enjoy this books and learned more about language immersion. I’m going to get a copy of the Spanish version for use with the students I work with.
      I love your blog and am following you. Sprout is adorable and I’m sure you have tons of fun together.

      Reply
  3. PragmaticMom says

    January 27, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    My kids are trying to learn Chinese so I have this book for them but what a great idea for the reverse!! Thanks so much for sharing at Multicultural Children’s Book Day!

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      January 30, 2015 at 7:32 pm

      I was thrilled to be a part of MCCBD and was excited to receive this book. It will head to China tomorrow for an 11 year old boy I am helping to sponsor (hoping we can find a family for him). He is learning English so this will be perfect.
      Good luck to your kids on learning Chinese!

      Reply

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Hello. I’m Claire Annette - reader, writer, teacher, and field trip planner extraordinaire. Here at A Field Trip Life you will find ideas for adventures large and small and the kids’ books that inspire them. Sign your permission slip. Let's go!

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claireannettenolandbooks

Author | teacher | Field Trip Planner
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Today’s the day! I’m the featured author on to Today’s the day! I’m the featured author on today’s Summer of Stories! Take a look and let me know what you think. The link is in my bio.

And then check out all the other great stories!

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Members, you can vote for books in all of the regions.
Cast your vote at this link: 

https://www.scbwi.org/crystal-kite/CK8

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and I'll be doing story time and craft at the Three River Public Library on July 11th at 10:30

@gnomeroadpublishing @pbspree @eringreneaux @tularecountylib 
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We are enjoying a lovely summer’s day with CARL’S SLEEPY AFTERNOON thanks to our friends @laughingelephantbooks who sent us a copy signed by Alexandra Day and Carl!
Happy 40th Anniversary, Carl! You are such a good dog 🐾❤️
Carl has an opportunity to have a quiet and sleepy afternoon but does he rest? Not our Carl!
We’re on our 3rd generation loving this noble good dog and look forward to reading about his adventures for many more years!

#gooddogcarl #picturebookdogs #summerreading @mrernierecommends @christinabeeghly @laurennolandhajik @roxannenoland @gn705
Summer is the best time to beat the heat by taking Summer is the best time to beat the heat by taking your young ones to a museum. And I suggest, before you go, you share the delightful picture book, MousterWorks, written and illustrated by @angelac.hawkins
Young mice, Cosette and Pépin, join Grand-mère on a splendid adventure through a mouse hole into a museum. They gaze at brilliant interpretations of well-known painting by famous artists such as Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Edward Banister. Cosette excitedly engages with the art while her brother, Pépin, searches for cheese in the art and eventually realizes that he can be an artist and paint his favorite things.

The final photo is 2.5 year old Alice at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. She was captivated by "Home Sweet Home" (after Seurat, Manet, and Pippin) painted by Wangari Mathenge

Art is for all ages.

To read my full review, visit my blog https://afieldtriplife.com/mousterworks-lets-go-to-a-museum/

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Thank you @tularecountylib 
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Happy Summer! At the top of our summer "to do" lis Happy Summer! At the top of our summer "to do" list is visiting libraries where I love to see staff recommendations. SUMMER: A Solstice Story written by @kelseyegross and illustrated by @renataliwska is such a lovely picture book.
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I shared this with a group of children the night before the Solstice so that they understood how special this date is. Then, we read it again as the sun set on the longest day of the year after partaking of many of the same activities done by the woodland animals. They really enjoyed the center pages that fold out.
This is a soft, gentle, and breathtakingly beautiful picture book that should be enjoyed all summer long. @pbspree #summersolstice #summerasolsticestory
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So let’s raise a toast to Carl, the very good dog, and to  @laughingelephantbooks Here’s to many more wonderful years of ❤️ filled stories.
#wewon #gooddogcarl #afieldtriplife #picturebookdogs @laurennolandhajik @christinabeeghly @roxannenoland
Military families are made up of heroes, those who Military families are made up of heroes, those who leave home to serve and those who stay behind. It isn’t easy to find books featuring military families, so I was excited to discover when AS MUCH as the STARS: A Story of Love Across the. Miles – A Child’s Goodbye/ AS MUCH AS THE STARS: A Story of love across The Miles: A Mother’s Farewell. I love flip books because they are clever and provide a fun way to read two stories told from different perspectives. AS MUCH AS THE STARS does an exceptional job of showing the love and emotions surrounding a deployment and then a joyous return. In this authentic, well-written story, one half follows a young girl and her relationship with her military father. The other half features the viewpoint of that girl, now grown, whose son leaves home to serve. warm and colorful illustrations add to the text showing the love that is shared even when they are separated by great distances.
This is a wonderful book for all families and will help everyone understand the sacrifices that our brave service members make. I just wish this book had been available when I was teaching children in military families.
Written by Forrest Zenone, Skyler Zenone, and Tricia Stone-Shumaker
Illustrations by Penny Weber
@poppysadventures1 @pennyweberart @laurennolandhajik #militaryfamilies #asmuchasthestars
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FYI… sweet peas are blooming on Old Creek Road a FYI… sweet peas are blooming on Old Creek Road around Whale Rock Reservoir
The story of how they got there reminds me of Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney “You must do something to make the world more beautiful.” 
Read how these delicate blossoms came to grace the highways in San Luis Obispo County: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/johnny-appleseed-sweet-peas-planted-120000196.html

Lupine, poppies, and wild mustard are also blooming.

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