Spotlight Review for Read Your World/Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2024

I’m happy to once again be a book reviewer on Multicultural Children’s Book Day! As part of this annual event, I was gifted a book to review, in order to provide my honest opinion. Read on to discover more. #ReadYourWorld

Food For The Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

 by Mia Wenjen

Illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

Published by Barefoot Books 

With an increasing interest in environmentally friendly methods of growing food for a swelling worldwide population, Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World offers inspiring insights into twelve approaches from around the globe. Using short, rhyming couplets (“Can we feed the world without pollution? Sustainable farms are one solution”), this picture book travels from salt and rooftop farms in the U.S. to vertical farms in Singapore, an oceanic biosphere farm in Italy, circular gardens in Senegal, and other new or time-tested, creative ways to grow food while caring for the earth it comes from, both today and tomorrow. Simple yet vibrantly-colorful digital and hand-drawn art complements each spread’s text, and inset boxes offer definitions of key concepts and terms. Extensive back matter for older readers offers additional information on sustainable farming and food justice, as well as a world map highlighting the featured countries and a deeper dive into each country’s methods.

This timely picture book written by the Pragmaticmom.com blogger Mia Wenjen and illustrated by U.K. artist Robert Sae-Heng will be a nice addition for teachers to lessons about the environment, sustainability, food justice, cultural studies, and food sources. In addition, young readers will find plenty to enjoy as they see how a diverse range of people around the world sustainably grow and harvest their food.

Read Your World is a non-profit whose mission is to raise awareness about children’s books that celebrate diversity and to get more of these books into the hands of readers, parents, and educators. With the alarming increase in children’s books being challenged and banned, it is more important than ever to give kids access to diverse stories.

Learn more HERE: https://linktr.ee/ReadYourWorld #ReadYourWorld #kidlit #McChildsBookDay #picturebooks #reading

Puzzle Review: Springbok’s Sweet Tooth

If you’re looking for a 1,000-piece puzzle* that offers a nice challenge, bright colors, uniquely-cut pieces, and a fun theme, you’ve found it right here with Springbok’s Sweet Tooth. I’m a candy lover myself, so when I first saw this puzzle, I felt a connection right away. The array of hot pinks, greens, oranges, blues, and yellows add to the carnival atmosphere, but also add to the challenge: just when I thought I’d found all the candies of one color or one kind, I’d find another hiding out across the way. The unique, unusual, and never-repeat-shapes puzzles pieces are a nice change from the standard fare (though a couple I found had nearly-straight edges that threw me off when sorting). And as always, I love that Springbok’s puzzles are made in the USA. I recommend this 1,000 piece puzzle for ages 10-12 and up.

*Also comes in 500 pieces

Because I enjoyed this puzzle so much, I am giving this puzzle five out of five puzzle pieces.