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Read Around the World Challenge

March Link-Up

The Details:

• Make sure that before you link-up your reviews, you sign up for the challenge on the challenge post.
• Anyone, even non-bloggers can participate. Open worldwide. If you don’t have a blog, just link to your Amazon, Good Reads or other review posting.
• Link as many reviews as you’d like throughout the month. Each link to an actual review will earn you an entry in the drawing.
• February’s Winner: I’m thrilled to tell you that Kevin Westerman (@superdaddykw) won the February contest and won a copy of All Aboard: Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine by Monica Kulling

• This month’s prize drawing will be done at 11:59 pm EST on March 31st so you have until that time to make entry/reviews counting for March’s prize drawing.
• March’s prize: Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking by Vivian Kirkfield

Read Around the World Challenge

February Link-Up

Sorry for posting this so late in the month. I forgot all about the link up portion of the challenge. Ugh, what a rookie!

The Details:

• Make sure that before you link-up your reviews, you sign up for the challenge on the challenge post.
• Anyone, even non-bloggers can participate. Open worldwide. If you don’t have a blog, just link to your Amazon, Good Reads or other review posting.
• Link as many reviews as you’d like throughout the month. Each link to an actual review will earn you an entry in the drawing.
• This month’s prize drawing will be down at 11:59 pm EST on February 28th so you have until that time to make entry/reviews counting for February’s drawing.
• February’s prize in celebration of Black History Month: All Aboard: Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine by Monica Kulling

Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye  & Margaret Lippert (Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis)

Reviewed by: Chris Singer

About the authors:

Won-Ldy Paye is a multi-talented artist from the Dan people of northeastern Liberia, West Africa. He is a member of the Tlo Ker Mehn, the class of professional Dan entertainers who are keepers of the oral tradition. He was trained by his grandmother-Gowo to remember and retell the stories of the Dan people.  Some of the published credits of Won-Ldy Paye include The Talking Vegetables, Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia, Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia.

Margaret Lippert is the author of 22 books, including 9 anthologies and 13 books for children and young adults. Much of Lippert’s body of work draws from the storytelling and folklore traditions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. After moving from New York to the Seattle area in 1990, she began a collaboration with Won-Ldy Paye, a Liberian storyteller from the Dan tribe tradition. Her most recent books have grown out of this partnership, and are co-authored by Paye. She lives on Mercer Island, Washington.

About the illustrator:

Julie Paschkis is a painter and illustrator, specializing in children’s books and posters. She was inspired by the Asafo flags of the Fante people from coastal Ghana while illustrating this book. Julie lives in Seattle, Washington.

About the book:

Head is all alone. Body bounces along, Arms swing about, and Legs stand around. They can’t do much by themselves, so they try to join together. But how? Should Head attach to the belly button? Should Legs stand on Arms? If only they can work together, everything will be perfect. Straight from the oral tradition comes this magical retelling of a creation story from Liberia.

My take on the book:

Head, Body, Legs is the wonderful retelling of a Liberian creation folktale and a terrific example of the oral storytelling tradition. I am also very pleased that it is my first book completed for my Read Around the World Challenge!

Young children are going to love this beautifully illustrated story of how head, arms, body and legs met and worked together to become one complete body. Although perhaps a little young for this story, my daughter really enjoyed pointing at the body parts she knew! Readers will undoubtedly giggle at the difficulty the body parts have upon coming together, such as when head becomes attached to belly button and arms get attached to legs. The lesson for children to take from this story is that the reason the body parts are able to eventually fit together pr

One of the things I love so much about children’s books is how they help children (and adults!) learn how to experience the world through the perspectives of others. With that in mind, one of my goals for Book Dads this year was to review more multicultural and ethnically diverse books. To help achieve this (and because I couldn’t find a current challenge elsewhere), I’ve decided to create the Read Around the World Challenge.

THE BASICS:

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
* Decide which challenge level you’ll be taking on (see below).
* Make sure you grab the button above (right click to save it to your computer)
* Write a post to let all your readers know you’re taking part in the challenge and at what level. Make sure to link back to this page with the button and/or text link.
* If you have a blog, please use the Mr. Linky form below to enter into the challenge by entering the direct url/link to your challenge post url and either your name, blog name, or both in the form. Please only use the comment section to participate if you do not have a blog.
* Submit your reviews as you complete them on the designated monthly post (Generally will be on the first Sunday of each month).

CHALLENGE LEVELS:
The Passport Reading Challenge — Read to or with your child a picture book, chapter book and/or YA lit book by an author from another country (Exclude your own of course).

- Set a goal according to these levels:
* Intercontinental Level — Read 10 or more books by authors from countries on 2 or more different continents
* Savvy Traveler Level — Read 20 or more books by authors from countries on 3 or more different continents
* Marco Polo Level — Read 35 or more books by authors from countries on 4 or more different continents
* National Geographic Level — Read 50 or more books by authors count