See Where We Come From!: A First Book of Family Heritage

by Scot Ritchie

Overview

A perfect, kid-friendly introduction to family heritage. Today is a big day for the five friends. Their class is hosting a Heritage Festival to celebrate the customs and traditions of people from all over the world. Martin, Sally, Pedro, Nick and Yulee each have their own heritage, and they have so much to share! They learn about various traditions involving music, food, language, stories, crafts, clothing and games. They also learn that exploring their different heritages makes everyone feel like they belong! There’s a world of fun to be had, as readers discover the many ways people are alike and what makes each of us unique!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525305436
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Series:	Exploring Our Community
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	41 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Scot Ritchie is an award-winning author-illustrator of over 50 books including Join the No-Plastic Challenge!, Follow That Map! and Look Where We Live!. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

An appealing introduction to cultural differences.—Booklist

... a fun story and a meaningful learning tool.—CM Magazine

From the Publisher

2021-03-31
Best friends Martin, Sally, Nick, Pedro, and Yulee are getting ready to celebrate their school’s heritage festival.

Every family has been asked to bring something to eat and something to share for show and tell. Martin, whose father is Indian and whose mother is Japanese, is bringing two dishes to the festival along with a traditional Japanese flute. Sally is Haida, and her ancestors are some of the original inhabitants of North America; she brings a cedar-bark basket. Pedro, who is Brazilian, decides to do a soccer demo. Nick has Scandinavian heritage, and he is going to wear a Viking helmet. (His moms are an interracial couple.) And Egyptian-born Yulee is excited to share an Egyptian vegetarian dish called koshary that she made with her grandmother. At the festival, the five friends share their dishes and their show-and-tell items with the rest of the school, as do their classmates. Alongside the narrative are questions prompting readers to reflect on their own backgrounds. While it is refreshing to see both Indigenous and multiracial characters in a picture book, the text focuses on what has been called the “food, festival, folklore, and fashion” approach to multiculturalism rather the complexities of migration and displacement that are the reality of so many children’s lives. As a result, the text reads more as a series of cultural snapshots than a coherent narrative about diversity. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 55.6% of actual size.)

Just scratches the surface of multicultural education. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews