Disclaimer:
I have been given this book in exchange for a review. However, all opinions are honest and my own.
Working with Multicultural Kid Blogs is great in many ways: not only I get to meet some wonderful bloggers from around the world and learn from them; but I also get to review some of the most interesting multicultural books.
Today I’d like to share with you a book we read with my children called Megumi’s First Trip to Kyoto by Alexandra Parsons (click the link for more information).
In the book a young girl, Megumi, goes on a trip with her grandfather. On the way she plays an imagination game with him, introducing numbers in Japanese to the reader.
The whole book is filled with useful Japanese vocabulary which could be interesting to children learning about Japan, or preparing to take a trip there.
While counting and playing the imagination game, Megumi and her grandpa open the world of Japanese culture to the reader: its temples, its flag, its traditional scenery and nature.
It was fun trying to pronounce the words and then comparing our pronunciation to the one we found online – so different! But nevertheless, a lesson to learn, and my daughter, who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, was quite interested in Japanese as well.
We really enjoyed reading this book. The illustrations seem simply but leave a deep impression on the reader.
In order to get a little big more familiar with Japan and Kyoto, we found them on the maps.
Then, we looked at some interesting facts, craft and ideas about, and related to Japan over at my fellow bloggers’ sites:
Japanese Sensory Garden from All Done Monkey
Japan Collection from Glittering Muffins
Books About Japan from Kid World Citizen
All About Life in Japan from Melibelle in Tokyo
We also made some fans from paper and decorated them.
And then, we made Japanese Udon to complete our evenings of taking a virtual tour to Japan with Megumi and her grandpa.
Have you ever been to Japan? Share with us your experience!
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About the author:
Alexandra Parsons is a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, and this book incorporates various aspects of the Japanese culture that she witnessed and participated in during her visit in 2005. She is an English teacher and Learning Specialist at a private school and lives with her family and two dogs in Florida.
