Mommy Plannerista

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Book Review: Mei-Mei’s Lucky Birthday Noodles

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Mei-Mei's Lucky Birthday Noodles Book Cover Mei-Mei's Lucky Birthday Noodles
Shan-Shan Chen
Children's Book
Tuttle Publishing
Oct. 26, 2014
Hardcover
32
Publisher

A loving story of adoption, Chinese culture and a special birthday treat

Mei-Mei is Chinese—but not Mom and Dad! When she was a baby, Mom and Dad flew all the way to the other side of the world to adopt her and bring her home. Lucky for Mei-Mei, her parents want her to know all about her roots in China's wonderful culture. That's why, on her birthday, her mom always makes her a traditional Chinese treat—long noodles, for a long and happy life. And this year, Mei-Mei is big enough to help her mom make them!

Through a simple story and bright illustrations, Mei-Mei's Lucky Birthday Noodles takes young readers through this special day, from the moment an excited Mei-Mei wakes up in the morning and puts on her favorite dress, through helping Mom measure water, clean veggies and rinse noodles, to a great birthday celebration with family and friends. After the story comes a kid-friendly recipe for this tasty traditional dish. Younger kids can help Mom or Dad—just like Mei-Mei—while older kids can make it themselves, with supervision.

Along with the birthday excitement and a great Chinese treat, readers will see the adoptive experience at its best—a lot of love and the sharing of roots, showing both parents and kids one of the many ways adopted children from all over the world can learn about the country they come from and take pride in its culture.

About the Author:

Accomplished chef Shan-Shan Chen has been a regular guest on California's show The View from the Bay, where she demonstrates to viewers how to prepare inexpensive and delicious Chinese dishes. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, she enjoys sharing the richness of Chinese culture with people of all backgrounds.

Heidi Goodman specializes in watercolors and, of course, she loves books and cooking. She lives in California with her husband and two sons, and has previously worked for Excite, Inc. and Pottery Barn Kids online.

I was very eager to review this book because I thought it would be a nice tool to use to introduce the concept of adoption to my five-year-old son. He didn’t know yet what the word means. And so we began to read the book and unfortunately, although it was obvious that the main character, Mei-Mei, is adopted, there was no explanation about the concept at all. Adoption, in the book, was already a given.

I guess to older kids who already know what adoption is this won’t be a problem. However, for younger kids, I suggest you prep them first with a short intro on adoption before you read this book or else they won’t get what that part means.

Aside from that though, I think this book is a good read for kids. I like that it highlights the Chinese culture and shows how Mei-Mei’s adoptive parents are making an effort to teach her about her heritage. I think this is an important thing for adoptive parents to do.

I also like that it shows mother and daughter bonding together by way of cooking. Mei-Mei helping her adoptive mom to cook is a great example for kids in teaching them about helping around the house. At the same time they’ll be learning and having fun with their family.

The book is also big, about short bond paper size, which is great because that means bigger illustrations as well. The illustrations, by the way, are beautiful and colorful, making the reading experience more fun for kids.

Lastly, I really like the recipe at the back. It encourages readers to actually experience what Mei-Mei and her mom did in the book. The learning experience doesn’t stop at merely reading the book. Love that! I believe kids learn more when they actually experience things.

Overall, I think it’s a worthy read because it’s simple and teaches valuable lessons to its readers. I definitely recommend it.

Book Review: My First Origami Kit by Joel Stern

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My First Origami Kit Book Cover My First Origami Kit
Joel Stern
Tuttle Publishing
Origami Kit with Book
Tuttle Publishing

**Winner of Creative Child Magazine 2015 Preferred Choice Award**

Children and beginners can make fun and simple origami projects with this great origami kit.

My First Origami Kit is the perfect, affordable introductory kit for kids and parents to learn and master the joys of origami together. If you've never done origami before, My First Origami Kit is a great origami kit for beginners. It is filled with origami of all kinds—birds, beasts, vehicles, even a teddy bear that talks when you open and close its arms.

The folding fun begins with the specially designed origami papers. Both sides are decorated based on the subject—feathers for the duck, metal plates for the airplane, scales for the cobra, and other surprises. You'll end up with a great looking paper model no matter which side you start with. You can add fun stickers to your finished models—to make eyes, ears, paws, and other features.

This easy origami kit contains:
Full-colored instructional booklet
Easy-to-follow instructions
22 origami-for-kids projects
150 detailed stickers
60 two-sided folding sheets
Origami paper is pre-colored

This kit is sure to keep kids engaged and happy for hours. They'll be so proud of their very first origami—and you'll be happy to display them!

Origami projects include:
Penny Penguin
Sea Surfer
Caramel Bear
Magic Box
Hugo Pig
And many more…

About the Author:

Joel Stern has enjoyed origami since his childhood. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he has conducted many origami workshops for all ages in camps, schools, community centers, and libraries. Joel is also the author of Origami Games, Animated Origami Faces, Jewish Holiday Origami, as well as Washington Pops!, a collection of do-it-yourself pop-up cards of famous buildings in Washington, D.C. His origami and pop-up creations have been exhibited in the U.S., Japan, and Israel.

 

I’ve been looking for arts and crafts activities that my five-year-old son can do as part of our homeschool activities. So, when the chance to review this origami kit was presented to me, I readily grabbed the opportunity.

Tuttle Publishing has many different origami kits for all ages but I chose this one because it’s the most basic one. I figured it will be easy for my son to do. In the end though, even my 13 and 14-year-old daughters joined in on the fun. Let me tell you what you can find inside the kit.

myfirstorigamikit1

My First Origami Kit has everything you will need to make the 20 different projects featured. That includes the instructional booklet, stickers, and sheets of origami paper.

I love that there are different kinds of origami projects in this kit. A lot of them are animals though. The origami papers are already colored and have back-to-back designs based on the different projects. So it’s just a matter of choosing the correct design that will match the project. Then, you just have to follow the instructions in the kit. The instructions are pretty easy for a big kid to understand, especially since there are illustrations on how to fold the paper aside from just the text. There are only a few steps involved in each project. However, for younger kids like my son, it will be necessary for an adult or an older kid to guide them.

myfirstorigamikit3

Here are the different projects we were able to try from the kit. I sat down with all three of my kids and we all went through the instructions together. Zoe and Ziya were able to do them easily but I had to assist Ziggy with his. He’s only 5 years old so that’s understandable.

myfirstorigamikit2

It was definitely a fun bonding experience for the four of us. The only thing I didn’t like is that for some of the projects, the quantity of origami paper doesn’t match with the quantity of stickers that are supposed to go with them. I don’t know why that is but we just opted to use the other stickers even though they’re supposed to be for another project.

I’d definitely recommend this kit for those who want to try origami for the first time. For those who are more advanced though, they’d probably prefer the other versions of the kit.

Book Review: Diary of a Tokyo Teen – A Japanese – American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High – Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes

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Diary of a Tokyo Teen: A Japanese-American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High-Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes Book Cover Diary of a Tokyo Teen: A Japanese-American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High-Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes
Christine Mari Inzer
Young Adult, Graphic Novel
Tuttle Publishing
September 6, 2016
Paperback with Flaps Edition
128 pages
Tuttle Publishing

A book for comic lovers and Japanophiles of all ages, Diary of a Tokyo Teen presents a unique look at modern-day Japan through a young woman's eyes.

Born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father in 1997, Christine Mari Inzer spent her early years in Japan and relocated to the United States in 2003. The summer before she turned sixteen, she returned to Tokyo, making a solo journey to get reacquainted with her birthplace. Through illustrations, photos, and musings, Inzer documented her journey.

In Diary of a Tokyo Teen, Inzer explores the cutting-edge fashions of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district, eats the best sushi of her life at the renowned Tsukiji fish market, and hunts down geisha in the ancient city of Kyoto. As she shares the trials and pleasures of travel from one end of a trip to the other, Inzer introduces the host of interesting characters she meets and offers a unique—and often hilarious—look at a fascinating country and an engaging tale of one girl rediscovering her roots.

When I signed up to review this book, I wasn’t aware that it was going to be a graphic novel. I just thought it was a regular novel that my two teen daughters and I will enjoy reading. So, when it arrived I was taken by surprise that it was actually a graphic novel, something I don’t normally read. But I’m glad I did.

The book’s author, Christine Mari Inzer, is also the artist behind the illustrations in the book. This being a graphic novel, there were a lot of drawings inside, together with dialogues and/or descriptions, that illustrated Inzer’s adventures in Japan. The illustrations made the book an interesting read, especially since they were also accompanied by actual photos. The book is also almost as big as a letter size paper which made it easier to appreciate all the big drawings and photos.

DiaryOfATokyoTeen3

The book has 9 chapters starting from an introduction about Inzer and her plane ride from the US to Japan, then ending with her going back home after an eight week vacation. The story is divided according to Inzer’s major adventures in Japan, much like how one would really write a travelogue.

As someone really interested in travel, I loved this book because it’s so educational and teaches its readers a lot of helpful information about Japan. It doesn’t only include information about the popular destination spots but also tackles a lot about pop culture, which is something teenagers are really interested in. There’s a lot of discussion about food, fashion, festivals and even Japanese TV. My daughters even said that they know a lot more about Japan now after reading the book. It made them more interested to visit the country someday.

DiaryOfATokyoTeen2

My daughters also liked this book because it’s a light and funny read. The language used was very conversational. I can actually imagine Inzer talking in such a way in front of me. There are a lot of funny anecdotes from her, which makes her very relatable to teens. But even I, the mom, was also amused while reading the book.

The only thing I didn’t like was that part of the book about talking to strangers, wherein “Filipino” was referred to as “Philippino” in one of the dialogues. I know that some foreigners really have a hard time spelling the word correctly. However, this was something that could have been corrected by the editors.

Overall, my daughters and I really liked the book and would recommend it to other teens as well.

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