Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
This review is part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
Bijoy is a boy living in Assam. He’s more than that though. Through him, Meera Sriram and Praba Ram tell children a story. His life is the story of where silk comes from. But more importantly, this story is about how people live in rural India. He is a proxy for a tale that teaches children about one aspect of a completely different world.
The book opens by talking about Bijoy’s life, and his village. We learn a little about the food that he eats, and we learn that his family raises silkworms. The cocoons, which are what will be turned to silk, get harvested, spun by his mother, and then Bijoy and his father take them from their village to the city. Through Bijoy’s eyes, we experience the travel to the city, and selling the silk threads to be woven into fabric.
My Take: I like this book. Like it but don’t love it. It serves as a great introduction to larger conversations about where our clothes come from, how other people live, and even about animals. The photography in this book is stunning, with pictures of animals, boats, and people. The book also provides a lot of information in captions. These can sometimes break away from the flow of reading and we skipped some of them, only to go back later.
I would have liked more of a plot, and more detail. The book is very short, which I understand, but I feel that it definitely could have been longer without kids losing interest.
The book is listed as being for ages 10 and up, but it is easily accessible for younger children. There are some hard words, but it is very readable. Overall, I give it 3.5 out of 5.
This review is part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day, whose mission is to raise awareness for children’s books that celebrate diversity and to get more of these books into schools and libraries. You can participate on Twitter by following the #ReadYourWorld. The event was founded by Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump into a Book.
To see the co-hosts of the event, and learn more about it, please go here.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day is teaming up with First Book, a charity dedicated to getting books into the hands of children in need, to host a virtual book drive.
Special thanks to the Children’s Book Council for its support and contributions to this project.
MCCBD’s 2015 Sponsors include Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, Gold Sponsors: Satya House, MulticulturalKids.com, Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild, Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books, The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing, Rainbow Books, Author FeliciaCapers, Chronicle Books Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.
Author Sponsors
Beautiful Rainbow World by Suzee Ramirez
Lulu and the Very Big Meanies by Mac McGooshie, illustrated by Alexis Hogwood
Real Street Kidz Multicultural Children’s Book Series by Quentin Holmes
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