Multicultural Children’s Book Day – Jan. 27, 2018

Official Hashtag: #ReadYourWorld

Playing with Osito

Lisa Maria Burgess, Author

Susan L. Roth, Collages

Barranca Press, Fiction, March 8, 2018

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes: Bear, Animals, Bilingual, Multicultural, Seasons, Humor

Opening: “It was the end of autumn. The sky was blue, so I went outside to play… At the top of the mountain, I met a baby bear. Osito also wanted to play, but he was cold.”

Synopsis: Osito wants to play, but his fur is growing slowly and he’s got the shivers. The girl thinks covering this baby bear with honey and a coat of wildflowers is a good idea. So with a SCHLOP, schloooooooop, schluup, Osito is happy licking the sticky honey. Osito warms up and he and the girl play. But then they hear a BZZZZ…BZZ…BBBZZZ. The bees arrive and Osito makes a run for the creek!

Osito climbs out of the creek and shivers in the warm sun. So the girl plasters him with honey and rolls him in grass, because bees don’t like grass. But goats do! How will the girl help Osito get warm?

Why I like this book:

This captivating and humorous bilingual story is set in the mountains that traverse the US and Mexico. It is inspired by Lisa Maria Burgess’ childhood memories of playing in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua. Each page shows both English and Spanish translations on one side and an illustration on the opposite page.

This baby bear has character. Children will cheer Osito as he tries to get warm and giggle at the girl’s amusing and clever attempts to help him. They will enjoy the witty  repetition and have fun guessing what kind of coat the girl will dream up next for Osito.  Each coat she creates for the bear represents the changing seasons of the year: spring flowers, summer grass, autumn leaves and winter snow.

Susan L. Roth’s spirited and brightly colored collage illustrations are exquisite and really make this story sing. She created Osito and much of the landscape with tree bark paper, which has been made in Mexico since precolonial times. Roth’s  illustrations are a unique mixed-media collage of a variety of natural textures that represent many of the items that would be found in the mountains, even the beautiful Lupine and Paintbrush flowers that grow there.

Resources: There are fun facts about the endangered species used in the story  bears, bees and goats, and special flowers and trees known in the Sierra Madre. Children will enjoy learning a bit of English or Spanish as they read the story.  For example a bear is called “los osos” and bees are called “las abejas” in Spanish.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2018 is in its 5th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Their mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

Current Sponsors: MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild

PLATINUM: Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD: Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors
Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo, Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and MFL Publishing, Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham, Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

*I received a review copy of Playing with Osito from Barranca Press. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.