Michael GenhartRezensionen

This is a brightly illustrated narrative of a family making tamales together on Christmas Eve. It shows the abuela teaching the grandchildren every step of making the tamale. I can see this being a good read aloud with K-2nd to talk about writing recipients or telling family stories. Celebrates family, tradition, and Hispanic heritage.

"Every year at my school there is a spelling bee in Spanish.
I'm the first in my class to sign up because Spanish is the language of my family.
Es la lengua de mi familia."

The young narrator is proud of his language and culture, and studies with his abuela, who tells him "things were very different" when she was a little girl: "el espanol no estaba permitido," she explains. Abuela's stories motivate him to study harder, even when it's difficult, and his efforts pay off.

Back matter includes an author's note, information about the National Spanish Spelling Bee, El Dia de los Ninos, and the histry of prohibiting Spanish in public schools. Selected references and a Spanish alphabet are also included.

Parra's art for the book was made with acrylic paint on illustration board and digital media; it has the texture of collage.

Ah, a book about music! I absolutely LOVE music, and growing up my school's library did not have enough books about it. Seeing more books now, especially children's picture books, packed full of things I loved as a kid makes me feel so good for this generation's libraries.

Our lead's Abuelo and Opa both play the accordion, and they are mighty good at it! They're from different cultures, but they are connected by music. This story is all about how two grandparents from different cultures who speak different languages connect through their love of music.

This book has an accordion in it! One of the most underrated and coolest instruments around (and sometimes the most annoying, let's be honest). And add in some yodeling and polka as well!

I also think this sweet, little, picture book has a great theme. It's not a super long book and it doesn't have much in it for education, but it's still a great story! It's for your younger readers for sure.

The cartoon-y, colourful nature of the illustrations was excellent. I really enjoyed the colour scheme and the style.

Four out of five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Magination Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

The story explains what each color of the rainbow represents. It is a celebration book of the LGBTQIA+ community. It is mainly to illustrate parental love and the unconditional love for the child.

The aroma of steamy corn deliciousness wraps Abuela’s home in incredible warmth and anticipation.

Alongside mounds of masa, earthy roasted chiles, and seasoned meat, the entire family forms an assembly line of cooperation and laughter. Family stories are shared and passed down to the kids, along with Abuela’s own unique way of creating her tamales. Each step carries a special message of encouragement: “may you always be flexible”; “may you always stand tall and proud”; “may you have lots and lots of hugs.” The tamales are wrapped in their pliable husks stuffed with dreams, hope, and love—and meat and chiles. As they steam, the family waits with paciencia—patience. Music, singing, and storytelling reverberate within the walls of Abuela’s home. Finally, the tamales are done. The savory Christmas Eve gifts are unwrapped one by one, and Abuela proclaims as the tamales disappear, “May your life be delicious!” Genhart’s loving tribute to the women of his Mexican American family is heartfelt and sincere. His mother is revealed in the author’s note to be the nieta (granddaughter) of the story, and she continues the family legacy at the book’s end with a new tamalada: “You start with una hoja….” The semibilingual text carries Lora’s illustrations, as they convey organized chaos while flickering between the vibrant colors of Christmas present and gray-toned memories of the past.

The warmth of family love and support wafts enticingly through this homage to tradition. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 5-10)

-Kirkus Review

This book goes through the steps of how to make tamales. The book has a sweet message as the family spends time together that the food is made with love and care. Students in a classroom could benefit from learning about a good from a different culture.

A joyful celebration of multicultural families and music. Don't miss the Author & Illustrator notes in the backmatter.

An illustrated book with no text that shows a child in a city full of people, he sees that a street woman bothers them, they take her out of stores, they see her badly on the street and in restaurants. On a snowy day, the boy sees the woman at the bus station very cold, so he decides to help her, giving her clothes to cover up. A great book to teach children to be kind to the people around them.

When both grandpas, Abuelo and Opa, visit at the same time, they can’t understand each other’s language and there is a lot of silence. The grandson resolves the problem with a clever solution.

Nice picture book about the joining of a family bonded through music. The two in-laws didn’t speak the same language and didn’t know how to communicate until it came to the accordion.

homelessness ... through the eyes of a child, and that of his community.
Good information at back of book about issue, how children see it, and organizations that can help.

Fun to read. Broke down the colors of the flag and described them. Had an easy to understand message at the end about inclusivity and loving everyone.

"Accordionly" tells the story of how two different cultures came together in the context of a family. Opa and Abuelo both play the accordion, although at first they seem to have nothing in common. Once they discover their common interest, well, you guessed it! Beautiful music results!

The story is told from the viewpoint of the grandson. Colorful illustrations accompany the text, with just a few sentences on each page to tell the story. The theme focuses youngsters on how even though people differ, they still have a lot in common. This tale is based on real people, and real families. Readers can see their photos and read their life stories at the end of the book.. Whether a child enjoys music or not, he or she will enjoy this story about different families and their cultures. This would be a good book for families to enjoy reading and re-reading together.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Back matter for parents and educators covers ways to discuss homelessness with children and appropriate ways to help the homeless. For further resources there is a list of organizations that help the homeless, including those that support veterans, youth, and pets. A good work for class discussion.

This story follows a boy wearing a rainbow heart shirt, as he shares with his friend about being teased and bullied. Other children tell him he is not in a real family because he has two gay dads. As he and his friend compare their parents they realize that they are more alike than different. The story depicts many different families from many different cultures. The important thing for everyone to remember is that Love is Love. The message of this story is an important one. This is a great story and depicts same-sex parents and relationships in a very simple way for young children to understand. The illustrations are realistic and add to the understanding of the story. This would be a good book to read to children when they have questions about same-sex relationships. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via netgalley.

age: 4-5
Summary: The boy notices that there is a homeless in his town. Also, he notices that everybody ignores the homeless. Thus, he gives a blanket to the homeless in order to help him.
*Children can make inferences about the feelings and intentions of others. Additionally, they can evaluate various solutions to moral problems and ethical questions.
Source: Pierce library

"Ouch!" moments is an awesome picture book to teach children about how words can hurt others. The illustrations shows how a child can feel when they are being called ugly names. The author did a good job teaching children how to not turn an Ouch moment into a grouch moment by name calling back and having self love.

Love is Love by Michael Genhart is a touching tale showing how all families are valid, no matter how they are organised. One young child has been teased because he was wearing a shirt with a rainbow heart, told his shirt is 'gay’, and his family doesn't count because he has two dads. His friend helps him realise that it's perfectly fine that he has two dads, and that there's nothing different between how her mother and father met and married versus his family.

I read this with my cubs. It's a great book to teach tolerance and acceptance. Though the words are few, they are exquisitely meaningful, and the artwork is just gorgeous. We loved how the story moved through different parts of the world, with the theme of coloured kites. Different places flew single colours, but at the end they all merged into a huge rainbow heart. Its overt focus is on hetero Vs homosexual families and their equal validity, but there's a latent focus on the equality of people from all cultures, skin tones, and walks of life.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks/ Jabberwocky for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lovely illustrations and an easy to understand message for children.

*eARC Netgalley*