Review - Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper {Multicultural Children's Book Day}

I'm so excited to be one of the co-hosts for this year's Multicultural Children's Book Day! This event, begun in 2014 by bloggers Valerie Budayr of Jump into a Book and Mia Wenjen of Pragmatic Mom, aims to promote diversity in children's books by shining a spotlight on multicultural titles and all they add to the world of kidlit. It's a very necessary and also super fun way to emphasize that diverse titles help you #ReadYourWorld in your homes, schools and libraries.

As part of the event, I'm sharing our thoughts about the graphic novel Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper (note: I received a copy of the book for review purposes, but all opinions are my own). I have really been looking forward to reading this one thanks to a lot of prepub buzz on social media. And I'm thrilled to say that Lowriders in Space not only lived up to all that buzz, but even exceeded it in my estimation!

Lowriders in Space blends lots of threads, making it a perfect choice to hand to all sorts of kids, whether they are interested in cars, Mexican-American culture, or outer space. The story revolves around three characters: Lupe Impala (wolf/dog-human hybrid?), El Chavo Flapjack (octopus) and Elirio Malaria (mosquito). What, you don't think this is the most logical choice for characters? I didn't either, but Camper makes it work beautifully, as she demonstrates how this crazy crew blends their mad skills to restore an old car into a lowrider and win a car competition.

The car has to be something really special to win the contest -- no ordinary lowrider's going to get the top prize, which the friends desperately want so they can open their own garage. Fortunately, the gang hits on just the thing when they add rocket boosters. Unfortunately, the three artists and their car wind up in outer space, where they'll need all their wits and ingenuity not only to trick out their ride, but also to make it back home to earth in time to make it to the contest.

Camper's creativity is what sets Lowriders in Space apart from ho-hum graphic novels that crowd the shelves. I love the way she makes all these disparate elements merge into one cohesive story that kids will fly right through. There's plenty of Mexican-American slang as well as car culture and astronomy terms woven throughout, and Camper includes a glossary at the end to define any terms young readers might not know. It's especially great to have not only a diverse cast but also a female mechanic as the main character - big points for turning stereotypes on their heads, Ms. Camper. And the illustrations by Raul the Third make Lowriders in Space sing. This is art that's vibrant yet accessible, deliberate yet casual, and most of all the kind of thing kids will want to emulate themselves. Kudos to a talented team -- Lowriders in Space is graphic novel GOLD. Can't wait to read more of the Lowriders adventures!

Activity: Try out our Lowriders in Space Word Search!

Sprout's Bookshelf is honored to be part of Multicultural Children's Book Day this year. Here's the full list of 2015 co-hosts:

Africa to America

All Done Monkey

The Educators' Spin on It

Growing Book by Book

InCultureParent

Kid World Citizen

Mama Smiles

Multicultural Kid Blogs

Sprout's Bookshelf

Many thanks to Chronicle Books for providing a copy of Lowriders in Space for us to review!

2015 Sponsors for Multicultural Children's Book Day:

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.

30 Days of Diverse Picture Books - Maria Had a Little Llama by Angela Dominguez

It's Day 28 of our 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books. Sprout is fortunate that his school starts teaching Spanish in kindergarten. He absolutely adores it! They have class every Monday and I'll tell you, that kid bounces out of bed Monday mornings so thrilled for school and his Spanish class. As a result we've been seeking out bilingual books whenever possible, to give us more exposure and learning opportunities.

And tonight's pick, Maria Had a Little Llama by Angela Dominguez, is one of our favorites! I first heard about this title when it won the Pura Belpré Illustration Honor last year, but it had fallen off my radar for a bit. Then Sprout grabbed it off the shelf at a recent visit to the library and we were both hooked - the illustrations are just so darn cute that you can't help but smile from the cover right on through to the last page!

As you might expect, Maria Had a Little Llama is a spin on the familiar nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb", but freshened up and set in Peru, and with a Spanish text added. Maria's llama loves her so much that he follows her to school, where trouble ensues (naturally) and the llama has to be sent out. But no matter, the two friends are soon reunited and the tale ends on a happy note. The story is simple enough to share with littles, but there are lots of points to talk over with older kids as well -- this would be a great springboard into reading about Peruvian culture, for example.

Maria Had a Little Llama is a terrific example of how to refresh a classic story: add a new location, throw in some cultural details and a second language to make the title accessible to a wider range of readers. Add to that the super adorable pictures, and you've got a title that wins on every level!

Maria Had a Little Llama by Angela Dominguez, published by Henry Holt

30 Days of Diverse Picture Books - Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos by Susan Middleton Elya

It's Day 6 of our 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books. How have you been celebrating Picture Book Month? I hope it's by sharing great titles with kiddos, or even just reading some yourself (or to the cat. . .we won't judge!)

Tonight's pick is one that Sprout's super obsessed with lately - Susan Middleton Elya's Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos. It's not surprising that he loves this book, since one of his favorite things about kindergarten is his weekly Spanish class. And Bomberos is tons of fun to read, so I'm glad to have it in heavy rotation.

Elya's done something really terrific with this book in that she mixes the Spanish throughout without subsequently translating the words. That's great for an emerging reader like Sprout, as it teaches him to interpret the unfamiliar words through the context and pictures. It also makes Bomberos more appealing to bilingual readers, who must cringe at every book that uses a Spanish phrase and follows that right up with English phrase. It also makes the text flow a lot better and doesn't take away from the fun (though there's a glossary with pronunciation guide at the end - super helpful.)

Bomberos is lively and exciting, just right for kids who want to get into the action of firefighting. And thanks to Dan Santat's sly touches with the illustrations (we really love the expressive animals!), this is one picture book that works all the way around. Muy bueno!

Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos by Susan Middleton Elya, published by Bloomsbury