K is for Korea by Hyechong Cheung

Here's a very fine informational, photograph-illustrated, book for children all about Korea. This caught my eye on the new book cart because I'm half Korean. K is for Korea is one in a series of nonfiction books which are well done and I'll list them all at the end. Set in alphabet-format, each letter teaches something different about Korea and its people. For example: "B is for Buchaechum, a spectacular fan dance." Each short paragraph of information is accompanied by a large photograph. The paragraphs are just long enough to give some interesting details but short enough that children won't get bored. This is a nice way to gain some exposure to another culture without actually traveling there (who can afford that nowadays?). Here are the other titles in the series that are at the library:
A is for Africa
B is for Brazil
C is for China
M is for Mexico

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Review: Kareem Between

Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages. Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...

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If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

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