Welcome to our new feature, Around the Kitchen Table! This series of fun and informative articles will feature a different country and culture each week and will offer families culturally diverse recipes and crafts to prepare and create together around their kitchen table, as well as a history and information on the culture that is being featured. We hope you enjoy this 4 part series and that your family will enjoy learning about other cultures and spending time together in a new and creative way!

The United Mexican States or Mexico, is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico is comprised of thirty-one states and the capital is Mexico City, whose metropolitan area is one of the world’s most populous.

Covering almost 2 million square kilometers, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million, it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

Our Mexican Recipe

Quesadillas are one of the mainstays of Mexico’s street-side stands, and are considered quintessential Mexican. It turns out that they are hybrid creations, half indigenous and half Spanish. The corn tortilla on which quesadillas are based is Native-American; the cheese, as well as the pork, chicken, and/or beef that may accompany the cheese, is Spanish. The hot-sauce made with chili pepper is indigenous, but the shredded lettuce is Spanish. Crema Mexicana (similar to sour cream) is also added as a finishing touch.

Spicy Pork Quesadillas

1/2 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup diced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 jalapeno chile, minced*
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1/4 cup grated Cheddar or jack cheese

1. In large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook pork with onion and garlic until browned; drain off any drippings and remove to large bowl.
2. Stir cumin, oregano, jalapeno and cilantro into pork mixture.
3. Wipe out skillet with paper towel and heat over medium-high heat. Place one tortilla in skillet; top with half of the pork mixture, spreading evenly, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of cheese. Top with another tortilla and cook on one side until nicely browned (about 2 to 3 minutes), pressing down occasionally on top tortilla. Turn and brown the other side, remove to cutting board and cut into 8 wedges. Repeat process to make 8 more quesadilla wedges. Serve with salsa, if desired. Serves 4.
*Wear rubber gloves when handling hot chiles.

Recipe and photograph provided courtesy of Pork, The Other White Meat

Our Craft of the Week – Paper Plate Maracas

One of the most recognizable of the percussion instruments is the maracas, a pair of rattles made from gourds. Maracas are essential to Latin and South American orchestras and bands, and other musical forms that have adopted the rhythm of the maracas.

Maracas are used as musical instruments, and they are usually oval or egg-shaped. Maracas originate from Central and South America where legend tells of a goddess wrapping white stones in a calabash gourd (the dried fruit of a calabash tree) to make the first maraca. As well as gourds, today they are made out plastic, metal, woven baskets or wood. Anything from dried peas, to rice or corn will do to make the shaking sound.

Supplies needed:
• One or two paper plates
• Dried beans, rice, or popcorn
• Stapler
• Paint, markers, or crayons
• Optional: crepe paper streamers
• Popsicle or craft stick
• Tape

Instructions:

• Tape craft stick to the inside of one of the paper plates
• Put a handful or 2 of the dried beans, rice or corn in the paper plate with the craft stick
• Optional: Cut streamers and lay them out on the inner rim of the paper plate
• Place the paper plates together with the insides facing each other
• Staple around the edges of the paper plates
• Decorate the outside of the maracas with glitter, markers, crayons, paint, etc.

Our Book of the Week

Off We Go To Mexico (from Barefoot Books) – Available in English and Spanish

Readers explore the richness of Mexican culture, visiting el mercado, and dancing to la musica of the mariachis. This book also teaches over 40 simple Spanish words and phrases.

“On each spread, artwork inspired by the festive colors and distinctive iconography of Mexican folk crafts pairs with Krebs’ singsong verse about a place or experience.” - Booklist

“There’s a lot we like about Off We Go to Mexico! An Adventure in the Sun, especially the authentic Mexican look and tone. Vibrant art, rhyming text, detailed cultural descriptions - plus Spanish language - it’s a great tote-bag accessory to pack for down-time at the beach.”
- Nick Jr. Family Magazine

And now we say Hasta Luego for the present time! We hope you have enjoyed your brief tour of the Mexican culture, all from the comfy confines of your kitchen table. Look for part 2 of our series focusing on the Chinese culture next week. See you soon.

This is a fantastic project that started a few years ago in Peru using Arpillera Storybooks (storybooks made of tiny bits of fabric hand stitched together). That can be replicated anywhere, fostering awareness of different cultural traditions, allowing for creativity during storytelling time and supporting motor skills for the little ones.

Rosana Reategui, a professional storyteller works with 22 women that migrated to Lima (capital of Peru) from the countryside escaping from the poverty and violence terrorism brought to Peru in the 80’s. They started a workshop creating these storybooks and now are an integral part of the project. Their hands, tell the stories and the children add details or re-create the story drawing ideas from their daily lives.

Even though there are no “Arpilleras” in the US or other countries, we can certainly, with some patience and time, create a little storybook for our kids, including little characters or using finger puppets. Let them create a story for you and share a bit of what’s going on in their minds!

Hope you enjoy the video, it is in Spanish but you can certainly see the storybooks and the interest the kids show when browsing through the colorful pages!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnjnZNCTjng

Gigi Pedraza

http://www.incakids.org/

“The book is engaging as a read-aloud about an intergenerational relationship or as an introduction to the country.”
- School Library Journal

Written by: Theresa Heine
Illustrated by: Sheila Moxley

In this great article from scholastic book publishers, they list the top 50 best multi-cultural children’s books.  They also feature advice from educators, writers and illustrators on how to spot literature that transcends cultural sterotypes.

Within each section of this article, you’ll find:

• Reviews of ten great children’s books suitable for grades K-8
• Essential advice from a children’s author or illustrator
  Joseph Bruchac
  Gary Soto
  Floyd Cooper
  Patricia Polacco
  Yumi Heo
• Key criteria to use when selecting books
• A list of notable authors

How do you know if a children’s book you’re about to share with your child accurately portrays the culture of its characters? Are there warning signs to look for? Are there telltale things that mark an outstanding multicultural book? To answer these questions, Scholastic Instructor invited five children’s literature specialists to give us their candid advice on selecting books about or related to Native Americans, Latinos, African-Americans, Jews, and Asian-Americans.

Please see our friends at Scholastic for the complete article.

To purchase multi-cultural children’s books for your family, visit our friends at:

Kane Miller

UsBorne Books

Barefoot Books

This post is another one of our new features. We will be posting monthly recipes from the Children’s World Cookbook - UsBorne Books. To view or purchase this amazing and diverse cookbook, visit our friends at:

http://www.ubah.com/R2633

Bloomsbury Review - September/October 2002
The Children’s World Cookbook includes favorite recipes from many countries around the world. For the United States it is cheesecake and brownies! The most fascinating aspect of the book, though, may be the pages devoted to explaining one food type as it appears in different countries. For instance, the page on breads around the world shows pictures of brioche, pretzels, nan, pita, focaccia, and more. If your child has any sense of adventure when it comes to food, this book will surely be of interest. It is not a young child’s book, however, but meant for someone old enough to know his or her way around a kitchen - maybe even you. Reviewer - Cindy L.A. Jones, Ph.D.

French Apple Tart

(Serves 4)

175g/6oz. plain flour
85g/3oz. chilled butter
30g/1oz. caster sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
1-2 tablespoons cold water
450g/1lb. cooking apples
55g/2oz. caster sugar
3 eating apples
2 tablespoons apricot jam
2 tablespoons hot water

a 20cm (8in.) flan dish

Oven temperature: 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to the flour.
2. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add 30g/1oz. caster sugar.
3. Mix in the beaten egg yolk and enough water to make a ball of dough. Put it into a refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Turn on the oven. Peel the cooking apples, cut them into quarters and cut out the cores. Slice the quarters.
5. Put the apples, cold water and sugar into a saucepan. Cook them over a low heat until the apple is soft. Stir well.
6. Sprinkle some flour onto a board and onto a rolling pin. Roll the pastry into a big circle about 2cm/1in. thick.
7. Line the flan dish with the pastry. Prick it with a fork and trim the edges with a knife. Bake it for ten minutes.
8. Spoon the cooked apple into the pastry case. Slice the eating apples and arrange them in circles on top.
9. Mix the jam with the hot water and brush it over the sliced apples to glaze them. Bake the tart for 30 minutes.

(c) 2000 Usborne Publishing Ltd.

Hello Everyone!

This is our NEW feature, BookWormz, where we review and post about muti-cultural books that embrace our spirit of diversity and unity.  We hope you enjoy these favorites as much as we do!

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

Sing Along with Fred Penner as you follow four children from different countries, each getting ready for school. See what the pictures tell you about different ways of life in Europe, Mali, India, and China.

“In this cheerful picture book with an accompanying CD, four children in different cultures act out the revised words to a traditional song, ‘Here We Go round the Mulberry Bush’ … Brimming with activity and color, the stylized acrylic paintings make each setting look different and inviting … Slipped into a plastic pocket on the endpapers, the CD features Canadian musician Fred Penner singing the new words. Appended notes introduce the old song and the accompanying movements. An upbeat way to introduce the notion that people around the world are different yet have much in common.”
- Booklist

“This multicultural treat will encourage creative movement as well as creativity in inventing other verses for preschoolers.”
- School Library Journal

Sung by: Fred Penner
Illustrated by: Sophie Fatus

To order Here we Go Round the Mulberry Bush, please visit our friends at:

BAREFOOT BOOKS and enter EV01 upon checking out.

Happy Worming,

Whole World
Illustrated by Christopher Corr
Sung by Fred Penner

“She’s got the fish of the sea
In her hands
She’s got the Whole World in her hands!”

Oprah loves us, and you will too! Oprah selected our Whole World book to be on her O magazine February “O List” of things she loves. This is a beautifully illustrated version of the song we all loved as children. Fred Penner, a famous children’s musician, contributed his talents to this catchy sing-along CD. The book also includes information about different ecosystems and has eco-tips on how to live green and respect our planet! The pronouns are mixed throughout the book, giving us all a better sense of how we are responsible for our own world.

“…this bright, lively interactive picture book makes a strong call for conservation. Each clear, spacious, double-page spread shows boys and girls of all races and places holding hands around the globe, playing together from the plains and deserts to the lakes and rivers and towns and cities … The chanting repetition with the colorful pictures of children everywhere will have even young preschoolers joining in the playful celebration of diversity and connection and saving the world.”
— Booklist

You can find out more about this book on my barefoot website, where the press release is listed as well as a few online activity sheets about our environment. This book is recommended for ages 0-9, but has a message we can all appreciate at any age! Along with spreading a message of global responsibility, Barefoot Books is donating 10% of Whole World sales to global conservation efforts. To find out more about this book, as well as find a list of our environmental partners, please visit my website at http://barefootfamily.mybarefootbooks.com

Jenn Aaron
US Stallholder US-1014367
Barefoot Books
http://barefootfamily.mybarefootbooks.com/

We All Went on Safari- A Counting Journey Through Tanzania
written by Laurie Krebs and illustrated by Julia Cairns

“We all went on safari,
Over grasslands damp with dew.
We came across some ostriches,
And Mosi counted two.”

 This book is great for toddlers beginning to count, as well as older children who are ready to learn about the world. The book follows a group of Maasai people as they explore their world, counting animals in English and Swahili. Each phrase and number get a beautiful two page illustration from Ms. Cairns. The counting poem is followed by a number of pages with information about the Maasai people, the country of Tanzania, the native animals and Swahili names. There are a number of pronunciation guides to assist in reading the story.

This book was winner of a Starred Review by the Kirkus Reviews, and recently School Library Journal said, “Youngsters will learn numbers from one to ten in English and Swahili as Mosi, Tumpe, Arusha, and other friends count African wildlife. Attractive borders frame vibrant watercolor spreads of different types of animals, including giraffes, elephants, zebras, and lions. The rhyming singsong verse, beginning with the refrain “We all went on a safari,” lends itself to a fun read-aloud.”

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each book will be donated to the African Wildlife Foundation, to aid their wildlife conservation and community building efforts in Tanzania. This is a fun book to read aloud or alone, and is a great way to introduce children of all ages to the country of Tanzania.

To find out more about this book and print an activity sheet, please visit my website at http://barefootfamily.mybarefootbooks.com

Thanks again to Jenn for the great write-up! Please take a look at what Barefoot Books has to offer - they truly are a unique and wonderful company.

This entry was written by our new partner Jenn Aaron of Barefoot Books. She will be doing a review every month for us to learn about some of the books Barefoot offers that can help us teach our children about diversity and other cultures. If you would like to purchase any of these books, please visit Jenn’s website at: http://www.barefootfamily.mybarefootbooks.com and use code EV01 when checking out! - - Lisa

Playtime Rhymes for Little people a re-release with a newly recorded singalong CD featuring Susan Reed. This hand-sewn anthology is full of exmples of Clare Beaton’s wonderful fabric and embellishment work. It includes a collection of forty popular action rhymes with favorites such as “I’m a Little Teapot” and “Head and Shoulders,” as well as less familiar selections such as “Fishes Swim in Water Clear” and “There’s a Wide Eyed Owl”.

Barefoot says, “The book is designed to help children develop language and counting skills while improving their coordination and encouraging them to interact. Playtime Rhymes for Little People is a glorious anthology that will keep children happily occupied for many hours, and will be treasured for many generations.”

Kids will be familiar with a number of the poems, and will be delighted with the ones they’ve never heard before. Poetry is an important part of building pre-reading skills, as well as strengthening the abilities of beginning readers. This is a book that you can be proud to give as a gift for a baby shower, birthday, christening, easter, or any number of other special occasions. The best gift you can give is the gift of reading- just 20 minutes a day can boost early literacy rates and the enjoyment of reading for years to come.

So, I am an avid Harry Potter Fan and had a long drive to make this weekend - the perfect solution - take my books on CD to listen to!

As I paid close attention to the words, I realized what an important lesson the books teach us about diversity and learning to live together and stand up for one another regardless of our background or how we look.  JK Rowling introduces us to flawed characters that are all different; muggles (non-magical), half-bloods (mixed ancestry), giants, werewolves and so many others.  She shows their weaknesses, but also their strengths and what makes them just like everyone else - their humanity.  In the end, they all end up banding together to fight the evil that threatens to destroy them.

What a wonderful theme that the books teach our children and how wonderful that an author who is bigger than life, took time to carefully set out to teach important lessons and help our children learn lessons of life on a fun and imaginative journey.  These stories are very much more than media hype - they have brought families together to read again, they have re-introduced adults to the fun of reading for pleasure and they do teach much deeper lessons about life.

Good vs. Evil, acceptance, tolerance and perserverance are all themes that are interwoven into all of the stories and are magnified in the character of Harry.  We can all find a part of ourselves in him I believe.

If you have not read these books or better yet, read them with your children, I encourage you to do so - - much more than taking you to a vivid imaginative world (and they will do that!) they can also help to remind us that although we are all different, no one is perfect and we are all working toward the same goals.