Maya Ajmera

In the foreword to this attractive photo collection of grandparents and their grandchildren, Bishop Desmond Tutu states: “We make sure that the wisdom of our ancestors is passed on to the next generation.” Written in the voice of today’s grandchildren, the simple sentences that form the body of the text accompany engaging photographs of the world’s children sharing stories, celebrating holidays, feeling happy, safe and loved, and learning from one another. Sometimes wearing show more traditional clothing, sometimes dressed in contemporary wear, kids and their grandparents from Peru, China, the United States, Russia, Morocco, Kenya, Yemen and other countries smile out from the photographs. A few look serious, as a child points out something on the computer to a Japanese grandparent and a Pakistani grandparent reads a picture book to his young grandson. Some proceeds go to The Global Fund for Children, but the real contribution will be to further the relationships of the young and young-at-heart viewers of this book. Translations of “Grandma” and “Grandpa” in different languages and a map reinforce the international breadth of this charmer. (activities) (Picture book. 3-8)

-Kirkus Review show less

I believe that this is a great book informing young readers about the similarities within family members all over the world. The photographs provided are captivating and all readers to see clearly how families may look different but still can be similar. Each photo is labeled with the country the picture is taken in, along with a caption of the things grandparents do with their grandchildren all over the world.

The beginning of the text displays a list of how to say “Grandparents” in a show more variety of languages. This broadens the perspective of young readers and allows them to understand a culture/language outside of their own. Additionally, the book finishes with a map of the world, labeled with the countries that were discussed. This is an example of yet another visual tool to broaden perspective.

The message of this book is for children to compare/understand diversity through something familiar to them. I feel that using grandparents as that focus of comparison, works well for young children as a way to view different cultures differently. show less

Faith by Maya Ajmera, Magda Nakassis, and Cynthia Pon is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever encountered. Each page has simple text stating something that happens in religions: “We read our holy books,” and three to six photographs of children acting out that action with a caption stating what he/she is doing and the country in which the picture was taken: “Studying the Qur’an. Kenya,” “A young Buddhist reads sutras. Mongolia,” 'Holding a rosary while reading the Bible. show more United Kingdom,” “Young Orthodox Jews study prayer books. Israel.” It is incredibly powerful in that it evokes the broad themes and activities universal in religions and shows real children practicing them in diverse ways. show less

I like how this book illustrates all different types of musical instruments from around the world. It has real photographs of children playing these instruments and captions underneath each photo telling about where the instrument came from. The other neat part about this book is the section on how to build your instruments.