Let me tell you the background to MCBD<\/span><\/p>\n Multicultural Children\u2019s Book Day 2017 (1\/27\/18) is in its 5th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids\u2019 books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.<\/p>\n My Book<\/span><\/p>\n I was given my book by our sponsor Green Kids Club. <\/a>They create gorgeous colourful picture books to teach children about the planet, its ecosystems and the creatures who live here. My book is one of a series where two children Maya and Victor drink water from The Green Spring and are granted the ability to talk to animals.<\/p>\n So, are you ready to pay attention?<\/span><\/p>\n I am going to:<\/p>\n -tell you what I think about the book<\/p>\n -tell you my idea for an activity to encourage reading <\/p>\n -tell you about the Twitter party<\/p>\n -tell you where you can go to find more books about our fabulous planet.<\/p>\n My book review<\/span><\/p>\n Series:<\/strong>Green Kids Club<\/p>\n Age: <\/strong>7 upwards<\/p>\n Source:<\/strong> Sylvia M Medina (author)<\/p>\n This colourful book is gentle in tone and charming in its illustrative style. This means it is able to deliver a tough message without upsetting even a sensitive child. Victor and Maya are visiting Botswana and meeting their friend Maatla when Maya asks to see an elephant,<\/p>\n Maya’s desire to see an elephant worries her friend Maatla as he is aware that the elephants are under attack from poachers. The children learn that there are people who will kill an elephant to take the tusks. Tusks are a unique substance for carving and they are valuable in Asia. (Woolly mammoths had tusks too and you don’t see many of them about. )<\/p>\n Maatla takes the children to look for elephants and, inevitably, drama and excitement follow. Maya and Victor have magic powers that allow them to help animals and those powers can be shared with. Maatla is given the same gift and he is stupefied when he can suddenly hear animals speaking. The ending is a happy one but pages of facts at the back of the book open children’s eyes to an unpleasant situation going on in the world right now.<\/p>\n If you read this book to your children you mighy tell them that public opinion persuaded the Chinese to ban the sale of ivory. Young eco-warriors need messages of hope. Despite the poachers’ activities, this book gives a strong sense of that Africa’s animals are precious and valued. <\/p>\n This is the first and only book I have read from this series. Animal lovers will find many more on Amazon.<\/p>\n My activity to encourage reading<\/span><\/p>\n Remember I said I had an activity? OK, here is my book gift package idea.<\/p>\n The story about the baby elephant in danger got me thinking. And when kids start thinking they want to play. How about when you go to Amazon to buy this book head on over to the page where they sell African animals. It is called Schleich<\/a> and they have all the animals from The Elephant and the King.<\/a><\/p>\n You can act out the exciting scenes where the baby elephant is in danger and the lion and the other animals get involved.<\/p>\n![\"Book](\"http:\/\/www.avriloreilly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Elephant-and-the-King-small-file-w-cover-1.jpg\")
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