My First Kwanzaa

by Karen Katz

A simple way to get acquainted with Kwanzaa " Hooray! Hooray!
It's time to get ready for Kwanzaa." During the seven days of Kwanzaa we celebrate the importance of family, friends, and community. This warm and lively introduction to a very special holiday will help even the youngest children join in! Author and illustrator Karen Katz kicks off a wonderful new series of picture books for the very young with My First Kwanzaa . The series will offer a simple and fun way to get familiar with the traditions of holiday celebrations from different cultures.

Genres: Picture Books, Holiday, Childrens, Cultural, Storytime

28 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Karen Katz has written and illustrated many books for children, including The Colors of Us, Can You Say Peace, My First Ramadan, Counting Kisses and Where is Baby's Belly Button. Long inspired by folk art from around the world, she was inspired to write her first book, Over the Moon, when she and her husband adopted their daughter from Guatemala, and she wanted to tell the story of welcoming Lena into their lives. Katz loves to paint and experiment with texture, color, collage and pattern. Besides an author and illustrator, she has been a costume designer, quilt maker, fabric artist and graphic designer. Katz and her family divide their time between New York City and Saugerties, New York.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/karenkatz

Reviews

[Janiece Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, diverse, and great illustrations! A great book to pay homage to the different cultures that surround us. The illustrations are wonderful and each page gives an African word and its meaning, which I thought was neat!

[Destiny]

This book is about a little girl's first kwanzaa. Throughout the book she describes what her family does on each day of kwanzaa. This book would be very interesting for kids. It allows children to learn more about kwanzaa , while telling a fun story. This books also allows children to think about how everyone celebrate holidays different. It gives children an incite into what Kwanzaa mean to African people. There is no type of plot in this book, it's more of an informative story about kwanzaa. The book utilizes style and language that are appropriate for children's ages interest. This book is very realistic. The illustrations were very bright and colorful throughout the books This pictures accurately shows the setting, plot, and characters. The pictures definitely correspond to the text. It gives us a picture of what is celebrated on each day on kwanzaa. The pictures can hold a child's interest because they're very colorful and different. I think the pictures add more to the story, because it allows children to see what celebrating kwanzaa looks like. The characters in this book represents the African culture. Nothing in this book is negative, its a positive representations of Africans. The characters did use speech that represented their culture in the book. Throughout the book there were African terms used. The author gave us a definition to each word, so we could follow a long with the story. Overall this book shows the diverse culture of the people who celebrate kwanzaa.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

My First Kwanzaa is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Karen Katz. It is a book about an adorable little girl who is exited that Kwanzaa is about to begin. Tonight is the first night of Kwanzaa (26 December) so I thought it would be apropos to read this book today.

The text is rather straightforward and well-paced. It is a wonderful book told from the perspective of a little girl who is really excited about Kwanzaa starting. I am grateful that Katz shows how to pronounce the terms that she used and more importantly defining such terms within the story. The illustrations are quite beautiful and very colorful and complement the text rather well.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It's about a little girl excited about Kwanzaa happening. It follows the little girl through the seven days of Kwanzaa and what each day represent and how she and her family celebrate it on that day. Surprisingly, it is an extremely informative book focusing and introducing topics and terms like kinara, kikombe, muhindi, mazao, zawadi, karamu and it is explained in a comprehensible manner.

All in all, My First Kwanzaa is a wonderful children's book about a girl's first Kwanzaa and was surprisingly informative.

[Sidney Shiflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very simple yet informative. I chose this book because I personally didn't know much about Kwanzaa and wanted to learn more. The illustrations are good and the story is easy to follow. I like that each day of Kwanzaa is explained through a story, it makes it easier to understand. The layout for this book was well done and I enjoyed the book. I think that this book would be good for younger students as it is simple and informative.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewer Miss Sherry
Rating 10/10
Created 2018-11-30 17:57:35
Review

I love cute little educational books that expose children to different cultures. This book is great because it gives the accurate pronunciation of particular words. It is short and easy enough for an early reader and the artwork is great.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the illustrations and how it was written in such child friendly language but at the same time was not boring or bland. I would definitely suggest this book to read to early childhood students to learn about the holiday practices.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a simple story that stilled showed a lot. Each page had an easy to understand narrative with great pictures to expand and show the meaning of the text. The children I read it to liked seeing other small children like them participating in the Kwanzaa events.

[Madi Harbuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to Kwanzaa for all ages. It was very helpful that there was how to pronounce different words throughout. It is helpful for those not familiar with Kwanzaa be able to say the words correctly.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear. Cheerful. Child friendly. This is a good introduction to Kwanzaa for preschoolers and early elementary schoolers.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to this celebration!!!

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This worked well for teaching about Kwanzaa to students with have communications disabilities. The book was simple but got the main principles across in an easy to understand way.

[Josephine Burks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, fun and informative book about Kwanza. Loved the illustrations.

[Maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introduction to Kwanzaa...including the traditions and customs as well as the idea represented by each of the seven candles.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved learning about Kwanzaa

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a good amount of details with how to celebrate Kwanzaa and the 7 principles.

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for kids to help them learn about Kwanzaa. I do wish there’d been more of a true story to it though as it read more like nonfiction.

[Connie T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl describes how she and her family celebrate Kwanzaa. Collage and mixed media artwork create vivid, colorful, (and sometimes busy) illustrations.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wonderful Definitive and Informative Book for Children of All Ages

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seek out diverse reviews
This appears to be written by a white woman. No indication of where she got the information and pronunciations.

[Chloe Litman]

A good book to help students learn and understand this holiday. It is great for helping students understand the basics while also looking at the well done illustrations.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book is both a celebration of Kwanzaa and also a concept book, explaining the holiday to young ones.

[Carolyn at Bloomers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice introduction into the meaning of Kwanzaa. Very concrete examples for each day, with fun pictures.

[Maryruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz automatically stood out to me as my choice multicultural book for Lis 510. Growing up, I had a friend that celebrated Kwanzaa and always was curious about the holiday but was a little hesitant to ask questions i didn't want to seem nosey. My First Kwanzaa starts off by showing a little girl going through the seven days of Kwanzaa. Day by day there are different things that the African culture does to prepare for the final day. Each day something different is done, and its typically done with family which i think is a key not that Katz decided to put in the story. There are words on each page that unless you celebrate the holiday, or speak the african language you aren't going to know how to pronounce and they are typed out so you can say them aloud. Ex: Kinara (Kee-NAH-rah) I thought this was especially neat because i hate to mispronounce words from different cultures. The pictures are very beautifully done, each page is full of color. This book could be read to anyone who is wanting to learn about the holiday in my opinion. The only reason i am giving the book 4/5 stars is because I'm not sure how accurate the information is.

[Lea]

My First Kwanzaa gives readers an inside look into how Kwanzaa is celebrated. The little girl narrates the story and takes the reader through her experiences. She goes through all the important necessities when celebrating Kwanzaa, and their significance. Each day she explains the celebration or activity that takes place. The illustrations go along perfectly with the writing, and help the reader to understand the culture even more.
This book does a great job explaining the celebration of Kwanzaa. This book allows kids of a younger age to understand the different celebrations that take place and why they are important. This is a great book for kids of a young age to read because it exposes them to different cultures and celebrations. Having a little girl narrate the story allows kids who are reading the book, the ability to relate to her and understand the story better.

Katz, K. (2003). My First Kwanzaa. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company LLC.

[J-Lynn Van Pelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book by Katz designed to help young readers understand diversity. This one focuses on the African American holiday of Kwanzaa. Each page talks about a different tradition during the holiday and provides the African words for various ceremonies and for the principles of Kwanzaa. These principles are unity, self-determination, working together, helping our neighborhood grow, purpose, creativity, and faith.

The illustrations are typical of Katz with large round heads on her cartoon people and portray a variety of African American skin tones. They show the family celebrating in their home and helping the community in the spirit of the holiday.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell me how I thought Kwanza was rooted in religion? I guess I assumed because it takes place near Christian and Jewish holidays so I thought it was an African religion (don’t ask me what). This book taught me so much about kwanza and I’m def interested in reading more. The seven days are for seven traits we should all aspire to like creativity and self-determination. The authors note in the back even teaches us about the origins in 1966 and why it was started. I’m really embarrassed I didn’t know more about this holiday.

[Charles Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

With bright colors and whimsical pictures, a little girl describes her family's celebration of Kwanzaa. The simplistic text and story line lends itself to sharing with small children; however, adults will definitely appreciate the phonetic spelling of all Swahili words. This book would not only be a great introduction to celebrations around the world, but could also be used to teach phonetic pronunciation skills.

[Maleigha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is an excellent introduction to the Kwanzaa holiday, and some of the traditions which are associated with it. For younger students, the illustrations keep them engaged in learning. For older students, these traditions may be compared and contrasted to the traditions of other winter holidays.

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this introduction to Kwanzaa because it explains what the Swahili words used in the celebration mean, as well as writing out the pronunciations. Extremely simple, good for the younger half of elementary.

[Nancy Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family of African descent celebrates Kwanzaa, a seven-day holiday. Each day of the celebration focuses on a specific ideal, and the story features a simple activity done each day by the family to represent that idea. Other traditional activities are incorporated throughout.