Children Just Like Me: Celebrations!

Children Just Like Me

by Anabel Kindersley, Anabel Kindersley

This remarkable new book from photographer and writer team Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley captures the color and vibrancy of international children’s festivals. For 12 months, Barnabas and Anabel traveled around the world, meeting children and talking to them about the celebrations and festivals they enjoy. The children’s stories were recorded in this beautiful book, published in association with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Original photography and the children’s own words bring to life many of the world’s major religious and local celebrations from countries as far apart as Japan and Mexico, India, and Sweden. From the dazzling costumes of the Rio Carnival to the role of the elephants in Sri Lanka's Esala Perahera, children everywhere will love learning about the festivals and the wonderful ways in which these events are celebrated around the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography, Childrens, Cultural, Picture Books, Holiday, Religion

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize until opening this book that I had read it as a child, poring over the pages endlessly. It is a solid introduction to holidays around the world, in various religions and cultures, for young readers. Each page is very picture-heavy, yet there's a good amount of text. The realism of the photography helps this feel relevant even in 2022. It would be especially useful for children who live in multicultural environments and want to learn about their friends' observances. I recall using it that way as a child, and even today I (re-)learned a bit more about my neighbors' recent celebration of Diwali. Highly recommended resource for learning about cultural celebrations with young readers.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good adjunct to the book Children Just Like Me, a book by the same team that created this one. This felt slightly less substantial than that book. It seemed to me that fewer children were profiled. I would have appreciated even more holidays described, although I guess I do think it’s good that the holidays featured are those that are considered happy and not somber ones.

If the reader is particularly interested in world holidays (various religious and secular) then this book is one to read. I do enjoy celebrating all holidays with children; for me that means doing so with all in a secular fashion. Celebrating holidays not our own helps us learn (in a fun way) about other cultures. So, I did like this UNICEF book. However, I’d advise reading Children Just Like Me before or after this book. They go really well together.

It annoyed me that because the authors were trying to get a variety of countries included that they assigned Halloween to Canada only (even though the U.S. was mentioned as also doing trick or treat for UNICEF) and that they featured only the United States for Thanksgiving (Canada at least has one too) and Christmas was given to Germany, and there are other examples. I’d rather that for each featured holiday, all countries that have some people celebrate it be listed, and then it would be fine that a child from only one of those countries is featured. Of course, since common holidays have different traditions depending on the country, I can understand why it was done this way.

I was most interested in the holidays I’d never heard of and there were many of those, but I also enjoyed seeing how they portrayed the holidays familiar to me. The details about the holidays: religious or other meaning, foods eaten, and other traditions are fun to read and view. Many photos are included.

The holidays are organized by season: holidays that take place in the spring, summer, fall, then winter. At the end of the book there’s a celebrations calendar with holidays listed in the month they’re celebrated. Holidays not featured in the book are also included; I would have been happier if they’d all had at least something written and photographed about them. Also, at the beginning of the book there’s a two page spread of Birthdays Around the World, showing photos of children and blurbs about their ages and birthdays but not too much about how those birthdays are celebrated.

[Dorthe Svendsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Litt gammel, men inneholder mange feiringer. Flere jeg ikke kjente til. Litt vel mange faktabokser for unger å ta inn. Men helt topp for oss voksne å lese oss opp på!

[Souly Peerage · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that book as a child. All the pictures of festivities around the world and the stories and culture behind them are so beautiful.

[Megan Packnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and easy to understand for kiddos and lead to great conversations of similarities and differences between cultures and our own traditions.

[Cheryl]

There is a 2016 version avl in OKC/Rolla as well... no, not of Celebrations, but only of generic Children just like me.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever heard of a festival or celebration from another culture and wondered what it was all about? This colorful DK book provides enlightenment and reference for the world's festivals through the eyes of children whose lives are ordered by them. While some are state holidays, most are religious in nature.

I was somewhat disappointed in how the Jewish festivals were covered. I found it strange that an Israeli child was not featured, as Israel is the only state that embraces Judaism as part of it's national identity (whereas other religious groups have multiple states). Highly Recommended.

Christian parents should be prepared to discuss this resource with your children. Christianity may be presented in ways that diverge from your practice (such as Catholic or Orthodox), and non-Christian festivals are also covered.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book about different celebrations that children participate in around the world. I was amazed at the diversity of celebrations from religious to ones all over the world. This book is strong how it personalized the holiday with showing a specific child from a specific place celebrates it. There is a lot of information in it, but the flaw is in the delivery. This book puts so much information out there on each page that it's a bit overwhelming. It's the same minor issue in the first edition of Children Just Like Me (1995). This would be a difficult cover to cover read for children, but would be a valuable resource for a school project or to study in small doses.

[Samantha Catalano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was awesome to flip through! The authors did a fantastic job going into great detail about the children in different cultures. My reasoning behind giving this book three stars is that I feel like it comes across as a bit overwhelming for a child. If they are looking for one particular culture this is the book to look through, however, this is not an easy book to sit and read cover to cover while actually grasping the information.

[Angey Mahmoud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of children around the world and is a wonderful way to introduce our students to how people live around the world. Children of many different religious, finantial(very poor to quite wealthy), and ethnic backgrounds are given introduction within.The book is a very interesting with wonderful pictures and lots of joy. This book is suitable for grades 2-6. Teachers can do lots of projects and crafts using this book.

[Janet Squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celebrations! was published in association with UNICEF. The book provides a multicultural look at children's celebrations, both secular and religious, from eighteen countries around the world. This is a well written and engaging book for introducing children to different cultures.

[Taryn Hipwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like knowing about different cultures, and while this is a childrens book it gives you a first hand look at how different cultures celebrate different holidays.

[Eireanne]

On the suggested summer reading list for students.

[Don Gubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cultural richness.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of festivals from around the world. Left me wanting more.

[Jacque G.]

This was honestly one of my favorite books to read when I was younger. I was so fascinated by all of the different cultural, religious, and national celebrations that took place around the world. It makes total sense why I loved this book so much, as now I am pursuing a degree in Early Childhood and Teaching English and a Second Language, with hopes to travel the globe and learn from the world while being able to contribute to it.