The first time we visited Australia with Kaia, we did a side trip to Byron Bay, and there, we saw this book by Lonely Planet called A Time to Celebrate: Explore Festivals from Around the World. We’ve been drawn to children’s books that are multicultural for obvious reasons for her, and this one was especially fun because it has little flaps you can lift up that reveal more images and words. Even though there are a lot of long descriptions and sentences, Kaia had enjoyed this book since she was about 1.5 years old. Oftentimes, this is one of the books she will request to read at bedtime. This book highlights these global celebrations:
- The Garma Festival, Arnhem Land region, Australia
- Chinese New Year, Beijing, China
- Rio Carnival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Ramadan in Morocco, Africa
- Day of the Dead, Oaxaca, Mexico
- Diwali, Mumbai or Jaipur, India
- Tu Bi’Shivat Festival, New York, USA
- Christmas in Frankfurt, Germany
For Carnival in Brazil, there’s a line in the book that goes like this: “Lent is the time when Christians traditionally resist treats and temptations. During Carnival, they can feast and enjoy themselves one last time before Lent begins!” Kaia loves to finish sentences of books we read often (and she thus knows) — it always seems like she is reading, but in reality, we know it’s because she’s simply memorized the lines. So when I paused before “…when Christians traditionally resist….” Instead of saying “treats and temptations,” last night, she actually said, “treats and pastries!”
This cracked me up so much because for Kaia, her kryptonite is most definitely pastries. Any time she sees Chris or me carrying anything in a small brown paper bag, she yells, “I want it! I want it! I want some! WANT SOME!” It could easily be coal or dog poo, but she will insist, “I WANT IT!” It’s a weekend treat for all of us, and she most definitely always, always wants in on the goodies. Last weekend when we went to Laurel Bakery near Brooklyn Bridge Park, it was just the two of us, and I got one (very small… 🙁 ) plain croissant and one canele. She probably ate more than half of that croissant and a quarter of the canele. We don’t get them every day obviously, but pastries are most definitely beloved by everyone in our whole family. She has definitely assimilated in this way.