All Are Welcome

Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where kids in patkas, hijabs, and yarmulkes play side-by-side with friends in baseball caps. A school where students grow and learn from each other's traditions and the whole community

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gathers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

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This book is a great book to read on the first-day of school to show that all your students are welcome and important to the school and your classroom.

Sweet rhymes and images, great message -- I think this is a perfect first day of school book, to read aloud and together.

Children come to school wearing whatever they wear, playing whatever they play, making friends, learning, and discovering that, most of all, everyone is welcome.

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This vital message . . . all children are welcome in school . . . is one that all young readers should hear. The illustrations

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are diverse, the poetic narrative clear about what children do throughout the school day; clearly this is a celebration of community, of common ground, of what classrooms are truly meant to be.

The target audience, young readers ages two through six, preschool through primary grades, will find much to appreciate here.

Highly recommended.

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I was curious to know why this book was listed in the Scholastic banned list. Upon finishing the book, I think the book has nothing controversial. Oh wait, there is a scene where kids in a cafeteria are sharing different kinds of bread from their cultural backgrounds. One character is holding a

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popular Mexican sweet bread called a Concha (they are very tasty). I am wondering if the book got added to the ban list because of germs. I suppose that could be a valid reason.

Otherwise, the book doesn't have anything censurable in my opinion. Characters show a map where their families emigrated from, children go to school in wheelchair access ramps, other children hug their parents goodnight. Nothing that would strike me as covert brainwashing. Ok, yes, there is one page in the book where two kids are brought to school by what seems like 2 parents of the same gender. But the drawings are done in such a way, that you would really have to focus and go looking for it to spot it. I doubt the target audience for this book would notice.

The ebook formatting is good without major issues. I think my sole complaint about the book was some of the prose in 1 or 2 pages was hard to read grammatically speaking. Which stroke me as odd since this is a trad book that would have been revised by several editors before publication. For this reason, I give the book 4 stars. Otherwise, I believe the book gives children a positive message.

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