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PRESCHOOL
Ali, A. E.

Our Favorite Day of the Year

40 pp. | Simon/Salaam | August, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4814-8563-0 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-4814-8564-7 $10.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell. On the first day of kindergarten, Musa finds himself seated at a table with three other children. Ms. Gupta explains that by the end of the year these strangers will be good friends, and one way they will all get to know one another is via show-and-tell sharing of their "favorite day." Her favorite day is the first day of school; Musa knows that his favorite day is the Muslim holiday at the end of Ramadan, Eid el-Fitr ("Surely Eid was everyone's favorite day"). When it's his turn for show-and-tell, Musa's mother comes to class to share the foods, decorations, and traditions associated with Eid. The classmates at Musa's table, in turn, share their favorite days: Rosh Hashanah, Las Posadas, and even Pi Day (March 14, natch). The illustrations, using "digital brushes and scanned, hand-printed textures," juxtapose each child's family celebration of their favorite day alongside the class's engagement with it, with attention to detail that gives each celebration specificity. Lush endpapers feature a textured quilt that stitches together squares representing different cultural celebrations. This warmhearted, inclusive story turns a simple act of show-and-tell into an opportunity to share identity and culture in a way that fosters curiosity and generosity toward difference.
Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

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