Planting Friendship Book Review
I was graciously gifted a copy of Planting Friendships; Peace Salaam, Shalom written by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller in exchange for an honest review as a part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2022. This picture book with its endearing illustrations created by Kate Talbot is more timely than ever.
In Planting Friendship, we meet three girls who look different from each other, and they practice different faiths. But we, the readers, see, and the girls soon discover, that they have more in common than they first realized. Each girl is nervous about making friends on the first day of school. (Weren’t we all?) Once at school, the teacher puts the students in groups for a class project of growing plants from seeds so that in the spring they can plant their saplings in Peace Park. Our three main characters are put together in a group and at first struggle to get their plants to grow. With determination and teamwork, they end up with something beautiful to plant in the park as well as a blossoming friendship.
I love that the authors use the metaphor of growing plants to demonstrate how to grow friendships. It’s perfect in so many ways. Friendships take time and work to cultivate. Sometimes there are false starts or the growth stagnates for one reason or another. But as the book says,
“Things grow with care, kindness, and love.”
As someone who has friends of different faiths, and as a parent trying to raise my daughter to be a respectful global citizen, I’m glad this children’s book (published in 2021) is now in the world.
This book would be great to use in an elementary classroom as well as at home for talking about making friends especially making friends with people who are different from you.
To extend the conversation, the authors have included a seek-and-find activity in the back of the book. Several objects (as well as a description of their significance) are listed for each of the three main characters. Children can browse the pictures of each girl’s home in order to find the listed objects.
Though this book is mostly intended for ages 4-8, I read it with my 9 year old daughter. We both enjoyed the sweet story, and my daughter especially enjoyed learning about the different faith objects.
I was pleased and thankful to get a copy of such a quality diverse children’s book, as I have been each year that I participate in Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2022 (1/28/22) is in its 9th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of young readers and educators.
MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission & History HERE.
MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!
SUPER PLATINUM: Make A Way Media
PLATINUM: Language Lizard
GOLD: Barefoot Books, KidLitTV, Candlewick, Capstone, Abrams Books
SILVER: Pack-n-Go Girls, Charlotte Riggle, Kimberly Gordon Biddle
BRONZE: Carole P. Roman, Patrice McLaurin, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin.com, Redfin Canada, Redfin Mortgage, Redfin/Title Forward, Create & Educate, Star Bright Books, Vivian Kirkfield, Dr. Eleanor Wint, Kind World Publishing, Snowflake Stories, Lisa Wee, SONGJU MA, Melissa Stoller, J.C. Kato and J.C.², Crystel Patterson, Audrey Press, Pragmaticmom, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales
MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Charlene Mosley (official MCBD2022 Poster Creator)
Illustrator Isabelle Roxas (Class Kit Poster Creator)
Alva Sachs, Brianna Carter, Ebony Zay Zay, Rita Bhandari, Gwen Jackson, Lois Petren/The 5 Enchanted Mermaids, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Josh Funk, Afsaneh Moradian, Eugenia Chu, Maritza Martínez Mejía, Diana Huang, Kathleen Burkinshaw, CultureGroove, Sandra Elaine Scott, Dorena Williamson, Veronica Appleton, Alejandra Domenzain, Lauren Muskovitz and Sandfish Publishing, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Kimberly Lee, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Nancy Tupper Ling, Winsome Hudson-Bingham, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Sivan Hong, Michael Genhart, Debbie Dadey, Elizabeth Cureton, Stephanie Wildman, Maryann Jacob, Sherri Maret, Rochelle Melander, Dia Mixon, Kiyanda and Benjamin Young, Shereen Rahming, Linda Thornburg and Katherine Archer, Rebecca Flansburg and BA Norrgard , Maxine Schur Natalie McDonald-Perkins
MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!
MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!
Check out MCBD's Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents
Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
FREE Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Raising Awareness on Systemic Racism in America Classroom Kit
FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program
Join us on Friday, Jan 28, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party! Be sure and follow MCBD and Make A Way Media on Twitter!
This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.