Everybody Cooks Rice

The book was in the condition I had hoped for and was shipped right away!

This book shows children that we may all be from different cultures, but in the simplest ways we are very much the same. It is a good first day of school book, or good multicultural education book!

Read this story to them. Then photocopy the recipe pages. Eating and preparing international rice recipes then become playacting, for this book is all about how, in a multicultural neighborhood, in one delightful evening, all of the households prepare special, spicy and indigenous dishes with this one simple staple. It is a story of our differences. It is a story of our similaries. Moreover, it is a celebration of how rice is the canvas upon which we paint our works of culinary imagination.

"Go call your brother to dinner!" So starts an adventure that bridges cultural diversity as the older sister goes from house to house in her neighborhood trying to find her little brother. In each house we meet lovable neighbors, each from different parts of the world, and as the title explains, each family is preparing dinner with - - - RICE! Can you imagine why little brother is not really very hungry when he gets home? My sons and I enjoy the colorful pictures, the contrasts in each home, and have actually used the recipes to prepare meals that we share.

Tihs book is a great tool to use in a multi-cultural classroom. The book teaches that although people all look different, they are also the same. When the child is sent through the neighborhood, she discovers that everybody eats rice, just in different ways. So really, everyone is the same. I read it to my class, and they loved it! :-)