Birthdays

February 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-Offering an overview of the history behind birthdays, the authors use family anecdotes as a touchstone to consider traditions around the world. Personal narratives and photos from a variety of international contributors appear throughout and add insight into cultural differences. The first chapter ("The Birth of Birthdays") delves into the origins of birthdays. It relates accounts of the celebrations of pharaohs, the Chinese zodiac animals, and ancient Greek and Roman festivals. A section on the Industrial Revolution looks at how mass production led to contemporary customs. The second chapter ("Celebrating Birthdays Around the World") highlights how different traditions have formed around party invitations, food, gifts, and games. Important age milestones and cultural traditions are featured in the last chapter ("Milestone Birthdays"). Explorations of childhood rites, such as quinceaneras, bar and bat mitzvahs, and the 100th day celebration customary in Korean culture, are counterbalanced with traditions honoring elders. Included are international recipes and do-it-yourself activities. While the book is engaging, with lively stories, colorful photographs, and fun sidebars, the bibliography is insubstantial and won't be of much value to report writers.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2017
A survey of birthday customs from ancient times to today's birthday wishes on social media.The special feature of this recently launched series is the inclusion of personal reminiscences, some of which are more unusual than others. Here, the mother-and-daughter co-authors have used some of their own, with the most compelling being Tate-Stratton's memory of spending her 20th birthday in Japan, where she joined in Adult's Day, Seijin no Hi, wearing an opulent kimono and participating in ceremonies at the local city hall and religious shrine. The origins of birthday customs in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome are described, as are celebrations in many contemporary countries. Special ceremonies and parties for specific ages, such as the Latin American quinceanera for 15-year-old girls, Jewish bar and bat mitzvahs (religious coming-of-age ceremonies for 13-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls), and parties for Korean 1-year-olds, are explained. The authors also call attention to birthdays for senior adults, especially in Asian countries. The color photos are excellent, and the text is well-researched (although not much is included on African countries), but the activities scattered throughout the book are less than exciting: a recipe or two (some measurements are only in metric units), a birthday calendar project, a simple game for kids younger than the target audience, and suggestions for thinking about and reflecting on the past year and goals for the next. The intended audience may find this less interesting than educators and librarians looking for program ideas; nevertheless, a useful book. (glossary, references and resources, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

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March 1, 2017
Grades 4-7 This global survey of birthdays opens with a chapter reviewing the history of similar commemorations in many cultures, beginning in ancient times and moving forward. Spotlighting contemporary practices in different countries, the next section looks at a variety of birthday traditions, arranged thematically rather than geographically. Topics discussed include guest lists, invitations, gifts, games, and songs. The final chapter covers milestone dates, such as a Latin American quincenera celebration; a Korean one-hundredth-day event; and outdooring, a West African tradition of taking an eight-day-old baby out to see the world and meet friends and family. The authors, a Canadian mother-daughter team who also wrote Take Shelter: At Home around the World (2014), occasionally write in first person, giving the informative text a more personal, chummy tone. Clearly reproduced, colorful photos appear on almost every page of this attractive book from the publisher's Origins series. While the book offers a great deal of information and plenty of specific examples, the overall impression is a quickly changing, kaleidoscopic view of a great many different cultural practices.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)