Mela and the Elephant by Dow Phumiruk illustrated by Ziyue Chen Sleeping Bear Press Book Review: Mela sets out to explore the banks of the Ping River. Her little brother follows, hoping she’ll take him along. “What will you give me if I take you?” she asks. When he has nothing to offer, Mela tells him, “Then you stay home.” The current of the river is too strong for her paddling strength, and Mela finds herself swept away and far from home. She asks for help getting home from

For Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD)*, I did a book review of Little Artists by Niki Daly, published by Kane Miller Press. Little Artists Books is a boxed set of four baby hand-sized board books, titled Ruby, Carlos, Mondi and Nina. Each character is a person of color and they celebrate art in its various forms. Ruby likes to play dress-up, Carlos likes to paint and draw, Mondi likes to make music and Nina likes to dance. The first thing I thought when I saw the boxe