Kneeling Carabao & Dancing Giants: Celebrating Filipino Festivals

Rating:
Summary: Chock full of Fun and Facts
Review: _Kneeling Carabao and Dancing Giants_ is one of my favorite children's books! I am a second generation Filipina American who grew up hungry to see my family and heritage represented in American books. What I love about _Kneeling Carabao_ is that it brings to life festivals I'd only heard about growing up, like the Christmas Parol festival. From Manila galleons to kulintang music, the history of the Ati-Atihan festival, and ancient Filipino bamboo writing, this book covers, in loving detail, the rich diversity of Filipino culture. The illustrations in _Kneeling Carabao_, while warm and cheerful, are also excellent at showing the myriad skin tones (golden, brown, tan, sandy, olive) and faces of Filipinos. (This is important because of the books that, unthinkingly, portray all Asians as looking the same.) The book is fun, filled with facts, mythology, song, history, and splendid pictures. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about and sharing Filipino culture. Every child in my family receives a copy of this book!

- Mary Grace Bertulfo, author of _People of the Rainforest_ children's video