I Can Be All Three

written by Salima Alikhan; illustrated by Noor Sofi

Multicultural Day is coming and the teacher has assigned a project. Students will make something that tells the story of who they are. Kids begin cutting, pasting, drawing and planning. But, there is one student that is struggling. Does she highlight her mom’s German culture or her dad’s Indian heritage? What about her American roots? All are integral to who she is as a person. After much thought, the child displays items from all three cultures. She doesn’t have to be one or two cultures. She is all three, “telling the story of who she is”. And, guess what? Other students come forward to share their multicultural stories, too!

This important book will lead to some wonderful conversations about who we are – a marvelous combination of those that come before us! Proudly embracing our cultural heritage is told in simple language with beautifully rendered illustrations. In a day and age when we are even more a mix of so many vibrant cultures, this book is a winner. Share it with everyone!

Rock by Rock, The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand. By Jennifer Bradbury and illustrated by Sam Boughton.

A delightful and true story of a remarkable man named Nek Chand who was victim of the Indian and Pakistani partition of the late 1940s. He and his boyhood family were forced to relocate from Pakistan to India during a government order to separate Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Within two years after the forced move his parents died, primarily of heartbreak, as Nek recounts, “Partition devoured them.” Nek grieved his parents, his childhood village, and his former life, as a million other Hindus were doing the same.

Nek then turned the energy of grief into productive, artistic energy. He began to build, clear, and create a beautiful space in the forest just outside his new village of Chandigarh, India. He collected cast-off materials, such as: rocks. bottles, scrap metal, glass, ceramic shards, ect. and arranged them into works of art. Soon, others discovered his secret! The village people loved it, but the city had plans for a road to be placed through his artwork. After much consternation the city decides to go through with their plan to demolish the work until the towns folk, including children, create a human chain to protect the garden. And now an estimated 5,000 people daily, from all over the world, visit Nek’s Rock Garden.