Valentine's Day

"The Seedling Holidays series offers a kindergarten-level introduction to many of the world’s most popular cultural celebrations. In each volume, eight double-page spreads set two or three simple sentences atop beautiful full-bleed photography. Chinese New Year focuses on the Spring Festival as celebrated in China, specifically. Day of the Dead showcases the breathtaking pageantry of the Mexican holiday. Kwanzaa features a number of the celebration’s traditional objects and beliefs. Ramadan places a religious focus on the Muslim festivities. Because of the age of the intended audience, each holiday is boiled down to short lists of facts and traditions partaken in on certain dates by certain groups of people. The necessarily brief text means that the illustrations bear a larger educational burden, and while they are striking—as is the series’ overall design—they offer a narrow, decidedly non-diverse view of each holiday, how it’s celebrated, and who celebrates it, with participants depicted almost exclusively in traditional garb or among antiquated architecture, with each holiday including representation of only one race. Thus these make appealing options for establishing a baseline awareness, but further context may be required for a slightly more nuanced understanding that prevents stereotyping. Back matter includes a short picture dictionary, a glossary of bolded terms, and further-reading resources." -Booklist, May 2021