Celebrates multiculturalism by pointing out all the gifts the United States has received from immigrants, who share their heritage and traditions to enrich the fabric of daily life. - (Baker & Taylor)

This companion to B is for Brooklyn celebrates multiculturalism by pointing out all the gifts the United States has received from immigrants, who share their heritage and traditions to enrich the fabric of our daily lives. 50,000 first printing. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)

This alphabet picture book companion to the popular B Is for Brooklyn weaves together a multitude of immigrant experiences in a concise, joyful package. For readers of Dreamers by Yuyi Morales.

What do African dance, samosas, and Japanese gardens have in common? They are all gifts the United States received from immigrants: the vibrant, multifaceted people who share their heritage and traditions to enrich the fabric of our daily lives. From Jewish delis to bagpipes, bodegas and Zen Buddhism, this joyful ABC journey is a celebration of immigrants: our neighbors, our friends.

Selina Alko is an award-winning author-illustrator of many books for young readers, including B Is for Brooklyn, One Golden Rule at School, Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama, and The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. - (McMillan Palgrave)

Horn Book Guide Reviews

A is for ancestors, abuelita, and African dance; B is for bodega, braids, and bubble tea. In this alphabet book, Alko (One Golden Rule at School, rev. 7/20) highlights some of the myriad ways immigrants have contributed to this country's rich diversity with her bright, friendly, and festive illustrations. The art-mixed-media collage with wide strokes of paint on newsprint, tickets, lined notebook paper, and musical scores -- is the standout here. The pages are as varied and textured as the images she has chosen to represent immigration. Readers will find things both familiar and new, but all are matter-of-factly part of the mix. Maybe you knew that Turkish delight and kimchi were brought to this country by immigrants from other parts of the world, but Alko's at-a-glance representation reminds us that bananas and yogurt were as well. Scattered among the foods and cultural offerings (martial arts, yoga, samba dance) are concepts foundational to the American -- and universal human -- dream (ambition, endurance, belonging). Each word is hand-lettered, and the diversity of fonts celebrates and mirrors the diversity of ideas and contributions. With immigration a constant political flashpoint, Alko takes a warm, celebratory approach to enumerate the dimensionality that has come from around the world to become part of the fabric of America. Copyright 2023 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

A is for ancestors, abuelita, and African dance; B is for bodega, braids, and bubble tea. In this alphabet book, Alko (One Golden Rule at School, rev. 7/20) highlights some of the myriad ways immigrants have contributed to this country's rich diversity with her bright, friendly, and festive illustrations. The art -- mixed-media collage with wide strokes of paint on newsprint, tickets, lined notebook paper, and musical scores -- is the standout here. The pages are as varied and textured as the images she has chosen to represent immigration. Readers will find things both familiar and new, but all are matter-of-factly part of the mix. Maybe you knew that Turkish delight and kimchi were brought to this country by immigrants from other parts of the world, but Alko's at-a-glance representation reminds us that bananas and yogurt were as well. Scattered among the foods and cultural offerings (martial arts, yoga, samba dance) are concepts foundational to the American -- and universal human -- dream (ambition, endurance, belonging). Each word is hand-lettered, and the diversity of fonts celebrates and mirrors the diversity of ideas and contributions. With immigration a constant political flashpoint, Alko takes a warm, celebratory approach to enumerate the dimensionality that has come from around the world to become part of the fabric of America. Maeve Visser Knoth September/October 2021 p.58 Copyright 2021 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

An alphabet book that celebrates everything that immigrants have brought to the United States, from ambition to Zen. Each letter of this exuberant and poignant alphabet book is represented by a montage of words and images that include feelings, ideas, and things that people from all over the world have brought with them to their new home. D is for Dreamers (and dreamers), dumplings, diversity, and Day of the Dead. H is for holidays, heritage, hijabs, Holi, Hanukkah, and hope. Y is for yucca, yoga, yogurt, Yiddish, yearning-and "you." By including both the tangible and the intangible, Alko reinforces the idea that the U.S. is more than just a conglomeration of cultures; it's a quilt of shared values. The text is hand-lettered in varying sizes, incorporated into the overall compositions, and the accompanying images are painted and collaged with verve, emphasizing a folk-art-like artistic sensibility with saturated colors, bold brush strokes, and found objects. In the concluding author's note, Alko shares her own immigration story and reiterates that "America isn't any one thing"-that it is both magnificent and complex. Readers from all backgrounds with have a blast looking for references to their own heritages and finding commonalities. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Vibrant, vigorous, and multifaceted-just like America. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus 2021 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Author-illustrator Alko, a Canadian emigrant to the U.S., presents an abecedarian companion to her B Is for Brooklyn that celebrates multicultural elements found within the U.S., including food (bubble tea, falafel, guacamole), instruments (drums, xylophone, zither), buildings (mosques, restaurants, temples), and qualities (ambition, creativity, optimism). Some words present clearer cultural connections than others; the page on P, for example, features a diverse potluck of pierogies, pupusas, pizza, and more alongside the word "pets," showcasing a cat, dog, mouse, and rabbit sitting beneath the blue feast table. Though some seemingly East Asian figures are portrayed with yellow skin, Alko's multilayered gouache and collage art is otherwise engaging, with snippets of newsprint, patterned paper, stamps, sheet music, and more overlaid with washes of paint, colorful hand lettering, and depictions of people of different abilities and religions and with a range of skin tones and backgrounds. Readers may not come away with context for the images—particularly regarding cultural and historical explanations behind the words—but this visual amalgam succeeds in highlighting "so much that is wonderful about our diverse American culture." Back matter includes an author's note. Ages 4–8. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (June)

School Library Journal Reviews

PreS-Gr 2—A beautifully illustrated book that uses the alphabet to weave together different cultural elements of society. Alko begins the story with the letter A for ancestors, showing portraits of people of many races atop a background of news articles and letters written in cursive. It's followed by the words abuelita, African dance, and art, then moves to motivational language such as ambition and aspire, accompanied by evocative illustrations. As the alphabet rolls along, the author continues to include colorful vocabulary that is inclusive of many different cultures and communities. In support conversations about immigration and the reasons behind why people from all around the world may come to the United States, the author uses inviting language that would be conducive to conversations about values, people, and things that are important to different cultures. VERDICT A great book, one that would be welcome in every collection.—Katie Callahan, Montgomery County Public Sch., MD