Aya and Papaya Discover What Makes Everyone Special by MQ

Published: April, 29, 2019
Genres: Children's fiction
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Description:

Aya and Papaya are back!

The sun rises and Aya is awake. She remembers that today is a very special day so quickly jumps out of bed to put on her favorite pink boots that she always wears on special days.

Aya and her best friend, Papaya, are going to go on a plane to visit Aya’s grandparents. At the airport they see lots of different people from lots of different places from all around the world. Aya learns a very important message about what makes us all very special indeed.

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review. 

I'm picturing reading this to my 4 year old before we go on a trip to the airport. I have a hard time with the story saying that Aya was thinking this hard about differences among people... "Aya thought about what Faz was trying to explain to her. She realized that because she grew up listening to her parents speak different languages, she learnt how to understand and speak those languages herself. " I would find this in depth thought process from anyone under 9 to be very unlikely and would have found this part more believable had one of the adults been telling her. 

Stories about new places like airports and hospitals are good for little ones. That way they can learn about those huge places that are scary. I like that it talks about the differences among people while there so maybe some awkward conversations can be avoided. I remember one time in a store my four year old asked me why the woman's skin was so black, I was so embarrassed. I live in small town middle of nowhere so my children just haven't had a lot of experience with different culture and people who look different. This book would be great for that!