World Holidays: A Watts Guide for Children (Watts Reference)

An illustrated alphabetical guide to celebrations and holidays around the world, including religious, civic, and cultural practices.

Gr 3-8-This useful resource presents more than 100 religious, cultural, and national holidays celebrated around the world. Alphabetically arranged, most of the entries run from one half to a full page while a few (Hanukkah, Lent, and Ramadan) are longer. A captioned full-color photograph helps to place each celebration in a cultural context. A section on calendars around the world and a five-year holiday calendar are appended. The many cross-references help children to see the similarities among holidays and cultures. Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! (DK, 1997) is more visually exciting and could possibly be used by younger students because of the visuals, but is not as comprehensive as this title.-Peg Glisson, Mendon Center Elementary School, Pittsford, NY

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Gr. 3-6. From Father's Day to Diwali, Walpurgisnacht to World AIDS Day, Moehn has used a wide-angle lens to survey annual commemorations around the world. She introduces more than a hundred: some religious at base, some totally secular; some occasions for rejoicing, others mournful; some marking life stages or seasons, others designed to keep historical events fresh in the collective memory. The alphabetically arranged entries run from a half page to an entire spread and are illustrated mostly with small color photographs. They conclude with a particularly useful feature--a reference to similar holidays. Into general accounts of each holiday's origins and meanings, the author stirs generous quantities of specific information about characteristic practices and regional variations. She doesn't shy away from controversy, explaining, for instance, why Irish Protestants marching on Orange Day stay away from Catholic areas. Back matter includes descriptions of seven major calendars and a schedule of holidays, 2001-2005. Although this won't replace Henderson and Thompson's hefty Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World or similar books in the reference collection, this will be just the ticket for short reports--and for young researchers studying connections between human cultures. John Peters
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