During Asian-Pacific Heritage month, Multicultural Kid Blogs is happy to share a wonderful multicultural STEM book that all kids will enjoy!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Asha Loves Science; however, all opinions are the author’s own. This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, Multicultural Kid Blogs receives a small commission.
Multicultural STEM for Kids: Asha Loves Science
Over In The Meadow is from a series called Asha Loves Science. I thought this book and the whole series were quite unique: there are practically no multicultural STEM books available, especially about or for children of South Asian heritage (which my own children have too, by the way). So it was really exciting to not only read the book, but also to share it with our readers!
Asha Loves Science is a series of interactive sing-along books, with songs you can find on YouTube. The tunes are easy to follow and catchy. There are no subtitles, but the book has the lyrics, so it is easy to figure out. The book is illustrated with attractive pictures. The phrases are simple and catchy, especially when you sing them along.
Asha is a curious girl of South Asian heritage. She speaks Urdu and Hindi at home, and she loves science! All kids love science, and Asha makes it look even more attractive!
In the book Over In The Meadow, Asha introduces the readers to different animal groups: mammals, invertebrates, vertebrates. She also explains how metamorphosis happens in some animals and teaches the readers the names of the animals and their babies in Urdu/Hindi!
At the end of the book, Asha explains what each Urdu/Hindi word means. Plus, she gives a short grammar/phonics lesson explaining how to pronounce the words properly. You can also find the list of the animal names and numbers.
The author – Najla Ahmad – was inspired to create Asha’s character by her own childhood. She says:
“As someone who was born and raised in America with South Asian heritage, I became aware that the only media representation of my culture was to fill a stereotypical role. I wondered why there wasn’t a character like me. Now I have two daughters of my own and I wanted them to have a character that they could relate to and enjoy.”
Overall, it is an easy and a very educational read. Not only does it have a multicultural element, but it promotes multilingualism and allows the reader to have a “taste” of new languages.
You can find Asha Loves Science on Amazon and YouTube. You can follow author Najla Ahmad and updates on Asha Loves Science series over at her Facebook page and on Twitter.

Varya

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Lovely! This kind of book is so needed for child-centered learning! Thanks.