Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I'm Jenny by Lois Petren

Multicultural Children’s Book Day is an online children’s literacy event that occurs on the last Friday of every January. Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen created Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) several years ago as a way to celebrate diversity in children’s books while getting diverse books into the hands of young readers, parents, teachers, and librarians. Each year authors and publishers from around the world donate books to MCBD for bloggers to read and review. This year I received the book Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I'm Jenny. Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I'm Jenny... Hi, I'm Jenny for short... by Lois Petren is about a mermaid who wants to teach readers about positivity and self-confidence. Keep reading to learn more about this book!

Disclosure: Affiliate links to Amazon are included in this post.

About Hi, I'm Jenny by Lois Petren

🍎 Author's Summary: In this charming mermaid book meet Jenny, an Asian mermaid, and one of the Five Enchanted Mermaids! Her best friend is a seahorse called Sam and her favorite color is orange. And, she loves to sing. In Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I’m Jenny, Jenny describes her experience of learning to sing, and then losing her self-confidence because she didn’t think she sang very well. Then she shares all the tips she used to get her confidence back so she could sing better. This kids' positive thinking book helps children overcome those little negative voices in their heads with realistic ideas about ways they can use positive thinking for kids to boost their self-confidence.

🍎 Title: Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I'm Jenny

🍎 Author: Lois Petren

🍎 Publisher: LifeMadeSimple, LLC

🍎 Date: August 7, 2021

🍎 Pages: 32

Language Arts Minilesson

In Hi, I'm Jenny, we learn a lot about the mermaid Jenny. We learn about her hobbies, her friends, some of her favorite things, and about her thoughts and feelings. Jenny reveals to us as readers that she has lost her confidence in how well she sings. She also tells us about how she overcame her feelings of self-doubt. 

Hi, I'm Jenny would be a good book to introduce character traits to your students. Character traits are words used by authors to describe the true personality of a character and to make their stories feel real. Sometimes authors will use specific words to describe a character. And... sometimes they will make readers infer a character's personality and observe how a character behaves. Jenny is quite chatty in the book and children will have to draw conclusions by paying attention to what she talks about.

Work together with your students to brainstorm a list of character traits that describe Jenny. Does she display positive or negative traits? How would you describe Jenny's character and personality in general? If time allows, record your students' responses on an anchor chart.

Happy, kind, honest, sincere, and patient are examples of positive character traits. Rude, angry, mean, and greedy are examples of negative traits. Which traits apply to Jenny? 

Essential Vocabulary and Concepts

Even though Lois Petren wrote Hi, I'm Jenny with three to seven-year-old children in mind, there are several essential vocabulary words and concepts in the book you may need to review ahead of time. Being able to understand these words and concepts will help them fully enjoy the story.

The essential vocabulary words and concepts include:

• confidence
• confident
• unique
• anxious
• positive
• negative
• inner voice
• frustration
• frustrated
• mantra
• gratitude

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About Multicultural Children's Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day is in its 9^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of young readers and educators. MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. 

Free Resources from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

The Multicultural Children's Book Day website provides free access to educational resources for teachers and parents. Some of the resources include:

• Diversity Book Lists & Activities
• Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
• Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
• Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
• Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
• Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
• Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
• Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
• Teacher Classroom Raising Awareness on Systemic Racism in America Classroom Kit
• Posters
• Diversity Book for Classrooms Program
• Click here to see the full list of free resources.

Did you enjoy reading about Meet the Mermaids: Hi, I'm Jenny? If so, check out these other blog posts about pirates, mermaids, and other magical creatures:

• Book: The Mermaid and the Grumpy Old Clam by Kirk Kirkpatrick
• Math + Craft: Mermaid Math: Counting, Colors, and Patterns
• Book + Craft: Pete the Cat and the Treasure Map by James Dean
• Book + Free Printable: The Harvest Sprites by Hayley Nystrom
• Book + Slime Recipe: It Came from Under the High Chair: A Mystery by Karl Beckstrand
• Book + Free Printable: Make a Wish On a Fish by Jennie Wiley

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