A cute simple story showing that kids just want to play together, that all they see is a friend and don’t see anything more than that.

I loved the idea and I am generally passionate by books featuring inclusion and diversity, but was not particularly impressed either by the writing or the illustrations.

A group of friends join together to take a walk to the park to play in the sandbox. This book highlights the many diverse people in the world and how all should be celebrated. This is a very important book in today's society. I loved the motif of the garden throughout the book- such a clever metaphor.

No child is born a bigot. Hate is learned, and there is no doubt it can be unlearned. Leading experts on child development argue that the problem begins as early as preschool, where children have already learned stereotypes or acquired negative attitudes towards "others:" The process of countering those negatives with positives begins at an early age.

Precisely because of such reasons, parents and educators need books, picture books, poems, song, tales to be able to influence the building of children's personality from an early age. That is why The Sandbox -A Story of Inclusion and Embracing Differences (Celebration of Differences Book 1) by Carolyn Furlow, Amelia Furlow is a great choice of children's literature, which in an interesting way, through various comparisons and with the use of pictures and interesting illustrations reflects the truth about socializing, about accepting someone who is different, regardless of whether it is related to the appearance, color of the skin, culture or something else. The message that beauty is in the variety is present from the very beginning to the end of this wonderful story. The children from the storybook show in an interesting way that the different races and cultures in fact contribute to the color and beauty of the world,the more, the merrier, like the flowers in a garden. The differences should connect people, not divide and make the world more interesting and fun place for everyone.

The language in which the sentences are composed is skillfully used to make sense of the point, so that children can understand and the beautiful illustrations are effective and engaging to keep the attention of young children.Great choice for toddlers and preschoolers, as well.

Lovin’ Diversity

This is a sweet story of young children of different ethnicities joining together to play in a park. They notice their differences as they gather one by one, but one girl equates it to being like unique flowers, each beautiful in its own way. They highlight just a few children in this story, and their ethnicities aren't really clear for the most part. The way it's presented is more like they just look different, not coming from different backgrounds. Sometimes I wonder when I see books like this if it isn't our adult sensibilities casting something on young children that isn't really theirs. In my experience with younger children, I find that most don't see ethnic differences; honestly, I think that is either socially ingrained or done so by family. Most younger children I've seen just like to play with others of their age and don't even notice these characteristics. I think it's sweet when a young child simply trusts another child, no matter what they look like; similar age or interest in whatever project or play seems to be tantamount. If only adults were the same! While this could be helpful if your child is starting to notice the difference and is curious about them, if a child doesn't really see race or ethnicity as anything of note, I think it would be better to maintain that innocence in the hope that it will carry forward naturally into an understanding and respect of all people. By the way, I don't like that Caucasian children in books about diversity are usually shown as blue-eyed blondes. While other races might look at our skin color and see “white,” we come from a variety of cultures ourselves with distinct looks (including all natural shades of hair!). In books on diversity, I wish I could see my own dark-eyed, dark-haired “white” family reflected. In books about diversity, let's show *all* diversity!

A simple but sweet story highlighting the acceptance of difference with respect to physical appearance I’m multicultural society. Nicely done for a child audience.

What a delightful little story! Teaching children about diversity at an young age is so important. And this book does it so well. Comparing the different races and cultures to different flowers in a garden was sweet. Me and my sons spent time identifying the differences with Imani and her friends and talking about it more. It was a great conversation starter. We used it to build and expand on their own knowledge and experiences as bipoc children. A really sweet and important read.

A lovely, warm and positive story celebrating diversity and building togetherness among children. The image of different flowers in the garden is powerful.

I received an electronic ARC from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley.
Imani goes to the park to visit friends. The meet at the sandbox and play together.
A lovely statement on kids connecting with each other. They are all different but come together to play.
Illustrations capture the characters' emotions and help emphasize the point.

This was a nice book to read with my daughter, it had simple pictures and simple words and it is perfectly written for its target market.

My daughter is only 3 but she understood that all they really wanted to do was play in the sandbox together and she is really not concerned by appearances, just someone to play with and be friends with, that is something I will always encourage, as should other parents.

It was a great way to celebrate the different backgrounds and appearances that we have and it showed a great range of diversity.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, my daughter loved it – highly recommended

A lovely story about diversity and differences. Every child in the story had different colour hair, eyes and skin but they were all friends.

I read this book with my daughter and we loved it. My daughter kept asking me to read it again as she enjoyed it so much. The writing and the illustrations are lovely.

The book is about a girl called Imani who goes to the park to meet her friends at the sandbox. All of her friends have different colours of skin, eyes and hair and they celebrate this, exclaiming that they all look like beautiful different flowers in a garden. I love the way that the book shows children how to accept each other the way they are, no matter what they look like. This is a very important teaching in this day and age.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Sandbox emphasizes a message of kindness and respect, as seen through the eyes of kids playing with their friends at the park. I really like the idea behind the book but the text was very simplistic and the illustrations need a creative hand to make them really come to life! With updated text and illustrations this would be a beautiful book about acceptance and kindness.

Thank you to #NetGalley for my digital ARC of #TheSandbox

The Sandbox is aimed at children in key stage one and younger. It celebrates the diversity of children and each child in the book is a different race with differing features.
This is a sweet book that would help younger children recognise that we are all different but we should all be treat the same.

Nice simple words and simple pictures.

What a wonderfully heartwarming story about diversity and how it's good that we are all different. My little one loved it.