The Rice Bag Hammock Paperback – December 28, 2013

I read The Rice Bag Hammock on my kindle with my seven year old son. We loved the repetitive text and the use of feeling words to describe family situations. Seeing as though we are not from Guyana, it was very interesting and enlightening to see day to day pictures of life there. I am a kindergarten teacher and am excited to read this story to my class. I plan to read it as a whole group during our shared reading seeing as though it has repetition. I love to read books with my students about family life in different countries. This book will be the perfect addition to my classroom library because of kid friendly way it was written, the vivid pictures and the multicultural appeal. A great book for families and a must have for classrooms.

I was very excited to acquire this book as I grew up in Guyana and have my own memories of swinging in a rice bag hammock. The storyline makes me nostalgic. It evokes memories of childhood swinging away blissful to all else. Lovingly put together by the Khan sisters it is a tale that will be enjoyed by all ages. The illustrations are perfect, and bring to life the story page after page. I can't wait for more stories!

This is such a refreshing little story about life as a Guyanese. Growing up, you've done atleast one of those things in the story. I know I have and it brings back fond memories. Great buy. Job well done to the author and artist.

This is a darling book for the very young reader. The repetition is interesting and appropriate. The illustration is wonderful with exquisite detail, and was a delightful read on my kindle. I would recommend it for any tiny reader.

A delightful book. I now want to build one for my kids!

I am a person who believes that children's books are never given their proper due, especially those for younger children. Writing for children is hard because it is necessary to shrink the vocabulary that can be used, and the visuals of the pictures are very important to keep a child engaged. To write a compelling story to keep young children interested is not easy, but The Rice Bag Hammock by Shaeeza Haniff does just that. Telling the simple story of the differing uses a family finds for a rice bag hammock created by Aja, they range from the practical to the magical to the romantic. The sweet simplicity of the story is matched only by the beautiful delicacy of the artwork which would tell a wonderful story all on its own. The progression of the story back to where it started is straightforward and easy to understand, critical for young children. Definitely for younger children, but I would definately recommend this story to all parents. Because good children literature is not only hard to write, it's even harder to find

Picture books portray an illusion of simplicity and are usually underrated in the book world. The Rice Bag Hammock is simple, but as a writer I know how much goes on behind the scenes to make simple look effortless which this book achieves.Like the threads of the rice bags woven into a hammock, this story is woven from memories of the author's warm home life. Its lyrical, repeated text is reminiscent of 'this is the house that Jack built' with a tropical flavor. Its vivid, yet soft pastel illustrations are the kind to draw your young ones to pick up the book on their own.The Rice Bag Hammock feels like one we would have had in our picture book collection when my kids were little. It's the perfect bedtime story--short, with a calming affirmation of the rhythm of life.One quote this author has on her profile is from Gandhi, "In a gentle way you can shake the world." Her book reflects that gentleness while transporting you to her tropical homeland. Few of us will have a chance to visit this wonderful place...except in Shaeeza's book.Rahma KramboAuthor of  Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria

I have been in seach for multi cultural books for my 2 year daughter she loves books, and well hearing my mom tell stories of when she was back home I thought it would be fun to read story to tell her and also say this is where grandma and papa are from, fun fun awesome read! - RafeeA- will tell my sister to get her own copy!

I got this book after reading all the positive reviews, and I feel really sorry that I can't add to them with as much enthusiasm. There are just a few points that kind of ruined the enjoyment of the book for me. Most of them are are to do with the production of the book itself rather than the story, which is a celebration of the simple things in life (namely a hammock made out of rice bags) which had been made by the grandfather of the family, and used by every member of the large extended family for different purposes at different times. The tale is gentle and lyrical, with a nice repetitive refrain on every page: " ...is the rice bag hammock that Aaja made".However, the book's production seems to overlook a few details which to my mind should have been sorted before publishing. The most noticeable of these is the way many of the illustrations have been weirdly stretched to fit on the page, with the results that the proportions are way out of line (e.g. some of the people have extra long arms and legs etc). The coloured pencil drawings have a nice quality that is quite appealing; the botanical flower illustrations are particularly lovely; but some of the people look a little anatomically weird (which may be due to the stretched printing, I don't know). There is one illustration that is repeated in the front and in the middle of the book, and in the front it is reproduced with the correct proportions, which is how I know it's been stretched because in the middle it is really elongated - even the cat looks a bit pancake-like! Also, there has not been sufficient thought given to the way the illustrations are spaced on the page, so that part of the picture disappears down the binding crease in the centre of the book. There's a picture of a Grandma in the hammock, where most of Grandma has disappeared into the spine of the book. Before printing thousands of copies, perhaps that should have really been checked and rectified? The story itself is very sweet and I imagine would be really nostalgic and comforting for anyone born in Guyana or a similar country, but reading it to children in England, there's an awful lot of explaining that you need to do about why the grandfather is making a hammock out of a rice bag and why the hammock is so important, why they don't have chairs etc... and one other point I noticed was that the age of the intended audience has possibly not been fully thought through, because some of the language is a little bit complex with long words for little children. To me, this book seems to be aimed at young children, but the slightly complex language isn't really suitable. As a story for older children (8 plus) who are interested in other cultures, it may well hit the mark, but I do feel that it is written more with the author's own nostalgic childhood memories in mind rather than the book's intended appeal for any particular age group of today's generation of children living in England.

This beautifully illustrated children's book works on a number of levels. It is quick enough for those snatched moments when your prince or princess crawls upon your knee, or when bedtime requires a shorter tale to be told. But The Rice Bag Hammock is also a book which many a youngster can look at alone. The beautiful, colourful illustrations allow ones imaginations to follow the happenings, while the simple words are challenging enough to keep those learning to read interested encouraging them to keep coming back.I liked that I was able to download this imaginative, heartfelt creation, in my case turning my ipod touch into the ideal must have tool to replace that forgotten or misplaced favourite book.