Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain: Book Review

Are you looking for a fun, intriguing book that opens the door to conversations about difficult feelings and how to manage them? If so, Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain by Valerie William Sanchez just may be the book for you.

I received a copy of this book as a Multicultural Children’s Book Day reviewer. If you’d like to learn more about Multicultural Children’s Book day, scroll down to the end.

Summary of Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain

Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain is the story of a young boy named Isaiah who hates chocolate. (Can you imagine?! Neither can I….) Unaware of his feelings for chocolate, Isaiah’s favorite aunt gives him chocolate for his birthday and he loses it. He runs away from his party only to find himself in a chocolate forest. The only way to make it back to his party is to put his hatred aside and use chocolate as a tool to get to where he wants to be.

Review of Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain

I absolutely love the fact that the main characters of this book are people of color (which is something the author is very passionate about, more on that later).

Plus, the idea of hating chocolate was so intriguing and unbelievable in our family that it kept us glued to the pages until the end, waiting to see what would happen.

I also love the unique illustration style. However, what I love the most is the fact that the book focuses on controlling and handling emotions. At the end, the author even has a workbook full of activities to help kids identify the emotions in the book and work through their own.

In this time of quarantine, isolation and online everything, we’ve all got our fair share of big emotions to sort through. I don’t know about you, but as a parent I am grateful for any tools I can get my hands on to help my son through his emotional ups and downs. This book is a great tool for elementary aged kiddos to explore the power of emotions and the power we have to manage them.

If you looking for more resources to help kids control their emotions, you may also want to check out our article, How to Help Your Child Calm Down.

*Families Embracing Diversity is an Amazon Affiliate. That means if you make a purchase using one of our affiliate links, we will receive a small commission at no cost to you. You can read the full disclosure here.

About the Author

Valerie is a journalist/project management professional who also happens be a reading and literature scholar. Her work led her to create the Cocoa Kids Book Collection, which includes not only Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain but also Eddie and the Hot Cocoa Rod, and Lorena and the Magic Mocha Mirror. The Cocoa Kids Book Collection seeks to put minority and mixed race children on center stage, because everyone deserves to see themselves in a book.

Want some more fun facts about Valerie? Lorena is actually Valerie’s daughter and Isaiah is her nephew. In case you were worried, Valerie definitely does not hate chocolate, in fact it is one of her favorite things.

So, in summary, we greatly enjoyed this book and the tools it provides. Be sure to check out Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain and the rest of the Cocoa Kids Book collection!

About Multicultural Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8^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 book into the hands of young readers and educators. Eight years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!

FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Prgamaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com) Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Hoopoe Books, KidLitTV, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc. Silver Sponsors: Charlotte Riggle, Connecticut Association of School Librarians, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Pack-N-Go Girls Bronze Sponsors: Agatha Rodi and AMELIE is IMPRESSED!, Barnes Brothers Books, Create and Educate Solutions, LLC, Dreambuilt Books, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin Real Estate, Snowflake Stories, Star Bright Books, TimTimTom Bilingual Personalized Books, Author Vivian Kirkfield, Wisdom Tales Press, My Well Read Child  

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!

Poster Artist: Nat Iwata Authors: Author Afsaneh Moradian, Author Alva Sachs & Three Wishes Publishing Company, Author Angeliki Stamatopoulou-Pedersen, Author Anna Olswanger, Author Casey Bell , Author Claudine Norden, Author Debbie Dadey, Author Diana Huang & Intrepids, Author Eugenia Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Green Kids Club, Author Gwen Jackson, Author Janet Balletta, Author Josh Funk, Author Julia Inserro, Karter Johnson & Popcorn and Books, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, Author Keila Dawson, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Author Mia Wenjen, Michael Genhart, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Natalie Murray, Natalie McDonald-Perkins, Author Natasha Yim, Author Phe Lang and Me On The Page Publishing, Sandra Elaine Scott, Author Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Tales of the Five Enchanted Mermaids, Author Theresa Mackiewicz, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Author Toshia Stelivan, Valerie Williams-Sanchez & The Cocoa Kids Collection Books©, Author Vanessa Womack, MBA, Author Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series

MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!

MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!

Check out MCBD’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit Gallery of Our Free Posters FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program

TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter Party! This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas. We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. ** Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter! Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.