A Few Words Multicultural Children's Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.  

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. 

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild 

PLATINUM:Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors

Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo,  Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles,  Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen,  Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and  MFL Publishing  Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham  Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

And don't forget:

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

Get Free Multicultural Books for Teachers

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

#ReadYourWorld: More Diverse Picture Book Reviews

It's Multicultural Children's Book Day and what better day than today to review two books about traditions in two different cultures - Korean and Jamaican.

No Kimchi for Me! written and illustrated by Aram Kim

2017, Holiday House, 40 pages

It's a rainy day and Yoomi wants to play with her big brothers so badly, but they just say no, they think she's a baby. Why do they think that? Because she just doesn't like Grandma's spicy kimchi, and they think that only big kids eat it and like it. What to do? No matter how hard she tries, Yoomi just doesn't like the spicy taste of kimchi - not even on a chocolate chip cookie. Grandma to the rescue. Together, Yoomi and Grandma put together a delectable dish made with kimchi that even big brothers like to eat. This is a lovely intergenerational story highlighting family, food, and culture in Yoomi's Korean family. Kimchi, as author Aram Kim notes, is a traditional Korean dish that is eaten with almost every meal and has the benefit of being one of the world's healthiest foods. So you can just imagine how left out Yoomi must have felt not liking it. Kim's illustrations, done in a bright palette using pencil, colored pencils, and pastels, depict other Korean dishes as the family sits down to lunch. Many young kids have food aversions, including to traditional favorites from their own cultural background like Yoomi, and this is a great story to help them embrace their family's culinary dishes. As an added bonus, Kim includes a recipe for easy to make kimchi pancakes, which is actually her mother's own recipe.      

Rice & Rocks by Sandra L. Richards,

illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan

2016, Wise Ink Creative Publishing, 32 pages 

Young Giovanni isn't quite as fond of his grandma traditional Sunday dinner dish of Jamaican stewed chicken with rice and beans (or as he calls it - rice and rocks) as his Auntie is. And this Sunday, his friends Emily, Aaron, and Gabby are coming over for dinner, and Giovanni is afraid they won't like rice and rocks, either. When he explains this to his Auntie, she takes him for a magical ride around the world to all the places his friend's families are culturally a part of, simply by rubbing the beak of his pet parrot Jasper. What a surprise when Giovanni learns all the diverse ways that rice and beans are traditional in different parts of the world. In Japan, they are called sekihan, and his friend Aaron probably is familiar with that dish. In Puerto Rico, rice and beans are call arroz con gandules, a dish Emily probably has on special occasions, holidays, and even Sunday dinner. Even in New Orleans, people eat rice and beans, and it was a favorite of jazz musician Louis Armstrong there, and mostly likely, Gabby loves it, too.  As Giovanni and Auntie visit the different places, young readers learn about and to appreciate different cultures with him. This is a charming story, with an element of fantasy to it, that reminds us not only how important our cultural  traditions are, but how nice it is to invite our friends to share them with us. Sullivan's bold, colorful illustrations are the perfect fit for a story about culinary traditions.

Family and food plays a big part in both of these books. After all, eating is such a social experience, whether with family or with friends, or friends and family, and both No Kimchi for Me and Rice & Rocks focus on food. Trying new culinary dishes is perhaps one of the most important means for learning about one's own culture and for breaking down barriers and helping people to understand and embrace others. After all, if you like on just hamburgers, you can never really learn to appreciate diverse cultures. A good reason to encourage kids to #ReadYourWorld.

#ReadYourWorld: Multicultural Children's Book Day is Here!

Welcome to our 5th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day! Here's how you can celebrate with us:

1- Link up your diverse book reviews using the linky below;

2- Win diversity book bundles at our Twitter Party tonight. We're giving away 100+ children's books from 9 PM to 10 PM EST. Register HERE to able to win. Remember to use the hashtag #ReadYourWorld

3- Download #ReadYourWorld: A Guide to Multicultural Children's Books for Parents and Educators. This is an ebook created by MCBD team and many of our book reviewers and supports and will be FREE the week of January 26th-30th. Spread the word!

4- Download a MCBD bookmark. One of our Co-Hosts, Kim from Educators' Spin on It was kind

enough to create these wonderful and free downloadable bookmarks. You can find download link on her website. They make a great reminder to #ReadYourWorld

BOOK REVIEWERS: PLEASE LINK UP YOUR BOOK REVIEWS HERE:
 An InLinkz Link-up


   

#ReadYourWorld: Diverse Picture Book Reviews

Yes, on Saturday, January 27, 2018, we will celebrate the 5th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day, a day to learn, share, and talk about the many wonderful diverse children's books available to young readers. Below are two reviews of books I have read and enjoyed, and as a Co-Host, I will be here with a linkup for participants to share their own diverse book posts. And I would like to take a moment to thank all of the wonderful publishers and authors who donated books for the giveaway bundles and who sent out books for participating reviewers. Your support is invaluable.

A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu, 

illustrated by Christina Forshay

2016, Lee & Low Books, 32 pages

One of the more wonderful relationships in life are the ones shared between grandchildren and their grandparents. In this delightful story,young Mei Mei is out in the garden one warm morning with her Gong Gong (grandfather). When she asks him about the dancelike moves he is making, he tells her that he is doing tai chi, a type of martial arts exercise. But unlike karate, which Mei Mei is familiar with, tai chi is a series of slow, gentle movements, designed to "send good energy through your body, Gong Gong explains and tries to teach a few tai chi movements to Mei Mei. When they are done, she offers to teach him some yoga positions she had learned in school. One of the things I really liked about this story is that Mei Mei is not immediately good at tai chi and neither is Gong Gong trying yoga, so that kids realize that proficiency a learning process, and fun when it is shared. A Morning with Grandpa is a delightful, heartwarming intergenerational story that will be shared again and again, particularly between grandpas and granddaughters. Young readers will not only delight in their give-and-take relationship but will also learn something about the culture of Chinese tai chi and Indian yoga. Forshay's digitally rendered illustrations are as delicately playful as the backyard movements Gong Gong and Mei Mei practice together.

Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子) by Eugenia Chu,

illustrated by Helena Chu Ho

2017, Outskirts Press, 24 pages

Young Brandon sure is surprised when he discovers that his Pó Po (grandma) has come to visit from China. Brandon also loves to eat jiǎo zi, a/k/a dumplings. But when he and Pó Po begin to make the dumpling wrappers, Brandon's enthusiasm gets the best of him and the whole bag of flour goes everywhere, including all over him. Pó Po tells Brandon he looks like a ghost and they both have a laugh. After cleaning up, they get to work making dumplings, with Brandon filling Pó Po's wrappers. This is a gentle intergenerational story that shares information about Chinese language and culture with the youngest of readers. Brandon, Chu writes, is a smart but silly boy who loves to have fun and Pó Po is a patient teacher who enjoys being with her grandson. Chu Ho's illustrations look like they may have been drawn by Brandon using crayons, giving the story a very relatable quality for young readers. Since part of the purpose of this story is to introduce kids to Chinese language and characters, Chu has included a pronunciation guide at the beginning of the story, and there is also a  glossary of words used. Should you want to check your pronunciation, you can hear the author reading the story HERE. As I have often mentioned, my Kiddo speaks fluent Mandarin, which she began learning in school. It's my hope that books like Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi will encourage other kids to start learning Chinese as well. (Ironically, while I was writing this, my Kiddo called to tell me her in-laws, visiting from Dalian, China, just taught her how to make dumpling wrappers. Needless to say, I told her all about Brandon and Pó Po.)

If you would like to make your own jiǎo zi, you can also find a recipe on Chu's website HERE, and they look mighty tasty to me: 

What are some of your favorite diverse books? I invite you to share them with us on Saturday, January 27, 2018 on the linkup that will be posted on the Multicultural Children's Books Day website, as well as on the websites of all the Co-Hosts, including here.

Save the Date! Multicultural Children's Book Day - Twitter Party and Book Bundle Giveaways

Mark your calendars because

You're Invited!

Please join us for our 5th Annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party

We promise it will be a fun and fast-paced hour of great book conversations,

sharing of diverse book ideas, and lots of prizes. Just follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld

to join the conversation and to win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Bundle

(12 books) that will be given away at the party! 

Register below to be able to win

REGISTER HERE TO BE ABLE TO WIN!

We will be discussing the state of children's book publishing and giving away

diversity book bundles every six minutes! We invite everyone to join us:

authors, publishers, parents, caregivers, librarians, KitLit lovers. You don't have

to be an author of publisher sponsor to join us! Let's talk about our favorite

multicultural and diverse children's books, authors, and illustrators. 

How do you join the Twitter party? Just use hashtag #ReadYourWorld to find us.

When you tweet, use the hashtag so everyone can find you!

Here are some of the questions that will be discussed along with each book bundle prize. Prizes will be given out IN REAL TIME during the Twitter Party.

9:00 PM Q1: Share some recent diverse, multicultural and inclusive books that you've read with your kids. #Read Your World

Book Bundle Prize for Q1:

9:05 PM Q2: What kinds of diverse characters/themes/topics would you like to see more of in children's books? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q2:

9:10 PM Q3: While the number of children's books of a diverse nature have gone up in recent years to 28%, those by people of color/Native authors remain at 6%. How do you feel about this? #ReadYourWorld (Stat from @LeeandLow http://blog.leeandlow.com/2017/03/30/the-diversity-gap-in-childrens-book-publishing-2017/)

Book Bundle Prize for Q3:

9:15 PM Q4: What is the ONE diversity book that you'd love to see used in the classroom and why? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q4:

9:20 PM Q5: Do you have a new (or new to you) diversity author or book discovery that you are excited about? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q5:

9:25 PM Q6: Our Classroom Empathy Kit this year focuses on refugees and immigrants. What books are you using at home or in the classroom to teach empathy? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q6:

9:30 PM Q7: Book activities help bring books to life. Has anyone tried the Backpack Activity in our Empathy Kit: What would you pack if you had to flee your country and had 5 minutes to pack? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q7:

9:35 PM Q8: Our next Classroom Kit is Poverty in the U.S. Do you think this is a good topic? Why or why not? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q8:

9:40 PM Q9: What diverse children's books would you suggest for our Classroom Kit on Poverty in the U.S.? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q9:

9:45 PM Q10: What diversity/multicultural/inclusive topics are you having trouble finding in children's books? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q10:

9:50 PM Q11: What resources do you use to find diverse children's books? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q11:

9:55 PM Q12: From #metoo to #shepersisted to Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globes speech, there is a huge interest in making a better tomorrow for our daughters. What books do you recommend that reflect this movement? #ReadYourWorld

Book Bundle Prize for Q12:

Multicultural Children's Book Day GRAND PRIZE!

Not sure how to join in? Check out this great post from Project Manager Becky on How to Participate in the 2018 Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party #ReadYourWorld

SEE YOU AT THE PARTY!