Multicultural Children's Book Day ~ by Christy Mihaly

The fifth annual Multicultural Children's Book Day is Saturday, January 27. MCBD aims to raise awareness of books for kids that celebrate diversity, and to get those books into more homes, classrooms and libraries. Hundreds of reviewers will be posting about hundreds of books. Wowza!

There's additional information at the end of this post about the MCBD Twitter party and other elements of the celebration. Why not join in the fun? And follow along on social media at: #ReadYourWorld.

This is my fourth year participating in MCBD, and I received FOUR exciting books to review. Big thanks to the MCBD sponsors! 


Picture Window Books, an imprint of Capstone Publishers, published the first two books on today's list. Pedro the Great, written by Fran Manushkin and illustrated by Tammy Lyon, is fun and engaging. This is the team that created the Katie Woo series, and the Pedro easy reader series follows the everyday adventures of the multicultural gang of buddies familiar to Katie Woo readers.  In Pedro the Great, you'll find humor and imagination, pirates, sharks, and ninjas. Pedro also displays some smart thinking to solve an engineering problem and build the tallest tower of cups. Highly recommended for readers K-2 (96 pages, paperback).

For the next level up (grades 2-4), Ailsa Wild has written a fast-paced family story in an urban setting, featuring a plucky heroine named Squishy (real name, Sita). Squishy Taylor and the Bonus Sisters, with illustrations by Ben Wood, was first published in Australia. It takes place soon after Squishy's mother has moved away for a temporary but long-term work assignment, causing Squishy to move in with her father's new family. Squishy's relationship with her twin stepsisters at first involves the silent treatment and mean tricks, but soon an enigmatic young fugitive in their apartment building's garage brings the three girls together to solve a mystery. Squishy gets to know her stepsisters better and realizes the twins are, in fact, her "bonus sisters." This well-written book should keep young readers riveted. (128 pages; I reviewed the paperback edition.)

The next couple of selections are picture books. Dream A Rainbow, written by Carlotta Penn, PhD, and beautifully illustrated by Joelle Avelino, was published last month by Daydreamers Press, a multicultural education company. The young protagonist of the story follows a rainbow into a colorful, imaginative dream with friendly animals in the eye-catching landscape of Ethiopia. 

In a personal note, the author explains that her book was inspired by her experience as the mother of a "rainbow baby," a daughter born after an earlier miscarriage. This story, building on the rainbow metaphor about happiness after heartbreak, came to her during the pregnancy that resulted in her daughter's birth. Penn says she's a dedicated daydreamer who wants to encourage her child and others to dream big dreams. (28 pages, soft cover.)

And last but surely not least, Willie: Does it Matter? is the creation of Rhyme Time, an enterprise founded by "three grandmothers." The rhyming text by Debora Emmert (a.k.a. Nonna Debora) explores which personal characteristics matter, and which don't. 

Willie begins asking diverse friends and neighbors whether his hair color, height, or other physical features matter to them, and they tell him: "No." But when he inquires about character traits such as honesty and loyalty, he gets a different answer. His friends agree that how you treat other people is important. The illustrations by Bonnie Murray bring a cheery whimsy to this story about what qualities we value in our friends. (24 pages, soft cover; e-book.) 

One of the great things about Multicultural Children's Book Day is that it helps the creators of diverse, nontraditionally published books to connect with new readers. If you're intrigued, visit their websites to find out more, and happy reading, all!

I received complimentary copies of these books for review from MCBD sponsors, and I'll be donating them to my local elementary school. And now, a word from (and about) the MCBD sponsors:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 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.

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/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

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

#ReadYourWorld.