Wednesday, January 24, 2018

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 Timean 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
BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal BoweGokul! 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
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.

21 comments:

  1. We so need this initiative in our world today. TY for sharing all the books and ways we can participate, Chris. Here's to MCBD!

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  2. Thanks for bringing this important day to the forefront, Christy! I'm sure the number of folks participating will be greatly increased. I'm putting a hold on the books you mentioned in your post and look forward to reading them.

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    1. Anne, that's great and I hope you enjoy reading them!

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  3. Books need to reflect the diversity that exists in society. More books are needed that focus on divergent themes. Books that dispel misconceptions and break stereotypes beyond skin color and cultures open our minds to understanding, kindness, and respect for one another.

    Thank you, Chris, for an excellent post filled with information and many resources.

    Celebrate diversity.

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    1. Thank you and yes -- that's why MCBD was founded. Books are powerful.

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  4. It's been interesting to see the broad spectrum of multicultural books being featured around the blogosphere. Thanks for adding to the mix!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by, Jilanne! And happy reading.

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  5. great post - fun books! I'll be reviewing a STEM-oriented book for MCBD over at Archimedes Notebook - my first year of reviewing a book for this fun celebration of diverse characters and authors.

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    1. There are hundreds of these books and it's fun to discover new ones! Have fun at Archimedes Notebook too.

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  6. Thank you for sharing about MCBD. I'm checking out your examples.

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    1. That's great, Charlotte! And we can keep reading them all year round! Thanks for stopping by.

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  7. Great post, Christy, sharing these books we might not have known about.

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    1. Thanks to you, Tina. There are so many great books out there! I just want to find out about them ALL, right?

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  8. Important, important, important. Potent. Appreciations for this post.

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  9. Dream a Rainbow looks beautiful. Thanks for for sharing these resources with MCBD!

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