The excitement is palpable because it is Multicultural Children’s Book Day today! Please read all about how Multicultural Children’s Book Day came about and all the fun events today below.
To add to the excitement, the organizers paired me with the awesome Real MVP Kids® Books this year.
This is a series that educators and caregivers will love. Each book features 16 actual children from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds in a variety of situations. In the Celebrate! board book series there are titles about themes as varied as bedtime, holidays, and Grandmas and Grandpas.
Let’s take a look at two board books in this series that have a perfect message for Multicultural Children’s Book Day:
Celebrate! The Way I’m Made by Sophia Day, Megan Johnson, and illustrated by Stephanie Strouse reveals how each person is an individual, with their own special traits, weaknesses, and strengths.
The text explains all the ways children look differently and act differently, and each two-page spread repeats the self-esteem promoting message:
“I am good the way I’m made.”
Each board book in the Celebrate! series has a “Helpful Teaching Tips” section, which explains the concepts behind the text and offers concrete ways to use them. For example, for this book they suggest children should be exposed to five positive messages or interactions for every negative one. It also gives hints about how to talk about the differences children of that age are beginning to notice.
Age Range: 2 – 6 years
Publisher: Real MVP Kids; Brdbk edition (January 1, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1641367806
ISBN-13: 978-1641367806
Celebrate! Our Differences by Sophia Day, Megan Johnson, and illustrated by Stephanie Strouse helps children to respect the uniqueness of others, and pairs nicely with the title above.
“It’s okay to look, but please don’t point or stare.
Let’s celebrate or differences instead of being scared.
In the “Helpful Teaching Tips” section educators and caregivers learn how to carefully choose their words, and to gently correct children to show them how their words might be unintentionally hurtful.
What I particularly enjoyed about this title was the explanation that yellow flowers are a symbol of friendship and the fact that the artist has included yellow flowers in every spread for young readers to find.
The Celebrate! board books help readers learn about and respect themselves and others. As their titles say, it is all to Inspire Character®.
Age Range: 2 – 6 years
Publisher: Real MVP Kids; First edition (May 1, 2017)
ISBN-10: 168418245X
ISBN-13: 978-1684182459
For older children, Real MVP Kids® has a series to help children understand feelings with titles such as Sarah Sizes up the Insecure Ant, Miriam Lassoes the Worry Whirlwind, Lucas Tames the Anger Dragon, and Yong Breaks Out of the Boredom Box. These titles have a learn and discuss section for children to read on their own as well as a special section with information and ideas for educators.
Hope you enjoy Multicultural Children’s Book Day in your own special way!
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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 homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!
*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN
Medallion Level Sponsors
Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.
Super Platinum: Make A Way Media
GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,
SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,
BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board
Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,
Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
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/
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
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