As a result of the incredible participation we received during our virtual party, we are making the questions we asked during the giveaway into a five-part series. The participants were really engaged with these questions and gave us some great recommendations that we’ve compiled here for you. Today’s post is in response to the first question. Enjoy!
3 Ways to Support Language Learning on International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day is celebrated worldwide each February 21. This year’s theme is “multilingual education – a necessity to transform education in a multilingual world.”
Let’s look at its history and ways you can celebrate at home and school!
Understanding One’s Worth is at the Heart of Sally J. Pla’s New Middle Grade Novel
Review of The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn for #ReadYourWorld Day
Guest Post and Review by Jodi Murphy
Many of the people who encountered Maudie told her she had glitches. She believed them. But the real flaw is that those people look at her from a lens that says she is broken and “less than.” Even her mom wants her to act in a way she’s determined is normal, but Maudie is so much more than ordinary.
Recently Released Asian Books for Young Readers & GIVEAWAY // #ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023
#ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023 in partnership with Children’s Book Council is excited to present Maria Wen Adcock with her book list of Recently Released Asian Books for Young Readers!
We are also giving away a signed copy of her book, It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.
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In recent years the publishing industry has seen an increase in diverse books for young readers, thanks to the efforts of many including the non-profit organization Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
When compiling a list of eight children’s books to recommend, it was challenging as there were so many books I wanted to share. The list below focuses on books by Asian authors that were released within the last six months from the publication of this post and featured Asian culture or characters. I’ve listed the books in alphabetical order.
Don’t forget to check out my giveaway for It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George where one lucky reader will win a signed copy of my book! Giveaway details are at the end of this post.
Recently Released Asian Books for Young Readers
A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling
In this charming story, a young girl named Ren longs to help her family prepare for the Lunar New Year, but everyone thinks she’s too little. When she struggles to make pineapple cakes, her family shows her the way. The pride Ren feels in helping her family with traditions and food is heartwarming. [Picture Book, ages 4-8]
Ameya’s Two Worlds by Aditi Wardhan Singh
Ameya is an Indian American girl who attends her cousin Vaishali’s wedding in India. When her cousin Dev questions if she is really Indian, she wonders if he is right. With the support of her mother, Ameya realizes that a person can be many things and embraces her two worlds. [Picture Book, ages 5-9]
Diwali in My New Home by Shachi Kaushik
Priya, a girl from India whose family moves to the United States, notices that people in her new country are not familiar with the Indian holiday of Diwali. She misses celebrating it in the same way she did in India but learns that sharing the holiday with new people can be just as festive. The book provides a kid-friendly introduction to Diwali. [Picture Book, ages 4-8]
How Do Vaccines Work? By Katrina Liu
This Informational fiction STEAM book features an Asian girl and her father which provides the science behind immunizations. It tackles the immune system, viruses, bacteria, and more in a kid-friendly way. Young readers will also see how the main character overcomes her fear of shots. [Picture Book, ages 4-7]
It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George by Maria Wen Adcock
Follow along with Curious George as he celebrates Chinese New Year with his friend Mei and her family. With rhyming text, colorful illustrations, and sturdy tabbed pages, this book is a wonderful introduction to the holiday for young readers which they can read again and again through the early school years. [Board Book, ages 0 and up]
Little Bun by Amanda Hsiung Blodgett
In this bilingual Chinese English storybook about feelings, Little Bun helps young readers to verbalize what they’re feeling inside. It’s a much-needed book that can support social-emotional skills in children while introducing children to Chinese culture. [Picture Book, ages 2-6]
Luminous by Julia Kuo
A young girl and her mother explore the luminous world of living things around them that light up the night. Throughout the story, there are supporting paragraphs that further explain scientific points in the storyline, thus making this book both very educational and enjoyable to read. [Picture Book, ages 4-8]
Toco’s How We Look by Akhila Das Blah and Kshama Alur
Created by the founders of Indigrow, Toco’s How We Look Playbook teaches kids to celebrate differences and provides talking points to spark conversations. Kids explore topics such as “Why do my eyes look different” or “Why is my skin darker” in an age-appropriate way. An additional digital companion InstaPlay Kit includes printables and activities. [Picture Book, ages 3-8]
SIGNED COPY of It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George GIVEAWAY!
We are also giving away a signed copy of It‘s Chinese New Year, Curious George. To enter, please use the Rafflecopter below. We can only mail to U.S. and A.F.O. addresses.
Maria Wen Adcock is the author of It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George [January 2023] published by Clarion Books/Harper Collins. Maria is a first-generation Chinese-American writer and founder of the award-winning multicultural parenting blog www.BiculturalMama.com. She has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show< Bloomberg News, Newsday, and Huffington Post. Maria is a board member of Multicultural Kid Blogs, an organization supporting diverse parenting bloggers, and co-host of the annual publishing event Multicultural Children’s Book Day. She resides on Long Island with her husband and two children. To learn more, check out her website and follow her @BiculturalMama on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Thank You for Celebrating #ReadYourWorld Virtual Party 2023
It’s a wrap! Our 2023 Multicultural Children’s Book Day Virtual Party was a success! Thank you! Thank you! This celebration couldn’t have been possible without your support! It was so wonderful to see the community, parents, teachers, sponsors, authors, reviewers and our wonderful co-hosts come together to celebrate diverse books.
Congrats to last night’s winners! #ReadYourWorld Giveaway 2023 Bundle Book Lists
Looking forward to many more years of celebration, we hope everyone enjoyed the event.
#ReadYourWorld Giveaway 2023 Bundle Book Lists
Top 5 Books To Spark Important Conversations // #ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023
#ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023 in partnership with Children’s Book Council is excited to present Tony Perry with his list sharing his favorite children’s books to spark important conversations on issues shaping our country and society.
Top 5 Books To Spark Important Conversations
Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Bunten, illustrated by Garry Meeches, Sr.
Keepunumuk tells the American Thanksgiving story from a Native American point of view. Created by an all-Native team, this book tells the Thanksgiving story through the eyes of the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash. It reminds readers that we as people are part of the world around us, and rely on Nature–and each other–to thrive. It also creates a new, more inclusive Thanksgiving story to unite a divided country. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Homes, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith
Born on the Water shows how the trauma of slavery transformed the culture and lives of Black people in America. Though historically questionable–the first European slaves were Indigenous, not Black–it shows how America’s birth and growth rested on slavery and oppression. This sparks a conversation on how to address slavery–both the scars of the past and the continued exploitation of people of color today–as the country explores how to create a more just society. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade
We Are Water Protectors describes the deep relationship between Native peoples and Nature, through the traditional Anishinaabe story of a black snake that threatens the water that gives us all life. Building on the fight for water at Standing Rock, it urges readers to protect water and the wider world around us; by helping the world, we help ourselves. This sparks wider conversations on the changes we can make to lead more sustainable lives. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
I’m So Glad You Were Born: Celebrating Who You Are by Ainsley Earhardt, illustrated by Kim Barnes
I’m So Glad You Were Born shows readers that, wherever we come from and whoever we are, we have value as human beings. This is a helpful reminder at a time when our country faces great division over its identity and future. We may disagree, but it helps to remember our humanity from our earliest days as we try to find solutions to the challenges we face. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
This powerful book explores justice through the eyes of children who hear about a Black man’s death at the hands of the police. It shows how justice is not blind, but biased, and the pain this injustice causes. It also shows how we as individuals can bring about change through our own actions toward others. By standing up for what’s right in our own daily lives, we can create a better world. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Anthony Perry (Chickasaw) grew up in Oklahoma and now lives in England with his wife and young children. He works as a quality improvement manager in the National Health Service in England and volunteers with hospitals in Pakistan to improve health services. He loves history and enjoys spending time with his family and traveling.
Perry has an undergraduate degree in comparative religion from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a master’s degree in public policy from Birkbeck College, University of London.
Join us for our Read Your World Virtual Party
Thursday, January 26, 2023
9:00 – 10:00 pm EST
We will be giving away 14+ book bundles!
Register here:
Picture Books to Understand the Ukraine War & GIVEAWAY! // #ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023
#ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023 in partnership with Children’s Book Council is excited to present Ukrainian author and illustrator, Oleksandr Shatokhin, with his book list of picture books to understand the Ukraine war.
We also have a giveaway of Yellow Butterfly: A Story From Ukraine. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.
Picture Books to Understand the Ukraine War
Yellow Butterfly: A Story From Ukraine by Oleksandr Shatokhin
In the midst of terrifying darkness surrounded by barbed wire, a yellow butterfly emerges and crosses over to the child. The yellow butterfly leads the child on a journey, finding inspiration and hope in the people carrying on everyday life despite the barrage of bombs. In fact, no amount of bombing can destroy the hope for peace and freedom. Slava Ukraini. [wordless picture book, ages 4 and up]
My Uncle is Coming Tomorrow by Sebastián Santana Camargo, translated by Elisa Amado
This is a spare black and white picture book that seems like a happy reunion story of a nephew eagerly waiting for his uncle to visit. But then the story does something unexpected. The boy who is waiting for his uncle to show him how to stop a penalty shop starts to get older and older (though it’s communicated more by the words than the illustration). Finally, the last page is dedicated to those who, because of forced disappearances, have never been able to come home. The Afterword has more information about forced disappearance including examples in modern history. Forced disappearances number more than 15,000 in Ukraine as a result of the war with Russia. [picture book, ages 10 and up]
The Day War Came by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb
I can’t say the words that tell you
about the blackened hole
that had been my home.
All I can say is this:
War took everything.
Wark took everyone.
I was ragged, bloody, all alone.
It seems like an ordinary day of going to school for a young girl, but it’s not. It’s the day that war came and destroyed everything she knew and loved. Now, all alone, she is a refugee trying to survive on her own. She walks and walks, turned away by everyone she encounters until she comes upon a school. It seems that there is no room for her until a little boy helps out by offering her a chair so that she can join the class. [picture book, ages 6 and up]
Every second, a child becomes a refugee in Ukraine. It is estimated that two-thirds of Ukraine’s children had to flee their homes since the war began on February 24, 2022.
The Journey by Francesca Sanna
The war began. Every day bad things
started happening around us and
soon there was nothing but chaos.
And one day the war took my father.
A mother and her children must flee their home when war breaks out. They hope to go to a place far away where they will be safe, but it’s a long, difficult, and dangerous journey. There are free teaching resources about refugees including classroom notes on The Journey on the Amnesty International website. [picture book, ages 5 and up]
Hand in Hand by Andria Rosenbaum
Soldiers stomp into town on one terrible day. Ruthi and her little brother Lieb wait for mama to return with food but she never does. They are sent to an orphanage where Lieb is adopted overseas. Ruthi tears a photo of the two of them in half so he can have a photo of her. The war ends, and Ruthi starts a new life in a new country, but always has Lieb’s photo under her pillow. Years go by, then decades. One day, she gets a letter. Can it really be her Lieb? She has kept her promise to never let go. [picture book, ages 5 and up]
Leaving My Homeland: A Refugee’s Journey from Ukraine by Ellen Rodger
Published in 2018, this nonfiction picture book details the Russia-Ukraine conflict over Donetsk Oblast, a part of Ukraine in the eastern region that the Russians took control of in 2014. This is a story of internally displaced persons (IDPs), particularly using one family as an example, who are forced to move several times without different regions of Ukraine. This story repeats itself regarding the war that began on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and attempted to take over Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. The difference between this story and current times is that most of the people fleeing Ukraine have to leave their country. The book ends with a “You Can Help!” page that has ideas of how a reader can help newcomers and refugees. This can be a great lead in to discussing war, as well as empowering young readers on how to make a difference in their own community. [nonfiction picture book, ages 8 and up]
Why War Is Never a Good Idea by Alice Walker
Though War is Old
It has not
Become wise
It will not hesitate
To destroy
Things that
Do not
Belong to it
Things very
Much older
Than itself.
Alice Walker uses free verse poetry to describe War as if it were a person. With simple examples, she describes War’s devastation and wanton destruction. This is a picture book to help young readers who haven’t experienced war firsthand, feel its impact. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope by Michael Foreman
In a pile of rubble, a child finds a single green sprout and tends to it until it grows big enough to climb over the barbed wire fence, separating two countries at war. It’s a grapevine. But one day, the soldiers on the other side destroy it. The boy is heartbroken but come spring, some seeds from his vine have sprouted on the other side where a little girl tends them. Soon, he finds new shoots on his side as well. The plants grow big and intertwine, hiding the barbed wire fence. And perhaps one day, the fence will disappear altogether. Geographic boundaries can change during a war. This story celebrates the enduring human spirit. [picture book, ages 5 and up]
Yellow Butterfly: A Story From Ukraine GIVEAWAY
We are giving away a copy of Yellow Butterfly: A Story From Ukraine. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. We can only mail to U.S. and A.F.O. addresses.
Oleksandr Shatokhin is an artist and children’s book illustrator who lives and works in Ukraine. On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr and his family left their home in Sumy, close to the Russian border, for Poltava. On the way there, they were held up in occupied Trostianka (Sumy region) but finally managed to travel through the “green corridor” to reach their friends in Poltava. Oleksandr’s wife and child continued on to the safety of Poland. The author stayed in Ukraine. After two months apart the family was reunited in Western Ukraine and are now living together in the city of Lviv close to the Polish border.
Join us for our Read Your World Virtual Party
Thursday, January 26, 2023
9:00 – 10:00 pm EST
We will be giving away 14+ book bundles!
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qfuitrD4sGNbYdoYtet-LmApWC71XBMpY
Torrey Maldonado with a Sports Book List & Inscribed GIVEAWAY! // #ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023
#ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023 in partnership with Children’s Book Council is thrilled to kick off our series with Torrey Maldonado who brings a diverse middle grade sports list to inspire greatness.
We also have a giveaway of an inscribed copy of Torrey’s latest book, Hands. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.
Hands by Torrey Maldonado
Sports: Books Tying Together being the Best in Sports and in Life
Contenders by Traci Sorell
If you want to do real SEL (Social Emotional Learning) work with 6 – 9-year-olds while teaching them history, Contenders is for you. An inspirational true story with riveting imagery about resilience, following your heart despite threats of injustice, and the fight for Native American representation in pro baseball. [picture book, ages 6 and up]
Soccer Queens by Charles R. Smith Jr.
A poetic tribute to soccer’s greatest US athletes. Dynamic rhymes full of energy and life plus award-worthy bold, graphic photo illustrations. Readers will be sparked to find their game and be their best. [middle grade, ages 8 and up]
A High Five for Glenn Burke by Phil Bildner
It’s not easy to be your true self, especially when others are against that. A moving book teaching readers they belong on the field, no matter if not everyone agrees. Told through the history of Los Angeles Dodger and Oakland Athletic Glenn Burke–the first professional baseball player to come out as gay. [middle grade, ages 10 and up]
The Ashe Brothers: How Arthur and Johnnie Changed Tennis Forever by Judy Allen Dodson, illustrated by David Wilkerson
Success doesn’t happen without help and sometimes hurdles must be overcome toward your goal. The Ashe Brothers show how Arthur Ashe navigated near-impossible hurdles of racism and segregation using his close relationship with his younger brother, Johnnie, to ultimately reach the top of the tennis world. Readers will also see how family means love, sibling rivalry, and unconditional support. [middle grade, ages 8 and up]
Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by Jim Haskins, illustrated by Eric Velasquez
Champion explains and illustrates a timeless, key truth: fights happen, inside the ring and out. Absorbing art and words about how Ali fought for greatness on his own terms, providing an excellent model for how young people can do the same. [middle grade, ages 8 and up]
Coming Up Short by Laurie Morrison
Coming Up Short takes readers through the heart and mind of one girl as she tries to be the best version of herself when it feels as if everything she loves and her family are falling apart. A tale of how to hold onto what matters as things slip out of your fingers. Readers will relate with and root for Bea while enjoying the world of softball and league championships. [middle grade, ages 10 and up]
The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron
Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee
#ReadYourWorld Book Jam 2023 GIVEAWAY: Inscribed Copy of Hands by Torrey Maldonado
We are giving away an inscribed copy of Torrey’s latest book, Hands. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. We can only mail to U.S. and A.F.O. addresses.
Torrey Maldonado was born and raised in Brooklyn’s Red Hook projects. He has taught in New York City public schools for over 25 years and his fast-paced, compelling stories are inspired by his and his students’ experiences. His popular young readers novels include What Lane?, which won many starred reviews and was cited by Oprah Daily and the NY Times for being essential to discuss racism and allyship; Tight won the Christopher Award, was an ALA Notable Book, and an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year; and his first novel, Secret Saturdays, has stayed in print for over ten years. His newest book, Hands, releases this January and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Learn more at torreymaldonado.com or connect on social media @torreymaldonado.
Join us for our Read Your World Virtual Party
Thursday, January 26, 2023
9:00 – 10:00 pm EST
We will be giving away 14+ book bundles!
Register here:
Why We Need More Black Santas in Children’s Books
Why We Need More Black Santas in Children’s Books
It’s that magical time of year! For many families, a beloved holiday tradition is snuggling up together to read Christmas stories. Yet too often, those books do not reflect the families that are enjoying them.
Lack of diversity in children’s books is a problem all year long, but it seems especially pressing during the holidays, when traditional stories and tropes often reign. One area where this is most obvious is the portrayal of Santa Claus. Though based on a real person from modern-day Turkey, Santa is most often portrayed as very fair-skinned. [Read more…]
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