Multicultural Children's Book Day

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Bridging the Past with the Present | Guest Post from Author Kathleen Burkinshaw

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Guest Post from Author Kathleen Burkinshaw

Why does a book about an event that happened 50 plus years ago have anything to do with today?

Well, I believe that using historical fiction books for children/young adult readers illuminates a time period and a culture that may only be mentioned briefly in one paragraph of a history textbook. Historical fiction highlights some similarities that the main character may have in common with today’s readers and hopefully, they will empathize with that person, that culture.

Being able to spotlight an ethnicity that we may only know as the ‘enemy’ or immigrants from ‘other countries’, ensures that such important stories will not be forgotten. If we know the decisions that were made at that time period, but now have the full story from various points of views, perhaps future outcomes may be different.

I know that as years pass technology, political views, and yes, even climate changes. Yet one factor remains constant-our emotions with a strong need for connections (whether it is in person, online, or in a book). I believe that historical fiction serves this purpose by shining a light on the bridge from the past to the present.

Historical fiction can help a reader develop an understanding of another civilization, their way of living, and their mindset during a specific period of time.  If people’s stories from the past fade away, it could be all too easy to desensitize past gruesome events. The voices from the past need to be heard. We can learn from them, stand up for them, and vote so that the similar events are NEVER repeated.   Fear can stem from what we don’t know. If it is then fed with false information or assumptions, well, we have seen all too often how quickly fear escalates into hateful actions.

My mother refused to speak about her horrific experience and all that she lost in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima because she didn’t want the attention. Her devastating memories were beyond painful to discuss, but she also had been a victim of so much prejudice and racial slurs, she didn’t think her story would matter.

But a simple question from my daughter asking me to speak about “the people under the now famous mushroom clouds that day”, granted me an opportunity to tell my mother’s story for her. While honoring my mother for entrusting me with her precious memories, I could also give that sense of connection of people living in Hiroshima Japan during WWII to these students.

As a byproduct, I connected to the family members that I never got to meet because they died that day or within years of the bombing. I came to terms with the knowledge that the illness I have today most likely is related to the radiation my mother was exposed to on August 6th.

I want to make clear that I am not saying to remember the past for the sake of blaming some person or country. We are remembering so that the use of atomic bombs, the injustices, and atrocities of the past will NOT happen to any family, in any country again.

By using historical fiction as light on our and our children’s journey through life, not only are we giving voices from the past meaning; but we are showing our readers, that their story will matter as well.

Once we cross that bridge, steps toward peace may be waiting on the other side.

About Author Kathleen Burkinshaw

The last cherry blossom

 

Kathleen Burkinshaw

Kathleen Burkinshaw is a Japanese American author residing in Charlotte, NC. She’s a wife, mom to a daughter in college, and owns a dog who is a kitchen ninja. She has presented her mother’s experience in Hiroshima to middle and high schools for the past 9 years. The Last Cherry Blossom (Sky Pony Press,2016), is now a United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs Resource for Teachers and Students. And is recently nominated for NC School Library Media Association YA book award and 2019-2020 VSBA, 2018& 2016 Scholastic WNDB Reading Club selection, and Finalist for NC Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award, 2018 Sakura Medal, Japan, and SCBWI Crystal Kite Award(southeast region)

Connect with Kathleen via her Website www.kathleenburkinshaw.com  or on social media: Twitter @klburkinshaw1 Instagram @kathleenburkinshaw Facebook @authorKathleenBurkinshaw

What’s in Our Dream Basket? Raising Awareness for Global Education

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Guest post from Patricia Newman with Donna Rosenblum and Mehrdokht Amini

I usually write about nonfiction conservation topics that empower children to act as global citizens. When Donna Rosenblum, Executive Director of Reason2Smile, approached me with an idea for a book about the importance of education, I saw another way to empower young readers to act.

Approximately 262 million children worldwide did not attend school in 2017. Neema’s Reason to Smile illustrator Mehrdokht Amini comes from Iran, a country where access to education is not necessarily a right.

Neema’s Reason to Smile

Donna and Mehrdokht know first-hand the challenges faced by children from extreme poverty or worn-torn countries. I thought you’d like to hear their messages from the front lines. [Read more…]

KidLit TV: Inspiring Children to Read and Learn

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One of the best resources to explore the world of children’s literature with kids AND adults is none other than KidLit TV. Julie Gribble, a two Emmy Award nominee, a multi-award-winning writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and producer, founded KidLit TV to help inspire children to learn and read. She has assembled an all-star team of diverse award-winning writers, illustrators, teachers, filmmakers, and reading specialists who work together to create fun new ways to reinforce an appreciation of reading that children will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

The diverse KidLit TV team also supports the We Need Diverse Books and Multicultural Children’s Book Day initiatives by encouraging the children’s literature community to create more books that reflect the diversity of our society.

KidLitTV creates fun new ways to reinforce an appreciation of reading that children will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Award-Winning Children’s Literature Resource

KidLit TV is a winner of the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Norton Juster Award for Devotion to Literacy, and one of the American Library Association’s Great Websites For Kids. KLTV is available in over 600,000 schools worldwide via our website and video distribution partners. [Read more…]

The RealGirls Revolution | Creating an Alternative to Stereptypes

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Guest post from Terri Birnbaum -co-founder of The RealGirls Revolution

Over the course of six years, and with the immense talent of many artists, and partnerships with some amazing organizations, a collection of illustrated girls became a 50-page coloring book we titled, RealGirls. Our story began when my daughter, Lydia, was eight, she and I were sewing clothes for her Barbies and had trouble making the dresses fit well on their tiny waists.

In frustration, I said, “Why don’t they just make real girls?” And with that, we began our long journey producing a book that celebrates girls’ unique and beautiful differences.

First, I reached out to community groups, student associations, art galleries, and college art programs, to meet with artists who were equally passionate about creating an alternative to the limited, and highly stereotyped, princesses and dolls that saturate our mainstream popular culture. Artists identified things they felt weren’t represented, and created girls that incorporated those qualities, or sketched friends or family members they felt embodied those qualities. They also used the opportunity to invest their artwork with visual messages addressing things that were important to them like, socioeconomic concerns, education, and cultural identity. One artist created a girl with a huge smile, understated clothing, and books in her arms, another created a girl wearing a traditional, culturally-specific scarf. These are just two examples of how artists chose to communicate pride in education and cultural identity. [Read more…]

How a book inspired the stories I want to tell {Guest post from Anne Glick}

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Guest post from the co-founder of Globe Smart Kids, Anne Glick

No better way to start a new year than with Multicultural Children’s Book Day right around the corner! Excited to be a returning author sponsor with 10 diverse friendship stories, all bundled in a virtual library: One Globe Kids

Stories about relatable others lay a foundation for exploration

The idea for One Globe Kids was born one afternoon while I read the children’s book Joyce’s Day to my then 3-year-old son in our apartment in New York City. The book was printed in South Africa in 1974 and given to me as a newborn present by my Aunt Joan in 1975. Its photos and simple text made Joyce’s day in South Africa relatable to me, a young, white girl living in small-town Illinois.

From beginning foreign language study in middle school to studying and working abroad, I strongly feel that my preparation for life in a diverse globalized world can be traced back to the simple curiosity I had for Joyce and her family.

I went looking for more “Joyce-like” books for my son Sebastian and found several beautiful, but basic, mostly illustrated, books about children in other countries. I did not find the personal, intimate, rounded stories that would make these children more familiar than foreign for him. And thus began my journey to make the international story series that I want to share with my kids, Sebastian and his two brothers, Willem and Josef. [Read more…]

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