Diverse Book Review Archives - Multicultural Children's Book Day

When the Majority Remains the Minority in Children’s Books

December 13, 2018 by Valarie Budayr Leave a Comment

{Guest Post by Author Sonia Panigrahy}

On a Saturday afternoon, I found myself rushing through Manhattan in preparation for a trip to Chicago to visit my best friend. I was searching for a gift for her five-year-old daughter. I opened the doors to a lovely two-storied children’s bookstore. I skimmed the shelves and struggled to find a book with a main female character that was not a princess. Seeking the help of an employee, I request a girl’s adventure book. She pulled out a book and described the plot, prompting me to purchase the book without having the time to read it. I figured the little girl and I would read it for the first time together in Chicago.

We were in our pajamas in Chicago on the sofa as I cracked open this new adventure story. The main character has a dream where an adventure awaits her. I turn the pages to find that the adventure involves the main female character cleaning and cooking. What struck me in a very painful way was that no adventure book for boys would include cleaning and cooking. Why is it that children’s books are delineated into boys’ vs. girls’ stories that restrict what they can and cannot become? Why don’t books have storylines where pronouns can be interchangeable so that kids can just be kids?

This was memorably the last straw on the camel’s back. I had been brewing the idea of creating a children’s book with a young female superhero as the lead protagonist that I could not find. In the United States, half the population is female and in 2015, more than half of children ages 5 and younger are children of color. Yet, large portions of our population are excluded from the literature. There are statistics that prove this, but one simply has to browse the bookshelves of a library or store, or review bestseller lists to see that white boys and inanimate objects dominate storylines. Lee & Low published an article stating that in 2015, only 14% of books feature multi-cultural content. Children learn about the world around them by reading books, yet through characters that don’t reflect them. If children learn about a world that does not look like them, children feel the world does not see them. Not being seen is not being valued nor viewed as the norm. They need to see themselves in books.

While knowing that my main character needed to be a female to fill the gender void, I could not decide on the race of the character. All non-white children are under-represented and misrepresented in children’s books. I asked my illustrator, Hazel Quintanilla, to help by providing some sketches of character options. I instantly connected with the character you see in my book, Nina the Neighborhood Ninja (Spanish version available: Nina la Ninja del Vecindario).

To my surprise, children have shown their open minds by having a flexible interpretation of Nina’s race.

The fact the book is available in Spanish, enables households that speak or wish to speak Spanish the opportunity to build bilingual literacy and demonstrates an acceptance of non-English languages in the United States. What matters is that readers of all backgrounds find Nina as a relatable and inspiring role model. Parents of all genders and races tell me that their children aim to be like Nina. Through better stories, we can teach all children to include one other, helping them to adapt as global citizens in a multi-cultural society.

About SONIA PANIGRAHY

Author Sonia Panigrahy (Pah-Nee-Grah-Hee), is a public health professional, world traveler, adventure seeker, and fitness enthusiast. Her motto is that life is too short to be bored!

Nina the Neighborhood Ninja was created out of Sonia’s lifelong love of reading. As her family and friends begin to have children, she looked forward to sharing this love with them. She believes that books are a powerful way to empower impressionable young minds.

Sonia was surprised that she could not find books for kids ages 3-6 years that realistically identified females as intelligent, physically tough, brave, and adventurous. She was disappointed that girls continue to be excluded from the heart of the superhero story.

After unsuccessful attempts to find a young girl superhero protagonist on the pages of a book, especially one of color, she gave up. Then she created her own.

Connect with Sonia via her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

Please follow and like us:

Diverse Kidlit as a Creative Educational Tools

November 17, 2018 by Rebecca Flansburg

Guest post by Wiley Barnes from Chickasaw Press

Children innately love books. They have certain stories that become favorites, and they want to look at them or read them time and again. Books from our childhood have a way of staying with us and becoming a part of who we are.

I kept this concept in mind all through the process of writing the children’s book, “C is for Chickasaw.” I wanted every element of each page to continue to draw young readers back and make it their own much-loved book.

After the book’s release through White Dog Press in 2014, I began to develop a vision for realizing the full potential of the book as a creative educational tool. Dreaming beyond the paper page, I imagined what it would be like to bring the characters and words to life, packing as much action as possible into a simple, but exciting digital book-app format for young readers.

The project took almost two years of conceptual development and 18 months of programming, but the “C is for Chickasaw” app finally became a reality and was released in the spring of 2017. The app is now available at the Apple App Store, Amazon and Google Play for $2.99. There are over 10 separate components of the app, including an expanded version of the “C is for Chickasaw” children’s book.

I wanted this app to be more universal than the book. When you strip the alphabet away, you touch on Chickasaw history and culture and are able to use it as an early childhood developmental tool.

I wrote the book to teach children about Chickasaw history and culture. It is filled with little bits and pieces of Chickasaw history and language. The book has many elements, but as an app those elements have increased ten-fold. The purpose of the book is realized even more so in this format. The app takes the book to a level where I think kids will want to come back to it over and over.

The app looks as much like the original book as possible, but I wanted it to have a pop-up picture book look, as well. It was bringing flat art to life and working across multiple types of software in a trial and error process. There were many pieces, such as, “How do we get this letter ‘B’ to look like paper and wad up and move across the page?”

We produced over 77,000 lines of code and worked with over 1000 images, and that’s not including adding the audio. The app designer and I tested the app out by sharing it with our own children during the creation process. It includes areas of discovery for the kids to explore. There are hidden elements and a lot of discoveries to be made.

In addition to the app, this year we released the paperback version of “C is for Chickasaw” and a “C is for Chickasaw Coloring Book,” that adds a creative element to the educational applications for “C is for Chickasaw.”

Watch the book trailer!

AUTHOR INFO: Wiley Barnes, Chickasaw, holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Oklahoma State University. He has spent nearly eighteen years forging a career in publishing, writing, printing, and graphic design, with the last eleven years at the Chickasaw Nation. During that time he has had the pleasure of working on a number of projects that promote Chickasaw culture and celebrate Chickasaw people. Barnes lives in Ada, Oklahoma, with his wife and two children.

Connect with Chickasaw Press on their website, Facebook, on ChickasawTV and their Chickasaw Kids website.

Please follow and like us:

A Walk in Nature, Une Promenade en Nature {An English/French Picture Book}

July 18, 2018 by Valarie Budayr

Guest Post By Author Jesica Nkouaga

So What Do Nature and Children Have in Common?

They grow! They grow especially when they are nurtured and cared for by someone who loves them.

Nature and children are two things that author Jesica Nkouaga loves. Jesica’s love for nature inspired her to draw pictures of the natural surroundings around her, both at home and abroad during her ESL teaching adventures overseas.

Author Jesica Nkouaga

Although not an artist by training, Jesica took deep comfort in drawing the countryside landscapes that she saw around her, especially while teaching English abroad in Thailand, Jordan, and Honduras. Many of the drawings in this book are a result of over ten years of traveling and drawing. The book also includes drawings of the countryside near the farm where Jesica grew up in Minnesota.

It also includes drawings of hobbies that Jesica and her family members engage in such as riding a unicycle and playing guitar.

After ten years of collecting drawings, Jesica came up with a way to put all of the things she loves together. She put the nature drawings together to create a basic language learning book for children.

As an ESL teacher, language teaching and learning are something that Jesica does daily, so it made sense to create a book about language learning for children.

Why include the French language, you might ask?

French connects with Jesica’s love for learning new languages, and it is one of her lifetime goals to learn French— the native language of her husband who is from Cameroon. By including a French translation in her book, it not only helps her learn and practice French, but it aids others who are learning and practicing French especially children! She is grateful to her husband, Abel, who enthusiastically and patiently helped to translate the book into French.

It is Jesica’s hope that children and parents will be inspired by the colorful and vibrant drawings of nature depicting different settings around the world, and hopefully, some French can be learned along the way. In this book, enjoy learning French and enjoy a walk in nature— une promenade en nature!

Connect with Jesica on her Facebook Page.

Please follow and like us:

Why there is still work to be done in the world of #DiverseKidlit

July 10, 2018 by Valarie Budayr

Friends, we still have so much work to do!

Here’s some information from the CCBC about diversity in kidlit. In their analysis of picture books published in 2017:

Of the approximately 3,700 books received at the CCBC in 2017, most from U.S. publishers, here’s the breakdown:

340 had significant African or African American content/characters.
- 100 of these were by Black authors and/or illustrators. (29.41% #OwnVoices)
72 had significant American Indian/First Nations content/characters.
- 38 of these were by American Indian/First Nations authors and/or illustrators. (52.78% #OwnVoices)
310 had significant Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific American content/characters.
- 122 of these were by authors and/or illustrators of Asian/Pacific heritage. (39.35% #OwnVoices)
216 had significant Latinx content/characters.
- 73 of these were by Latinx authors and/or illustrators. (33.8% #OwnVoices)

(The numbers will change slightly as they continue to receive a stray title or two. Check their website for up-to-date statistics, including the numbers for books from U.S. publishers only, and more on what and how they count.)

* A character in a picture book was 4 times more likely to be a dinosaur than an American Indian child.
* A character in a picture book was 2 times more likely to be a rabbit than an Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific American child.
* A female character in a picture book was highly likely to be wearing pink and/or a bow, even if she is a hippopotamus, an ostrich, or a dinosaur.
* A child with a disability appeared in only 21 picture books, and only 2 of those were main characters. Most others appeared in background illustrations.

That’s less than one-third of one percent of picture books published in 2017 and received by the CCBC that had the main character with a disability. No wonder I have trouble finding books I want to review!

#OwnVoices Controversy

Resources for Diverse Booklists and Authors:

KitLit411 has an excellent list of resources and publishers that focus on diverse books for kids.

View out MCBD 2018 Author Sponsors and Medallion Level Sponsors to discover even more titles and diverse book publishers.

Thanks for being part of this movement to change these statistics.

ONE MORE THING

Would you like to reach more than 260,000 people with a SPONSORED POST?

Get the scoop on a unique way to market your book or author HERE.

Please follow and like us:

Alex Asks About Auntie’s Airplane Day (An Adoption Day Story)

July 5, 2018 by Rebecca Flansburg

Sometimes the idea for a great diverse picture book for kids comes from the more genuine and authentic sources. That is exactly the case with Alex Asks About Auntie’s Airplane Day by Carolyn Wilhelm.

The idea for this book occurred to Carolyn when she saw her-2-year-old grandson watch his Auntie Betsy from South Korea, and seem to wonder how she fit in the otherwise white family.

Who knows what he was thinking, but it appeared to be he was noticing Auntie’s eyes and skin color. Carolyn decided this book could help him and other young children with older, adopted relatives, understand their families.

“This book is the story of one family’s airplane day party as seen through the eyes of the youngest nephew of the aunt who was adopted by a white family from Korea over 30 years ago,” Carolyn recalled. “Some people call such events gotcha day or adoption day celebrations. The twist is that the child is not the adopted person in the story.”

Alex Asks About Auntie’s Airplane Day: An Adoption Day Story by Carolyn Wilhelm and illustrator Pieter Els.

Alex Asks About Auntie’s Airplane Day is a multigenre fiction story based on a nonfiction annual event, the adoption day celebration sometimes called “airplane day” or “gotcha day.” This is the story of how an adult aunt adopted from South Korea fits in an otherwise white family in Minnesota in the United States. It is meant for the young family relatives to help them understand how a family could have racial diversity. Celebrations such as airplane day and gotcha day are a good way to help family members with such memories.

This sweet picture book is a great way to share the beauty and celebration of adoption while letting a student, friend or family member who has been involved with an international adoption see their story in the pages of a book. This book is also great for any parent or educators trying to help a young child to understand more about the wider world.

Why Teachers, Librarians, and Parents will love this Book

“If your classroom or story time group has children who live in multi-race families (perhaps because they are adopted), they wish to see and hear about themselves in stories,” Carolyn noted. “Although book publishers have more multicultural inclusion in recent years, it is still important for teachers and librarians to make a point to be sure and find books reflective of their students for read-aloud time.”

1 Adoption Story-3 Ways to Read it

Another wonderful benefit of Alex Asks About Auntie’s Airplane Day is that it comes in three different reading formats; paperback, Kindle Paperwhite, eBook, and Kindle Fire interactive eBook. This book will appeal to kids in the Pre-K through Grade 2 age group.

About The Author

Carolyn Wilhelm-Author and CEO of Wise Owl Factory

Carolyn has been a long-time supporter of MCBD and we appreciate her more than words can say. Her love of kids, books, and education are expressed in everything she does and she is one smart lady!

Carolyn Wilhelm has been writing mostly free lessons for teachers online since 1988. When blogging became popular about 2011, she began her own website and blog to share elementary education resources. She has had lessons published by the National Council of Teachers of English on their ReadWriteThink.org website. Prior to 2011, she used to have her free-lance lessons published by Good Apple and other teacher publications. She taught school for 28 years and found her students enjoyed the stories she wrote. Finally, she has begun writing and self-publishing children’s books.

When asked who her writing inspiration was in life, Carolyn had this to say; “My daughter is my biggest influencer as she is from South Korea and read books about mostly white children when she was growing up. This did not hinder her love of reading. She is an advocate of Multicultural Children’s Book Day and encourages my involvement each year. My husband has patiently proofread countless drafts and has been a writing mentor and supporter.”

Carolyn is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), which has published four of her lessons on ReadWriteThink.org. Her educational resources are for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers as well as Teacher’s Notebook. Previous publications include a story in an anthology Mom for the Holidays: Stories of Love, Laughter & Tantrums at Christmas & Hanukkah by Nolan and Demas.

She lives in Minnesota and enjoys time with her grandchildren, creating lessons, reading, and being involved in local community center activities. She loves taking time out in nature to observe her favorite bird, owls. She is Red Cross certified in pediatric through adult first aid and CPR.

Connect with Carolyn and Wise Owl Factory on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. Grab your copy of on Amazon.

Would you like to reach more than 260,000 people with a SPONSORED POST?

Get the scoop on a unique way to market your book or author HERE.

Please follow and like us: