Multicultural Children's Book Day

#ReadYourWorld

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • About
    • Mission & History
    • Our Partner Organizations
    • What is a Multicultural Book?
    • Co-Founders
    • Board of Trustees
    • Board of Advisors
    • Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
    • Team
    • MCBD Timelines
    • Make a Donation: #GivingTuesday 2022
    • Media Partners
    • Disclosure
    • Contact Us
  • FREE Diverse Books
    • FREE Diverse Books for Classrooms Program
    • FREE Diversity Book For Reviewers!
    • Authors & Publishers: Book Donations
    • Donate
  • Sponsorship
    • MCBD2023 Medallion Level Sponsors
    • MCBD2023 Author Sponsors
    • Fundraisers & Marketing Services
      • Fundraiser | Social Media Shout Outs!
      • Sponsor of the Week/Month
      • Fundraising/ Sponsored Post Services
      • Multicultural Children’s Book Day ebook
    • Medallion and Author Level Sponsorships for MCBD2023 are OPEN!
  • Reading Resources
    • Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents
    • Multicultural Children’s Book Day Classroom Kit 2022 Mental Health Support for Stressful Times
    • Raising Awareness on Systemic Racism in America Classroom Kit
    • Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
    • FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
    • FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
    • FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
    • FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
    • FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
    • Gallery of Our Free Posters
    • Neurodiverse and Autistic Voices Are Your Best Autism Resources
    • IG Live Interview Series
    • 2021 Big Giant Linky!
    • 2020 Big Giant Linky!
    • 2019 Big Giant Linky!
    • 2018 Big Giant Linky!
    • 2017 Big Giant Linky!
    • 2016 Big Giant LInky!
    • 2015 Big Giant Linky!
  • Press Kit & Stats
    • Press Kit
    • Social Proof & Media Mentions
    • 2016 Recap and Stats
    • 2015 Recap and Stats
  • Blog
  • Sign Up for Free Updates

A time to celebrate and support the visibility of LGBTQIA folks

June 22, 2019 by Valarie Budayr

Guest post by Author, Afsaneh Moradian

Happy Pride Month! As people march and hold events about the history and struggles of the LBGTQIA community for equality and civil rights, it’s also a time to celebrate and support the visibility of LGBTQIA folks.

Image result for LGBT community

Much of the spirit of Pride this year is to highlight that gender is more complex and open than we think and that dividing people into men and women don’t cut it anymore.

Over the past few years, young people have taken discussions about gender in a whole new direction — declaring themselves gender neutral, gender non-conforming, non-binary, gender fluid, and transgender.

Too many of us adults are lagging behind our kids. We continue to fall back on old definitions of gender and gender stereotypes. There are so many princesses for young girls to emulate, while boys are directed towards superheroes. When we buy presents, store aisles stocked with color-coded boxes tell us to buy that baby doll or craft project for a girl and that action figure or robot for a boy.

I am proud to be the author of Jamie is Jamie: A Book About Being Yourself and Playing Your Own Way. A book that challenges gender stereotypes and gives kids the freedom to be who they are and play whatever they want.

Whenever I give readings, I tend to get similar reactions from the audience. The kids want to know if Jamie is a boy or a girl but think that both boys and girls can play like Jamie (with baby dolls and action figures). Usually, one or two kids will suggest that Jamie is transgender like another child they know. In general, they think Jamie is a fun kid who they would like to have as a friend.

The reactions that stand out to me from the adults are the parents of transgender children who thank me for writing a book that supports their kids and gives them a place to be represented and respected.

I also hear from so many women who relate to Jamie because they were labeled “tomboys” when they were kids for not being interested in “girl” toys. I also see knowing recognition in the faces of many men who tell me they were made fun of as kids for wanting to care for a baby doll or just play with everything in the classroom as Jamie does in the book. And, there are folks who just couldn’t ever feel like they belonged because they didn’t fit into the “girl” or “boy” mold.

I think that during this Pride month we should keep in mind that kids don’t need us to tell them what they should play with or who they should be. Kids today are figuring that out just fine for themselves. What they need from us is to respect, celebrate, and love them so they can be confident in who they are and who they will grow up to be.

About Afsaneh

Author Afsaneh Moradian

Afsaneh Moradian has loved writing stories, poetry, and plays since childhood. After receiving her master’s in education, she took her love of writing into the classroom where she began teaching children how to channel their creativity. Her passion for teaching has lasted for over fifteen years. Afsaneh now guides students and teachers (and her young daughter) in the art of writing.

Connect with Afsaneh via her website or on YouTube and Twitter. Check out the fun Q&A MCBD did with her here.


 

 

One more thing…

Through color-coding in stores, kids “learn” which toys are “supposed” to be for girls or boy. Pink and yellow toys are considered “girly” and anything blue or dark green is obviously for boys, right? What about the toys themselves? Can boys play with dolls and girls play with trucks?

Of course, they can! And that’s the open-minded thinking that is captured in my children’s picture book, Jamie is Jamie.

I wrote Jamie is Jamie for my daughter who’d been told that only boys can play a superhero. My daughter and every other child deserve a book that gives them permission to be free to play and explore their own way-not the way everyone “thinks they should.”

I created my book to challenge gender stereotypes and encourage children to make play choices based on their interests. And because playing is fundamental to learning, I’ve created a special section in Jamie is Jamie for teachers, parents, and caregivers where they can find tips on how to make kids’ playtime learning time.

Get the scoop on Jamie is Jamie on Amazon or FreeSpiritPress.com


Join our mailing list and stay in the loop!


Filed Under: Multicultural Booklist Tagged With: diverse book reviews and activities, gender neutrality, LBGTQIA community, picture book that challenges gender stereotypes

Special Moments we LOVED from Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017

February 3, 2017 by Valarie Budayr

The 4th Multicultural Children’s Book Day has come and gone and as expected, it was a HUGE success. We couldn’t be more proud of our team, our sponsors, our reviewers,  the young readers, moms, educators, librarians, authors, illustrators, publishers and organizations that help us continue to do what we do 🙂

As you can imagine, there were MANY sweet and touching moments throughout this special day (and the weeks leading up to it) here are a some of our favorites:

Great Write-ups

Fourth Annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day Gets Underway via @publisherswkly

Guest Post on Scholastic’s On Our Minds blog #1

Guest Post on Scholastic’s On Our Minds Blog #2

The Creativity and Thoughtfulness of our reviewers was Mind-Blowing

Amazing #readyourworld gatherings

The Lareda Ranch Social Justice Committee (LRSJC) teamed up with the local public library and held an event titled Kids Around the World.  We highlighted various cultures represented on each of the 7 continents and we celebrated Multicultural Children’s Book Day by featuring the amazing books you sent us.  We were also pleased to pass out the wonderful bookmarks you provided and used the great posters you sent me. We all enjoyed this so much and want to thank you for helping us to put on a wonderful community You truly helped to make it a success.  Thanks so much!- Shereen
Lareda Ranch Social Justice Committee

Lareda Ranch Social Justice Committee

Lareda Ranch Social Justice Committee

 

Lareda Ranch Social Justice Committee

P.S.  We also had all the kids make these cute diversity/love bracelets.  I just love these and thought I would send a pic of that as well.

We TRENDED on Twitter (3 times!)! Thank you to everyone who participated on our #readyourworld Twitter Party. We had 1900 tweets during that hour and trended on the number two spot! The tweets are Storified on our website if you want to read them.
Readyourworld trending
Support from Educators and Librarians (we love you guys!)
Jefferson Elementary Library planned a fun day for kids on MCBD day (1/27/17)
Jefferson Elementary LIbrary
So did Ludington Library.

Instagram was all a-buzz!

 
 

The 4th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day is tomorrow! Give a like if you pledge to share a diverse book with the children in your life on Friday, January 27. Read diverse books, share diverse books, repeat!⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #ReadYourWorld #ChildrensBooks #BarefootBooks #reading #inspiration #storytelling #AllChildren #empathy #compassion #kindness #multicultural #reading #storytelling #worldcitizen #GlobalCitizen #kidlit #WeNeedDiverseBooks #wndb #diversity #inclusivity #booklover #childrensliteracy #promoteliteracy #booksmatter

A photo posted by Barefoot Books (@barefootbooks) on Jan 26, 2017 at 9:43am PST

Imagination, education and celebration! (We can’t stop smiling at the little guy in the center 😂🤗) We invite you to help raise awareness for kids’ books that honor diversity! Multicultural Children’s Book Day— this Friday, January 27th! Shout out to these cuties in Mrs. Jones kindergarten class at Grover Heights Elementary! Books donated by MCCBD co-founders @valeriebudayr and @pragmaticmom #shareslo #sanluisobispocounty #readyourworld #talkreadsing #first5slo #first5ca #diversity #MCCBD2017 @first5slocounty @slocountylibraries https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

A photo posted by First 5 SLO County (@first5slocounty) on Jan 24, 2017 at 2:00pm PST

The Children and Families Commission of San Luis Obispo County

Imagination, education and celebration!!! Multicultural Children’s Book Day is this Friday, January 27th! We invite you to help raise awareness for kids’ books that honor diversity– and the need to include them in our libraries and classrooms! These books were donated by @multiculturalchildrensbookday and shared by First 5 SLO County a proud #MCCBD2017 partner!

First 5

#ReadYourWorld #kidlit #MCCBD2017 #talkreadsing #shareslo #slocounty #diversity #first5slo For more info, go to https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Multicultural Children’s Book Day is Fri. Focus: Be A Hero, Be Kind! Made Kindness Spinner 4 K-1st w/pics from @KidsforPeace! #readyourworld

A photo posted by Ro (@whisperer70) on Jan 25, 2017 at 11:14am PST

5-3 is excited for Multicultural Children’s Book Day on 1/27. Today we read ,”What Does It Mean To Be Kind?”#ReadYourWorld @MrsGalligan5 pic.twitter.com/wnvW6NElSR

— Lori Moran (@MoranGalligan) January 23, 2017

We honestly could go on for DAYS. Please search #ReadYourWorld (our official hashtag) on all social media channels and see the magic for yourself and discover some amazing new multicultural YA and children’s books for yourself. Be sure and visit our Big Giant Linky as well to see all sorts of diverse book reviews and activities. Read on!

Filed Under: 2017 Twitter Party, diversity in children’s books, Events, MCCBD News Tagged With: #ReadYourWorld, Big Giant Linky, diverse book reviews and activities, MCCBD Twitter Party, Multicultural Children's Author, Multicultural Children's Book Authors, Multicultural Children's Book Day

Help us get diverse Kidlit into schools!

Join our Read Your World
Newsletter and Blog List
Be the first to know about the latest Read Your World news, new children's books, exclusive offers, and special events.
Thanks for subscribing to our newsletter!

Make a Way Media Super Platinum Sponsor

Language Lizard Platinum Sponsor

Mia Wenjen Founders Circle

Audrey Press Founders Circle

Publisher Spotlight Gold Sponsor

Publisher Spotlight 2023

Interlink Publishing Gold Sponsor

Interlink 2023

Cardinal Rule Press Silver Sponsor

Barefoot Books Silver Sponsor

Lee & Low Books Silver Sponsor

Lee & Low 2023

Kimberly Gordon Biddle Silver Sponsor

Vivian Kirkfield Bronze Sponsor

Patrice McLaurin Bronze Sponsor

Star Bright Books Bronze Sponsor

The Quarto Group Bronze Sponsor

Carole P. Roman Bronze Sponsor

Star Bright Books Bronze Sponsor

Redfin Bronze Sponsor

Redfin Canada 2023

Redfin Canada Bronze Sponsor

Redfin Canada 2023

Rent.com Bronze Sponsor

Bay Equity Home Loans Bronze Sponsor

Title Forward Bronze Sponsor

Title Forward 2023

Brunella Costagliola Bronze Sponsor

Brunella Costagliola 2023

Stay in the loop with all MCBD Happenings!

MCBD is included in the Top 100 Children’s Book Blogs!

Children’s Book Blogs

Copyright © 2023 · Multicultural Childrens Book Day on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cleantalk Pixel