Multicultural Children's Book Day

#ReadYourWorld

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…]

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…]

Writing? No Thanks. (Thoughts from author Erin Dealey)

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Guest post from author Erin Dealey

You might know a child like me: one you’d NEVER expect to write children’s books. One who thinks of writing as very serious business–definitely not fun.

I loved school. I loved recess with my friends, playing outside. Huge thanks to my teachers who encouraged every spark of creativity. Oh how I loved reading to the kindergartners, or opening that box of brand new books from the Book Club. (I can still smell them! Can You?) Thank you, Mr. Markey, who assigned 6th-grade autobiographies, and did not grumble when I turned in a biography of me–written by my shadow…

Endless gratitude to growing up in Oakland CA, on a hill where you learned how to stop your bike or jump off your skateboard before the stop sign at the bottom; in a neighborhood where kindness was the norm, and we played together, looked after each other.

My favorite place to do homework was on top of our garage, where a sawed-off footstool (Thanks, Dad!) made the perfect desk, surrounded by the neighbor’s treetops. I liked Math because there was a process to follow to get the right answer and, if my answer was wrong, there was a formula to fix it. With writing, not so much. To me, it felt like you had to be psychic to figure out what the teacher wanted. So, nope, writing wasn’t my thing. [Read more…]

Read an eBook Week: Spotlight on Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators

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Read an ebook week

First conceived by author Rita Toews more than nine years ago as a response to the stagnant acceptance of electronic reading, Read An E-Book Week has slowly built a strong international following among digitally published authors and readers alike.

This year’s event, which began March 5th and carried through to March 11th, brought authors from eleven countries together for a week of e-reading. Many organizations continue to celebrate this event all month-long with e-book reading events and activities. [Read more…]

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