Flash Back Time!
On January 27th, 2012 over 100 parenting, education, and children’s book bloggers showed up for the very first time to review diverse books for kids and teens on their respective blogs. These posts and shares ultimately reached over 2 million eyeballs across Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
As I was sifting through old files, I came across this statement and it made me pretty darn proud as to how far this non-profit has come.
It was almost a decade ago when two moms were concern by some statistics that revealed that 37% of the US population consists of people of color, but only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Those two forward-thinking, book-loving moms were Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen.
Valarie and Mia not only discussed these findings at great lengths, they decided to work on being a solution to the problem. Together, this dynamic duo used their desire for change to create the first Multicultural Children’s Book Day; a children’s literacy initiative with a mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries.
Fast forward eight years and the Multicultural Children’s Book Day Team wants to take a moment to marvel/applaud/give thanks for how far we have come and to celebrate the places we have yet to go!
“Together the MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions, and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers, and librarians to follow along with the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky, and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.”
As We Enter Our 8th Year, Here are Some “Then and Now” Victories
As this global day of celebrating diversity in children’s literature keeps getting bigger and bigger, here are some specific differences that show how far we have come:
MCBD Event: Year One
- 100 Book reviewers
- 14 sponsors
- 9 CoHosts
- Instagram was barely a year old and MCBD didn’t have a presence there…YET 😉
- Books donated to classrooms and deserving readers: roughly 100
- Free Classroom Kits (Downloadable “kits” that focus on a relevant topic, a diverse booklist that supports that topic, and classroom-friendly activities that allow for deeper discussion and learning): ZERO
MCBD Event: Year EIGHT
- 625+ Book reviewers
- 20+Medallion Level Sponsors
- 30+ Author Sponsors
- 26 CoHosts and Global CoHosts Representing the USA, London, South Africa, Australia, Greece, Iran, India, Germany, and Mexico!
- MCBD just surpassed 15,000 on Instagram!
- Books donated to classrooms and deserving readers: roughly 8,000
- Free Classroom Kits (Downloadable “kits” that focus on a relevant topic, a diverse booklist that supports that topic, and classroom-friendly activities that allow for deeper discussion and learning): SIX!
What’s Next for Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Through each multicultural book a child reads, it creates a new level of understanding and empathy. When we can see through the eyes of another, when we can share a loved book with a friend regardless of religion, culture, race, etc., we create a sense of belonging not only in our classrooms and homes but more importantly in our communities. The world outside our window becomes ours to shape and create.
This year, as with every year, we are striving more persistently than ever to place as many books into children’s hands as possible. Our unwavering mission is to share our love of reading from a multicultural perspective while also sharing the storytelling talents of authors and publishers alike.
THANK YOU for sharing this wonderful journey with us!
BIO: Jacqueline Jules is the award-winning author of 40 children’s books, including the Zapato Power series, the Sofia Martinez series, Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, Duck for Turkey Day, Never Say a Mean Word Again, Feathers for Peacock, The Hardest Word, and Pluto is Peeved. Also a poet, Jacqueline is the author of three poetry chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in over 100 publications, including Cricket, Cicada, Germ Magazine, YARN, The Poetry Friday Anthologies, and One Minute Till Bedtime. She lives in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. Visit her website 
