Now more than ever…
A message of hope, compassion, empathy, and understanding is needed.
Now more than ever, children need to see themselves reflected in the pages of the books they read. Readers of all ages need to be able to “read their world” to both see themselves, and those are who different, whether by culture, religion, sexual orientation, special needs or ethnicity.
Now more than ever, we need to come together as a nation of beautifully diverse people.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) is proud to offer an initiative and holiday that encourages discovery, hope, acceptance, inclusion, kindness, and exploration via the pages of diverse children’s literature.
In its 6th year, Multicultural Children’s Book Day’s team is honored and thrilled to have all of you supporting our goal of shining the spotlight on diversity in children’s books. Thank you so much for also letting kids “see themselves” in the pages of a book as many authors, publishers, reviewers, organizations, and educators continue to join us in this annual celebration of books on the last Friday of January.
For those wondering how it all began, it started with a shocking realization and a collaborative dream. In 2013, Mia Wenjen (PragmaticMom) and Valarie Budayr (Jump Into a Book) made the shocking discovery that 37% of the United States is of a multi-cultural or diverse nature, but only 10% of children’s books published reflect that. As children’s reading and play advocates, appreciators of children’s literature, and multicultural parents, we decided to take action.
Instead of complaining about this disparity, we banded together and formed a non-profit organization, Multicultural Children’s Book Day, with the goal of getting diverse children’s books into the hands of readers, parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians.
To achieve this we created a reoccurring online and offline celebration every January that involves hundreds of reviews of diverse kids’ books, diversity literacy conversations, giveaways, author visits, book donations and a very active Twitter Party on the day of the celebration.
MCBD also works to provide educators, parents, and organizations with free diversity children’s books and resources through donations, our FREE Book for Your Classroom Campaign and our robust Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents website resources. We also strive to shine the spotlight on multicultural authors and books via our Sponsorship Opportunities for Authors and Publishers program.
Fundraiser for Teachers
One project that the MCBD Team is exceptionally excited about is their Kindle ebook, Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators. This e-book is a culmination of the creative work of Mia and Valarie, our co-host bloggers and our project manager, Becky Flansburg. Each contributor has shared their best multicultural and diverse children’s book lists in hopes that it will help you find the specific book you need.
Within the pages of this unique e-book, parents, grandparents, educators, and book lovers will find seven specific areas which encompass diverse and multi-cultural topics. Diversity as Everyday introduces the idea of being a global citizen, families with mixed races and cultures, and fairy tales from different cultures all over the world.
Also included in our resource guide are Children’s Book Lists by geographic regions. One of the things that make each of us unique is the topic of religion. We include an introduction to world religions as well as specific booklists and activities for a variety of the world’s religions.
There is a great need to teach children how to view, see, and interpret differences. We included much-needed resources concerning the LGBTQ community as well as children who are special needs or have disabilities.
How the “fundraiser” piece comes into play is that for every copy of this ebook sold, we donate a physical copy of a diverse book to a teacher or classroom! Buy an ebook, get a book to a teacher!
Diversity Continues to be Important
So many of the places we call home have people from a variety of ethnicities. It’s fun to learn about their traditions, cultures, and the issues that face them. When we create understanding between all us, we create a positive environment for all of us to live in. Lastly, in this collection, you will find books by genre: picture books, chapter books, and graphic novels. Each section also hosts a variety of extension activities to allow our young readers a chance to experience their world in the pages of their books.
It is our wish that everyone enjoys each book they encounter, that it opens up new points of discussion, increases awareness of the wonderful and diverse world we live in, and encourages understanding among those reading these wonderful books whether they are a family, classroom or individual readers.
Now more than ever, we need to guide and educate our future leaders in being the global citizens they were born to be.
Parents, caregivers, teachers, and librarians can grab their Kindle ebook copy of Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators Kindle here.
One More Thing…
The deadline for ALL Sponsor sign-ups for is 12/15/18. Get the full scoop on all levels of Sponsorship for MCBD2019 here.
MCBD Book Reviewer sign-up Deadline is 12/15/18
If you love diverse books for kids and have a social media platform to share a review on, we want to give you a FREE diversity book to review!
In a nutshell; you don’t have to be a blogger to review multicultural children’s books for our MCBD 2019 online event. You just need to have a love of diversity in children’s literature and be willing to share on your social media platforms such as Facebook (Pages only-no Facebook profiles), Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube.
**We encourage honest Amazon reviews of assigned books whenever possible as well.
We are thrilled to announce that we have almost 700 book reviewers signed up to review multicultural kids’ and YA books for our event. Get all the details and sign up info HERE. Reviewer sign up closes 12/15/18.
