Pack-n-Go Girls® Archives - Multicultural Children's Book Day

Pack-n-Go Girls is Easing the Stress for Teachers & Distance Learners

October 1, 2020 by Valarie Budayr

Greetings! The Pack-n-Go Girls Team hopes that this post finds you and your loved ones healthy.

No matter where you are, the school year is going to be full of challenges. It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, teacher, librarian, or parent, school is being redefined, which creates its own level of stress for everyone.

Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures wants to help you ease the stress a bit and at the same time creatively engage young learners. Lisa Travis and Janelle Diller, Pack-n-Go Girls authors, are happy to do live interactive author visits via Zoom–for FREE! Their goal is to inspire kids to become curious readers, great writers, and global citizens.

Diverse Early Chapter Books for Girls | Pack-n-Go Girls

Easing the Stress for Teachers & Distance Learners

Lisa and Janelle take young readers on a virtual author visit through the Pack-n-Go Girls countries of Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Thailand, and Austria. Lisa and Janelle share their writing secrets to make their writing come alive, and at the same time, they provide a glimpse of cultural similarities and differences, teach some language phrases, and quiz kids on fun facts.

At the end of the discussion, they’re happy to do a Q&A with your budding writers. The kids love it!

Are you homeschooling or not in a traditional classroom this fall? This offer applies to you, too. Gather eight or ten other homeschoolers and Pack-n-Go will gladly Zoom with them. Or if you don’t have a way to corral students for a specific time, feel free to share their YouTube video of the author visit. The YouTube video is 37 minutes. For live meetups, plan on about an hour–a few minutes more if you want to allow for questions. Most kids never get to talk to a real author, but when they do, it inspires them to read and write more.

Here’s a valuable tip: Pack-n-Go Girls authors aren’t alone in their willingness to do this. Most authors are only too happy to do a short Zoom conversation for free just for a chance to talk about their books and connect with readers. Contact your favorite authors through their websites or publishers.

Contact Pack-n-Go Girls at hello@packngogirls.com to get details for your author visit today! Let’s do some world travel from the comfort of your classroom!

Multicultural Book Recommendations for World Travel from the Safety of Home

March 22, 2020 by Valarie Budayr

Guest Post from Janelle Diller and Pack-n-Go Girls^®

::Big sigh:: The world has changed—we hope just temporarily. But here we are. No travel. Extra days out of school. Uncertain times. Thank goodness for books to distract us! We have some great multicultural recommendations to pass the time and expand your children’s world.

Hopefully, your library has them, but if not, Amazon still delivers to your door. We hope.

Multicultural Book Recommendations for World Travel

The Breaking News Written and Illustrated by Sarah Lynne Reul

Bad news breaks and a young girl tries to make sense of it. A gray cloud slips over the family and the community. The parents are sad and distracted. “Suddenly Mom is glued to the television. Dad can’t stop checking his phone. They whisper and I pretend not to hear.” The mother even forgets to tuck the girl into bed at night. Her schoolmates feel the weight of the bad news, too.

This isn’t a random bedtime story to read to a sleepy three-year-old. Even though the sparse text and picture book format implies a preschool audience, the subject matter and treatment could be unsettling for a young child who didn’t have a context for the theme. In this current environment, it can be a powerful conversation starter for preschoolers through early elementary children.

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder Written and Illustrated by Nie Jun; Translated by Edward Gauvin

Whether you’re eight or eighty, My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder is perfect for an afternoon of contemplating. What’s real? What’s a dream? What’s magic? The four stories give readers plenty of moments to use their own imagination.

Nie Jun wrote and illustrated the stories in comic book style, but don’t be misled. This is not your father’s comic book of bold lines and dramatic primary colors (washed out by the printing process and cheap paper). This is a book of art. Each page presents multiple frames of the story, all done in pastel watercolors and ink lines. They’re rich in detail and action.

Penguin Days Written by Sara Leach; Illustrated by Rebecca Bender

Penguin Days takes the reader on a journey. In the second book in this endearing series by Sara Leach, Lauren and her family travel to Lincoln, North Dakota, so Lauren can be the flower girl in her auntie Joss’ wedding. It takes Lauren’s family “two days, eight movies, four chapter books, and three throw-ups” to get to their destination. This is perhaps as good of a time as any to stop and ponder how many children’s books take place in North Dakota.

Zero? That’s the common answer.

So here’s the first clue to the nature of this book: Penguin Days is not common. And that’s its gift. Lauren, the protagonist, has ASD, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, which means her brain works differently than other people’s brains. The book is filled with gentle humor, which helps the reader appreciate Lauren’s perspective while at the same time doesn’t sugar coat life with a child with ASD. The family drives to North Dakota because the last time they traveled there, they flew, and as Lauren notes, “[N]obody wanted to live through the experience of flying with me again.”

Penguin Days provides learning of the most important kind and has an added bonus of sweet humor, age-appropriate text, and engaging illustrations. It belongs on the shelf of every library for young readers.

Big Problemas Written and Illustrated by Juana Medina

In Big Problemas, written and illustrated by Juana Medina, Juana and Lucas return in a second romp through the world of this delightful young Colombian and her dog, Lucas.

Juana’s life is just about perfect—but it’s about to become just a little less perfect. Her first clue is that her mami has a new hairdo. At first, Juana thinks she’s just gotten into the wrong car after school, but when Juana tells her mami that she liked her mami’s old hair better, her mami isn’t too happy about her comment. “That’s when I knew I was in the right car with the right Mami, just not with the right hairdo.” And that’s when the reader realizes that this is going to be fun.

This engaging story with endearing characters and a gentle touch on the larger themes of loss and change make for a valuable read.

Small Mercies Written by Bridget Krone; Illustrated by Karen Vermeulen

Mercy steals the reader’s heart from the very first page. Although more accurately, it’s Mercy’s eccentric foster aunts who do the initial stealing. Their quirky excuse notes—one says Mercy has “the collywobbles,” another that she has “a dicky tummy,” and on another that she can’t participate in inter-house cross-country because she “has a bone in her leg”—let the reader know some sweet humor is ahead.

Small Mercies carries the reader to South Africa. One of the benefits for the North American audience is that the reader realizes that, yes, there are unfamiliar differences between the two places, but even more important, the similarities are even greater. Take away the African cultures and replace them with familiar American cultures, and the classroom is the same. Children can be kind and can be cruel; they can stress out about school expectations, and the worries they have about their home life travel with them into the classroom.

Karen Vermeulen’s simple line drawings complement Krone’s text with appropriate whimsy. The short chapters are a nice treat for the reading level, particularly since the themes have a depth to them that takes some reflecting. Krone notes that her “favorite stories are those that, just when you expect a lesson, sing a song instead.” Small Mercies is just that surprising song, full of light and sweetness. Readers will carry the melody in their hearts long after the last page is turned.

Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures

If you’re looking for travel adventure mysteries, Pack-n-Go Girls will take you there. Snuggle up with spooky stories that take readers to haunted castles in Austria, catch thieves in Mexico, save dolphins and turtles in Brazil, search for lost golden temples in Thailand, and chase aliens in Australia. It’s the cheapest way to travel to the other side of the world, and you can do it by paperback, ebook, or audiobook!

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Sharing the love of Multicultural Books via Classroom Donations

February 11, 2020 by Valarie Budayr

Guest post from Pack-n-Go Girls^®

All of us in the diverse kidlit world know the importance of not only the need for young readers of color to see themselves in the books they read but to also get those types of books into the hands of these same readers. Taking extra steps to make this happen via partnerships with literacy-based non-profits like Multicultural Children’s Book Day or the donation of our new books to classrooms and libraries are two very good ways to turn words into action.

Why Does Diversity in Books Matter?

What if 97 percent of children’s books only had boy characters? It wouldn’t be just the outrage we’d feel. It would also be what we’d be missing by having a single-sex dominate all the books. What would boys understand about girls if they never read books with female characters? I wonder, too, would I be a reader today if I’d only read books with male characters?

Little girls dream of true-blue friends, mysterious adventures, and far away places. In the eleventh book of the Pack-n-Go Girls^® Adventures, Mystery of the Naga at Night, author Lisa Travis takes the readers there. In this case, “there” is Thailand, where 9-year-old Jess Johnson travels back to visit with 9-year-old Nong May Wattana. In this second book of the Thailand series, something creeps by Jess’s window in a Thai hill tribe village. Whatever it sounds like sounds close enough to touch. The wind blows. Pebbles scatter. A shadow slithers through the moonlight. What is this mysterious creature doing slipping into the jungle every night? Jess and Nong May are determined to find out.

How The Pack-n-Go Girls is Taking Action

The Advanced Readers Edition was launched in November at The American Association of School Librarians national conference in Louisville, KY. Now, WorldTrek Publishing and Pack-n-Go Girls are celebrating its public release and have donated 50 books to Multicultural Children’s Book Day on January 31, 2020

“The Pack-n-Go Girls^® Adventures include multiple series, each focused on a new country. With Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures, you can tour haunted castles in Austria, paddle through spooky lagoons in Mexico, save dolphins and turtles in Brazil, search for clues in the jungles of Thailand, and chase aliens in Australia,” shared Travis. “At the same time, you are inspiring your kids to embrace adventure, be curious, value what unites us and celebrate the differences that make us unique. You are inspiring them to take on our boundaryless world and become global citizens. Each book includes a “What to Know Before You Go” section with cultural information, language glossary, recipe, and trip planner.”

The company’s website, www.packngogirls.com also features a Teacher’s Resource page with free classroom activity downloads.

About Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Co-founders Mia Wenjen, and Valarie Budayr, along with Project Manager Becky Flansburg and Social Media Manager, Susan Mayfield, are working to move the needle on bringing more character diversity into children’s literature with an annual on and offline celebration that is dedicated to shining the spotlight on diverse books for kids and teens.

A1965 article in The Saturday Review, “The All-White World of Children’s Books, noted that fewer than seven percent of children’s books had one or more African American characters in them. In 2014 the number was less than three percent! Only ten percent of children’s books had a multicultural component, and yet the US population was 37 percent of people of color. How ironic that the more diverse our country became, the fewer the number of books that reflected that.

The really good news is that these numbers have changed dramatically thanks to the work of groups like Multicultural Children’s Book Day. In 2015,15% of books depicted characters from diverse backgrounds. In 2016, the number jumped to 28%, and in 2017, it hit 31% (Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lee & Low Books). How cool is that?

Learn more about MCCBD and find links to loads of diverse children’s books at https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/.

About the Author

Lisa Travis and Janelle Diller of Pack and Go Girls

Lisa Travis has always dreamed of faraway places. Her childhood days of exploring old National Geographic magazines in her attic led her to the world beyond. She studied in Germany, traveled the USA in a Volkswagen camper, and lived and worked in South Korea. She currently finds ways to pack and go by designing global leadership programs. Her experiences around the world inspired her to write Pack-n-Go Girls stories that deliver positive messages around independence, adventure, and global awareness. Lisa lives, bikes, and skis in Colorado with her husband, two kids, and two dogs.

About Pack-n-Go Girls^®

Diverse Early Chapter Books for Girls | Pack-n-Go Girls

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, Pack-n-Go Girls engages the imagination of children ages 6-9 by introducing them to different countries around the world. Pack-n-Go Girls early chapter book adventures are packed with spooky mysteries, international friendships, and lots of fun and easy multicultural learning. The travel adventure book series, launched in 2013, has won numerous awards including the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in 2014 and 2017, the 2017 Literary Classics Award for Best Series – Young Reader, and 2016, 2017, and 2019 CIPA Evvy Award for Children’s Story Books. Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures have also been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, MidWest Book Reviews, and reviewed and featured in Publishers Weekly.

For additional information please visit our website at www.packngogirls.com.

ONE MORE THING

Show some social media love while marketing your book (or an author you admire) in a creative and far-reaching way!

Multicultural Children’s Book Day Social Media Shout-Outs

Our Social Media Shout-Outs has escalated in popularity over the last few months because folks see that it an affordable way to show some online love to their own work, an author they admire, or a book they admire. MCBD Social Media Shout-Outs also acts as a fundraiser for this non-profit.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day Social Media Shout-Out =$25 (sale price good until 2/28/20)

Anyone with a PayPal account can gift an online “shout-out” to an author friend who has a kid’s or YA book with a diversity theme OR use it as an effective tool for their own book marketing and book promotion.

Using a custom image created by the MCBD Team, we will provide one share/post our Twitter feed (over 13.7K followers) on our Instagram Feed (over 10.500 followers), within our Multicultural Children’s Book Day Private Facebook Group (over 1500 Members) and our Facebook page (over 4K followers) as well.

That’s a LOT of eyeballs!

AND, right now, everyone has a chance to lock in a Social Media Shout Out at the $25 rate before the price goes up on March 1, 2020. (Purchasers have 30 days from the date of the Shout Out purchase to redeem their purchase).

GO HERE to get more details, see more samples of past Shout-Outs, and to purchase your own Social Media Shout Out to honor someone in the world of diverse books for kids and teens! #ReadYourWorld

Encompassing All Perspectives | Guest Posts from Pack-n-Go Girls

January 19, 2020 by Valarie Budayr

Multicultural Children’s Book Day is just around the corner on January 31st. It’s a great time to reflect on whether your book collection is encompassing all perspectives.

One of our authors, Lisa Travis, had a unique experience as a panelist for this topic at the last American Association of School Librarians conference. We thought we would do a quick synopsis of the author panelists’ books and the perspectives they represented.

The first panelist was Rafael Lopez, the illustrator for Sonia Sotomayor’s book, Just Ask: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You. This children’s picture book does an amazing job of answering children’s curiosity about others’ differences. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges–and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. Rafael talked about his gratitude to have the opportunity to positively bring awareness to our unique abilities in this world. We also discussed the power of engaging in conversation. Hopefully, this book helps children feel confident to “just ask” and not make assumptions. What books do you have on your bookshelf that speak to the perspective of differences, whether they be physical or mental?

The second panelist was Geoff Rodkey, author of We’re Not From Here. This sci-fi middle-grade novel proves that friendship and laughter can transcend even a galaxy of differences. If you want to go multicultural, why not go to Mars or Planet Choom? Readers of this book will get introduced to immigration through the perspective of space refugees. Boys and girls will love the main character. Is it boy? Or a girl? According to Geoff, “I gave the readers a bit more space to imagine whatever version of Lan works best for them.” During the panel, Rodkey discussed his approach to creating a gender-neutral character and the misadventures he has had since with those who have assumed one way or the other. In this book, Geoff gave us many perspectives that will expand our thinking. If you’ve got middle-grade readers, add this one to your bookshelf.

The third panelist, Greg Howard, author of Middle School’s a Drag brought yet another perspective for middle grader readers, encouraging us to see the world through a middle school entrepreneur who is discovering how to be open about his identity. He starts his own junior talent agency and signs a thirteen-year-old aspiring drag queen as his first client. Greg shared with us his own perspectives on LGBTQ issues and how they informed his characters and why it was important to have these perspectives on our bookshelves to build a more inclusive world.

Last, our Pack-n- Go Girls Adventures brought yet another perspective. Lisa Travis, the author of our latest Pack-n-Go Girls Adventure, Mystery of the Naga at Night, discussed the importance of multicultural literature in our globally connected world.

Our mission has always been to make a difference by nurturing an adventurous spirit that inspires kids to go out and explore the world, infusing kids with curiosity and an insatiable thirst to learn, and coaching kids to notice what unites us and appreciate the value of our differences. This is what multicultural and diverse literature brings to the table. If we teach our children to move into the world from a place of openness, wonder, and curiosity, rather than fear, judgment, and separation, we set them up to live profoundly more nourishing, connected lives. Reading multicultural books is an easy first step in this direction.

Ultimately, the more we read, the more we learn. The more perspectives we learn about, the more we build empathy and acceptance. Consider this: How much does it mean for children to read a book that has a girl or boy “just like me” in it? The loss isn’t just for children who don’t see themselves on the pages, but the loss is also for the children who only see themselves on the pages. How do they learn to appreciate and understand different perspectives?

So, as we get ready to celebrate multicultural books, take a look at your bookshelf. Does it encompass the perspectives that you want your children or students to explore? Stay tuned for the great 2020 linky with a myriad of book reviews of multicultural books to discover hot new titles that will encompass all perspectives.

Check it out: https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Pack-n-Go Girls are a proud PLATINUM Sponsor of MCBD2020!

Christmas Around The World (plus a free Christmas activity download!)

December 14, 2019 by Valarie Budayr

Guest post from Pack-n-Go Girls

Ever wonder what holiday celebrations look like in other countries?

Then let’s take your kids on a tour of the world this Christmas with Pack-n-Go Girls Christmas around the World Adventure!

Travel to different countries and learn about holiday celebrations in Austria, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Thailand. Print out the provided passport read about how each country celebrates and then do the country activity. When complete, add a stamp to your passport.

For a special Christmas treat, don’t miss Mystery at the Christmas Market. And if you need some more activities to keep everyone entertained during your holiday vacation, make sure you also check out our Country Exploration Kits for more fun and learning about the different countries. We’ve extended the learning with 45+ pages of educational activities for your children and students. You’ll find lots of cross-curriculum activities in reading, writing, math, science, art, and social studies. In the spirit of traveling, our Country Exploration Kit also includes a crossword puzzle, word search, maze, secret decoder, some coloring pages, and recipes for cooking some treats for your next trip.

Happy Holidays!

About Pack-N-Go Girls

Dreaming of true-blue friends, mysterious adventures, and faraway places? Pack-n-Go Girls take you there!

2017 Literary Classics Winner – Best Series – Young Reader

2017 Moonbeam Children’s Book Winner – Best Chapter Book Series

2014 Moonbeam Children’s Book Winner – Best Chapter Book Series

Readers tour haunted castles in Austria, catch thieves in Mexico, save dolphins and turtles in Brazil, search for lost golden temples in Thailand, and chase aliens in Australia. AND at the same time, they’re inspired to embrace adventure, be curious, value what unites us, and celebrate the differences that make us unique. Kids discover the diversity of cultures and the richness each one contributes to the world.

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, Pack-n-Go Girls specializes in creating innovative stories for girls that deliver positive messages around independence, adventure, and global awareness.

PNGG’s newest offering is Mystery of the Rusty Key, the second book in the Australian adventures. Here’s a bit about both books:

Mystery of the Min Min Lights – Australia 1

Journey into the dusty, windswept Australian outback, land of bounding kangaroos and dazzling sunsets. Wendy Lee arrives from California. She’s lucky to meet Chloe and Jacko Taylor, who invite Wendy to their sheep station. It sounds like fun except that someone is stealing the sheep. And the thief just might be something as crazy as a UFO.

Mystery of the Rusty Key – Australia 2

Wendy, Chloe, and Jacko travel to Sydney and dive straight into another mystery where they must unravel four spooky clues: an ancient letter, a rusty key, a missing box, and a curse. The kids race against time to solve the mystery before the clock strikes midnight.

Learn more about the Pack-n-Go Girls® books and related products HERE.

Follow the Pack-n-Go Girls® on Twitter:@packngogirls , Instagram, Pinterest, and on Facebook: facebook.com/packngogirls

BOOK REVIEWERS, WE.Need.YOU.

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!

AND…you don’t have to be a blogger to review multicultural children’s books for our MCBD2020 (1/31/20) 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.

SIGN UP HERE to be an MCBD2020 book reviewer ASAP and go HERE for the detailed explanation of what it means to be a valued book reviewer for our MCBD2020 celebration