Hooray! It’s Multicultural Children’s Book Day!
Four years ago, bloggers Mia Wenjen and Vickie Budayer became concerned about the lack of diversity represented in children’s books. They decided to do something and began Multicultural Children’s Book Day. Kid lit book lovers will be sharing children’s books featuring diverse characters all over social media. There is more information and links to resources about MCBD and #ReadYourWorld at the bottom of this post.
I am excited to share two picture books that kids will love.
Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library by Julie Gassman (author) and Andy Elkerton (illustrator)
Capstone Young Readers 2016
Picture Book for ages 3-7
What child isn’t fascinated by dragons? Who wouldn’t want one for a pet? In Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library, children are warned about what would happen if their pet dragons accompany them to the library. The rhyming text is told from the viewpoint of a librarian who describes the chaos that would ensue with enormous dragons running around. The children I shared this book with were in hysterics. They know library etiquette and they thought it was really funny to see shelves of books fall over and the damage a fire breathing dragon could cause. The satisfying ending offers a good solution which encourages children to visit the library –
Your dragon should not miss the library treasure.
Just bring home some books for her reading pleasure!
The illustrations in this book are bright and expressive but most importantly, they show a wide range of diversity. The pages are filled with people of color as well as patrons with disabilities. Children will be able to see other children that look like themselves and their friends which is a great reason to add this fun book to classrooms and libraries.
When Penny Met POTUS by Rachel Ruiz (author) and Melissa Manwill (illustrator)
Capstone Young Readers 2016
Picture Book ages 4-7
In this timely book, Penny is excited to accompany her mother to work at the White House. She can’t wait to meet POTUS and she lets her wild imagination conjure up the president as a furry blue monster. She sets off to find POTUS and, in the process, sees the White House and meets the staff along the way. She imagines how much fun she and POTUS will have together but, when she finally does meet POTUS, Penny is surprised that the president isn’t anything like she imagined. She learns that the president is actually a lot like her.
The bright and colorful illustrations include people of color and of different ages. Children will not only learn about the acronym POTUS but will also have a romping good time learning about the White House. The humor in the text and illustrations and the diverse characters will make this a great book to share with young students who are learning about the political process. When Penny Meets POTUS will encourage children to dream big!
I want to give special recognition to Capstone for publishing so many great books which feature multicultural and multi-generational characters.
The mission of Multicultural Children’s Book Day is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.
Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books
Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang
We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
MCBD Links to remember:
MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/
Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i
I read the PB about POTUS a while ago and it’s really cute and smart. To be frank with you I didn’t know what POTUS meant when I was new in the US, so it’s a great topic idea.
Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library will be for a friend of mine who loves anything dragonny! Great reviews Claire.
Cute books. Thanks for sharing!
I also liked both these books — thanks for sharing!
These both look really cute! It is interesting to see things from a child’s perspective.