About

Welcome to Read Your World!

Mission & Initiative: Together, we can change the world one book at a time.

Read Your World is a non-profit whose mission is to ensure that every child has access to diverse and inclusive children’s literature. By providing a wide range of books that reflect various cultures, identities, and experiences, we aim to foster literacy, empathy, and inclusivity in young readers. We believe that every child deserves to see themselves in the stories they read and to understand the world through the perspective of others.

We do this by:

Donating books to reviewers and classroom libraries.
Providing book lists and classroom kits to help parents, guardians, teachers, librarians, and readers find the diverse children’s books that they need.
Spotlighting children’s book creators with our weekly IG Live Interview series.
Creating Heritage Month Virtual Panels.
Hosting The Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Book Awards.
Hosting the Newton Children’s Book Festival in Newton, Massachusetts.
Partner with Catching Joy nonprofit to create a Free Book Fair for a Title 1 Elementary School in Waltham.

Impact Statement

Access to diverse children’s literature is crucial for fostering literacy, empathy, and inclusivity in young readers. As Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the UK’s newly appointed Children’s Laureate, advocates, it is imperative that “every child—from their earliest years—has access to books, reading, and the transformative ways in which they improve long-term life chances.”

Unfortunately, library closures, book bans, and limited access to diverse literature are widening the equality gap, making it more challenging to encourage reading among children. By promoting and distributing diverse books, creating book lists and classroom kits to spotlight diverse children’s books and authors, we strive to create a future where every child feels seen, valued, and inspired by the stories they read, leading to a more empathetic and inclusive society. We also advocate against book bans and censorship, believing that all children should have the freedom to explore a wide range of stories and perspectives.

In the USA, publishing data by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center shows that in 2018, there were more children’s books about animals and other non-human characters than all people of color (POC) combined (27% vs. 23%). Over half of all books featured white characters, with only 1% featuring Indigenous characters, 5% Latinx characters, and 7% Asian-Pacific Islanders. Book bans further restrict access to these important stories, depriving children of the opportunity to see themselves and others reflected in literature. Research shows that children exposed to diverse books are not only more likely to develop better literacy skills but also show a significant reduction in biases and racism. Studies also show that diverse books can play a significant role in promoting empathy among young readers. Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison indicates that exposure to diverse characters in books can significantly reduce implicit biases in children, fostering a more inclusive and accepting attitude towards people from different backgrounds. Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk found that children who have access to culturally relevant texts are more engaged and motivated to read, leading to higher literacy rates and academic achievement. Diverse books also help children develop empathy and emotional intelligence by exposing them to various life experiences and challenges faced by characters from different backgrounds. It is essential to address these disparities and ensure all children have access to diverse, inclusive stories that represent and value their experiences.

Sources

Read Your World was formerly known as Multicultural Children’s Book Day, and we still celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day at the end of January, but we are now more than just a one-day holiday to celebrate diverse KidLit.

Read Your World is a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to raise awareness about children’s books that celebrate diversity and inclusion, and to get more of these books into the hands of readers.

We are so glad you are here.

Our History: How Read Your World Came To Be (formerly known as Multicultural Children’s Book Day)

After being frustrated by a lack of diverse and multicultural children’s books available to their own families, reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Audrey Press Books and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom decided to take matters into their own hands. The book-loving moms then teamed up to create a much-needed national event and on January 27th, 2012 the first-ever Multicultural Children’s Book Day was celebrated.

Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day platform, the mission from Day One has been to not only raise awareness around kid’s books that celebrate diversity and inclusion but also get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries.

“Kids need to see themselves in the pages of the books they read,” noted Budayr. “We are determined to not only shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books available but also offer visibility for the amazing authors and publishers who create them.”

The MCBD online celebration attracts thousands of supporters, over 800 book reviewers, and dozens of quality authors and publishers. The celebration is the last Thursday in January, unless it conflicts with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which case it will move to the last Wednesday. The upcoming next celebration will occur on and offline on January 29, 2026.

The results and support were overwhelming as authors, publishers, parents, teachers, bloggers, and librarians joined forces to offer up an online event designed to shine the spotlight on diversity in children’s literature.

As we enter our second decade, we feel that Multicultural Children’s Book Day has achieved its goal of shining the spotlight on all of the amazing multicultural children’s books available to our young readers, teachers, librarians, and parents worldwide.

With each passing year, not only has the event itself grown exponentially, this non-profit initiative has expanded to offline classroom programs and celebrations, and we now have a global reach.

To date, this non-profit has donated over 10,800 books to kids and that number continues to climb.