The clock is ticking, the calendar is flipping and MCBD 2017 is getting closer and closer! Things are coming together beautifully as the MCBD Team works frantically to pull in more children's book reviewers and get teachers and classrooms signed up for the Free Diversity Book for Your Classroom Library campaign. There is SO MUCH exciting things...
As with any event, success is measured by the strength and effectiveness of the team. MCBD’s CoHosts are an example of just that.
The Multicultural Children’s Book Day CoHosts are a group of powerhouse bloggers and parents who all share the same passion for reading and understand the importance of diversity in children’s literature. They also act as ambassadors for MCBD’s yearly event by assisting in spreading the word, extending the event’s reach through social media and acting as hosts sites for the wildly popular book review/blog post link-up that occurs on the actual day of the holiday (1/27/17).
We are proud to introduce our sixteen CoHosts for our 2017 event below. These writers, moms, reviewers, book lovers and thought leaders were selected by the MCBD team because of their true dedication to supporting diversity in children’s literature and we would appreciate if you could take a few minutes and visit each of these excellent blogs and say “hello.”
Now more than ever…
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 is proud to offer an initiative and holiday that encourages discovery, hope, acceptance and exploration through the pages of diverse children’s literature.
As our fourth Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday approaches on January 27, 2017, we are thrilled to have you as part of our amazing community of supporters! With enthusiasm, optimism and hope, we are preparing for MCBD 2017 and hope you will, again, join our celebration of diversity through children’s books.
Thanks to our MCBD Facebook Group, I crossed paths with wonderful author named, Simone Da Costa. Simone’s book, I am Beautiful: When I Look at Me, I See … , is an inspirational book, created for middle school aged Black girls, aims to empower and liberate them to believe that they are beautiful, despite society’s notion of what “beauty” is.
(guest post from Shereen Rahming and the LRSJC)
Hello to you all. I am a mom and children’s book author. In the summer of 2015, my husband and I moved our family to the quaint town of Ladera Ranch, California. We arrived with all the hope and excitement of enthusiastic new residents. But we soon became unsettled by the homogeneity of the community. You see, we are a family of color who moved to a place where there are few people or images of people of color. My daughter went from rarely seeing representation of herself in school books and materials to never seeing it. I struggled with this. We weren’t sure how to proceed. We even pondered leaving.
Then through the power of social media, I became aware of another Ladera Ranch mom who was looking to start a social group with individuals who wanted to discuss social and racial justice, equity, and diversity. Naturally, I contacted her right away and was pleased to find out that there were other parents who wanted to engage in such conversations. We gathered for our first meeting in October 2016 and so was born the Ladera Ranch Social Justice Committee.
Our goal is to include and advocate for culturally and socio-economically diverse families within and beyond Ladera Ranch, including multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and LGBT families. We would also like to support schools, teachers, and libraries in developing curriculum and policies that include and engage all students, promote critical thinking, and prepare children to interact effectively in our diverse global world.
