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Reading Your World via an Online Children’s Book Celebration

Six years!

Can you believe MCBD is in its SIXTH YEAR?! The Multicultural Children’s Book Day team couldn’t be proud of the success we’ve achieved and the people we’ve touched along the way.

Our mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.

Reading Your World | How It Began

In 2012 children’s reading and play advocates, Valarie Budayr, and, Mia Wenjen, became increasingly concerned about the lack of diversity in the kids’ books they were reviewing. 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.

It’s no secret that books play a huge part in all children’s lives and studies have also shown that reading as little as twenty minutes per week will result in stronger readers and an interest in books that lasts a lifetime. But just as important as having books available to kids is the ability for them to “see themselves” in the pages of the books they read.

Budayr, the daughter of parents who emigrated from Sweden and wife to an American/Lebanese man, along with Wenjen, a Korean/Japanese American, were both keenly aware that there simply weren’t enough representation of kids of color in children’s literature. And the books that did exist did not get the exposure they needed and deserved. Both Budayr and Wenjen put their collective heads together and, along with the assistance of Brainerd Lakes Area native and project manager, Becky Flansburg, formulated a plan to create a nationally known online book event that would celebrate multiculturalism in kids’ books.

The result was the creation of an ambitious (and much-needed) online event known as Multicultural Children’s Book Day that debut on January 27, 2013. Now entering their fourth year, the mission of this scrappy non-profit remains the same; to shine the spotlight on multicultural children’s book and authors and work tirelessly to get those books into the hands of readers, parents, grandparents, and educators.

“Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book,” Wenjen shared. “They need to experience other cultures, languages, traditions, and religions and they can do that within the pages of diverse picture books and chapter books. As our sixth Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday approaches (1/25/19), we are thrilled to have a very well-established community of supporters. The support and excitement surrounding this event is so special and continues to grow every year.”

During the months and weeks leading up to the online celebration, readers, parents, grandparents, teachers, caregivers, and librarians are encouraged to follow along via book reviews, author visits, event details, children’s book giveaways and more on the MCBD website. They are also encouraged to have their own reading and discussion time in the classroom or at home. Participants and supporters can also stay in the loop with the festivities via the event’s hashtag #ReadYourWorld on Twitter and other social media.

“Now more than ever, a message of hope, compassion, empathy, and understanding is needed,” Budayr noted. “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.”

 

With the support of hundreds of book reviewers, dozens of sponsors, classrooms and other non-profit agencies like the Junior Library Guild and the Children’s Book Council, the MCBD team hopes to be able to continue to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature.

Ways to Get Involved with MCBD 2019

Here are a few ways you can participate in Multicultural Children’s Book Day:

{Teachers} Multicultural Children’s Book Day FREE Book for Your Classroom Campaign-If you know of a classroom or library that would like a free hardcover, library-approved, diversity children’s book, have them sign up at multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/our-programs/mccbd-2016-classroom-reading-challenge/

{Parents/Librarians/Teachers/KidLit Lovers} Get Free Review Books. MCBD offers a free diverse children’s book to parents, grandparents, and educators that are willing to write a review and this year we are not limiting reviewers to just bloggers. Just share on your review on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or your blog. Get sign up details HERE.

{Teachers, Librarian, and Caregivers}: Plan your own offline/classroom celebration of MCBD2019! Join our Offline Classroom Project and earn free diverse books for your classroom or library!

{Authors and Publishers} Donate Books: For our next online event (1/25/19) we will have hundreds of book reviewers signed up to review diverse children’s books on their blogs or on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Authors and publishers have the option of offering copies of their multicultural children’s books to our reviewers to review and write a social media review about. There are no guarantees that we will be able to match your book to a reviewer(s), but if this interests you, let me know. We will provide you with names and addresses and you mail your book directly to the reviewer. Go HERE to sign-up and donate your diverse children’s or YA books.

{Everyone} Be a MCBD 2019 Sponsor: Sponsorship is not only a great way to support this event; it is an excellent way to get an author’s name and books in front of thousands of readers. Sponsorship levels range from Platinum to Author Level and a Friends of MCBD option is also available for those who would like to support the initiative with a monetary donation. Go HERE to learn more.

{Everyone} Multicultural Children’s Book Day Free Resources, Booklists, and Extension Activities for Teachers and Parents. Enjoy this vast resource list of diverse children’s books categorized by culture, religion, sexual orientation, special needs or ethnicity.
Connect with MCBD on social media and share, share, share! Their official hashtag is #ReadYourWorld

– Facebook: www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay

– Twitter: https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay

– Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/pragmaticmom/multicultural-books-for-kids/

MCBD Links to remember:

MCBD site: https://readyourworld.org/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Classroom Empathy Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators: https://readyourworld.org/mcbd2018s-free-classroom-empathy-kit-is-here-empathy-immigration/

Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators: https://readyourworld.org/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/

Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.