Guest post by author Lora L. Hyler
A day before the Summer Solstice, I enjoyed the company of a professional baseball player, a coach, and the famous Racing Sausages, all members of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. The playground was filled with excited schoolchildren. Indeed, summer was in the air.
It’s that magical time of year! For many families, a beloved holiday tradition is snuggling up together to read Christmas stories. Yet too often, those books do not reflect the families that are enjoying them.
Lack of diversity in children’s books is a problem all year long, but it seems especially pressing during the holidays, when traditional stories and tropes often reign. One area where this is most obvious is the portrayal of Santa Claus. Though based on a real person from modern-day Turkey, Santa is most often portrayed as very fair-skinned.
Guest post by Adriana White
As an autistic librarian, I’m often asked if I can recommend any good books about autism. And I certainly can! I really enjoy sharing book recommendations, because one, I love supporting my favorite authors and their amazing books. And two, I believe that we have to provide kids with a wide variety of books that can serve (as Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop wrote) as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors into the diverse world in which we live.
Guest Post by Tacardra B. Rountree It was my Junior year of high school and I was given an assignment in my Literature Class to write a poem about myself starting with the words, I Am. During that time, I had fallen in love with the poetry of Maya Angelou, especially the poem, “Phenomenal Woman.”I probably...
As many of you know, Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCBD) is a global non-profit initiative that celebrates diverse authors and works year-round to raise awareness on the importance of diversity in children's literature. With our ears to the ground and eyes peeled (that is such an ODD phrase!!), we are also always on the prowl for...