Up until 1 year ago I had no idea there is a Multicultural Children’s Book Day! I am very happy to take part in it this year.
Children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom teamed up in late 2013 to create an ambitious (and much needed) international event. On January 27th, 2015 this dynamic duo is hosting yet another Multicultural Children’s Book Day as a way of celebrating diversity in children’s books.
I was given an opportunity to participate by reviewing a book by the author Felicia Capers called Enough of Frankie Already! The book is directed at the issue of bullying and offers as many examples of bullying as some of the solutions of how to advocate against bullying.
{Disclaimer}: I received a copy of ebook from the author in exchange for this review. However, all the opinions are strictly my own.
I liked the style of writing and vivid illustrations. The book is written in an easy comprehensive way and targets students from grade 1 up. The story is narrated by a character of the book – Amir – who, among other students in his school, is being bullied by a boy called Frankie.
It is quite obvious from the book, just as it is in reality, that often teachers don’t notice that bullying takes place. Simple things like pulling someone or taking away the ball seem as innocent quarrels between children, however, the reality could be much more harsh as many children in schools suffer from being bullied by their peers or children from older grades.
The solution in the end of the book is simple – children initiate an anti-bullying campaign, and even Frankie the bully gets involved.
There is also a list of questions to discuss with the students and with own children at home after reading the book. I think it is especially thoughtful since sometimes it is hard even for adults to formulate such questions.
I think we are quite lucky here in China as bullying is still not a huge problem here in regular schools – the intense system of studying and long hours at school don’t really leave children with much opportunities to neither play nor bully others. Though, I did hear about some incidents as unfortunately there is always a child or a few who take “pride” in trying to dominate others.
The Multicultural Children’s Book Day team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along via book reviews, author visits, multicultural booklists and visit the huge multicultural book review link-up that will occur on the MCCBD website 1/27/15.
Here are some ways you can help us celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day
- Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website and view our booklists, reading resources and other useful multicultural information.
- Visit our Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board for more reading ideas.
- Have children bring in their favorite multicultural book to school on this day and share it with the class.
- Watch for the #ReadYourWorld hashtag on social media and share.
- Visit our Diversity Book Lists and Resources for Educators and Parents on our website.
- Visit MCCBDsponsors (you can find them HERE)
- Create a Multicultural Children’s Book Day display around the classroom or library.
- Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website on January 27thto view and participate in our huge blogger link-up, multicultural book reviews, giveaways and more!
Other Fun Details:
Our Sponsor Line-up Platinum Sponsors:Wisdom Tales Press,Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, Gold Sponsors: Satya House, MulticulturalKids.com, Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild, Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books, The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing, Rainbow Books, Author FeliciaCapers, Chronicle Books Muslim Writers Publishing,East West Discovery Press.
Our CoHosts: We have NINE amazing Co-Host. You can view them here.
-MCCBD now has its own Paper.li! A Paper.li is a free online newspaper that aggregates information on the topic of multicultural books for kids from all over the Internet. Please feel free subscribe and stay up-to-date with this topic.
-Connect with us on our new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay
-Connect with us on our new Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay
If you would like more information, or have questions regarding Multicultural Children’s Book Day, please contact Valarie Budayr at Valarie@AudreyPress.com or Mia Wenjen at pragmaticmomblog@gmail.com
Thank you so much for your support!
Felicia Capers
Thank you Varya for your review of Enough of Frankie Already! 🙂 Bullying is a huge issue here in the States and it was important for me to tackle this issue in a way that hasn’t been done here and that was from the perspective of children of color. Also, Enough of Frankie Already! gives the perspective of the actual bully; and this is unheard of in bullying situations here.