Multicultural Children’s Book Day is January 25, 2019! The mission of MCBD is to bring awareness to diverse children’s books.  It would be wonderful to get more multicultural books into schools and libraries. All children should be able to see themselves reflected in the books that they are reading.

Multicultural Book Day Co-creators Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen have created a definition for “multicultural books” as it applies to this event so that children can “find themselves” within the pages of the books they read.

Multicultural Children’s books are:

• Books that contain characters of color as well as main characters that represent a minority point of view.
• Books written by an author of diversity or color from their perspective. Search #ownvoices to discover diverse books written by diverse authors.
• Books that share ideas, stories, and information about cultures, race, religion, language, and traditions. These books can be non-fiction, but still written in a way that kids will find entertaining and informative.
• Books that embrace special needs or even “hidden disabilities” like ADHD, ADD, and anxiety.

In celebration we are reading Kayla:  A Modern Day Princess by Deidre Pecchioni Cummings and illustrated by Erika Busse.

Kayla: A Modern Day Princess #ReadYourWorld

Our Review:

Kayla: A Modern Day Princess is a heartwarming story about family, role models and dreams. Kayla’s Mom works the night shift so the time she gets to spend with her in the mornings is very precious. Kayla’s Mom wakes her up each morning with a beautiful sentiment “What’s your plan today?  Every day you have to have a plan. A plan gives you hope and hope gives you dreams.”  I have never been a morning person so these words got me thinking.  What if parents encouraged all children to seize the day and make the most of it?  We would certainly be much happier if we saw hope for the day rather than hours of boring responsibilities ahead.

Kayla has a new friend Tommie. Tommie lives with his dad because his parents are divorced. He never gets to see his Mom.  Kayla feels terrible because she complains about only seeing her Mom in the mornings.  Kayla realizes that there are all types of families and her Mom works hard to give hers a great life. She knows how lucky she is to have a Mom who adores her.  “In her mom’s eyes Kayla saw her hopes and dreams for her future.”  Kayla’s mom is truly a role model to be proud of.  Kayla dreams about a bright future for herself every night as a result of the nurturing she receives from Mom.

I am looking forward to following Kayla’s continuing journey. I am sure she will meet many more diverse friends and introduce us to countless fun and inspirational insights.

For another fun book by Deidre Pecchioni Cummings and Erika Busse —> Read Here.

From the Publisher:

Kayla: A Modern Day Princess is the first of a seven-part series. It is meant to inspire children to value themselves and all those around them. Readers will watch Kayla grow up and live the life of her dreams.

More Information on Multicultural Children’s Book Day:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

The following Medallion Sponsors are on board:

*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors–> HERE 
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors–> HERE

Medallion Level Sponsors:

Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.

Super Platinum: Make A Way Media

GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV,  Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,

BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift,  T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board:

Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini, Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts:

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team. They not only host the book review link-up on celebration day, but work tirelessly to promote this event.

View our CoHosts–> HERE.

MultiCultural Children’s Book Day 2019

A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it,  Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground

MultiCultural Childre’s Book Day 2019 TWITTER PARTY

Sponsored by Make A Way Media

MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual @McChildsBookDay Twitter Party is 1/25/19 at 9:00pm EST. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away ( a prize every 5 minutes!) –>Details HERE

FREE RESOURCES From Multi Cultural Book Day:

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers–> HERE

Empathy Classroom Kit FREE for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

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

***Disclosure- A copy of Kayla: A Modern Day Princess was provided to me for review purposes.  This in no way affected my honest opinion.***