What do you do with your kids to instill pride in their own culture and acceptance of people from other cultures and backgrounds?  It can be challenging.  This post contains affiliate links, you can read my full disclosure here.

I’m excited to tell you about Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2018  which is Jan. 27, 2018. It is in its 5^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom.

The mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

In addition to this post, you might like to grab the free printable on flags of the world or African American inventors

We Are One

I was provided a book in exchange for my honest review.  I reviewed We Are One by Param Patel and Pinky Mukhi.  Young Param asked his mother, Pinky Mukhi, questions eventually inspiring this book.  It is designed to instill pride in children for their food, language, culture, and uniqueness.

The story is about a young boy named Mintu and his awareness that his experience may be different from that of his friends.  He becomes unsure of whether his friends will accept the food, language, and culture in his home.  The other children in the story come from diverse backgrounds and I found this story a celebration of both uniqueness and the commonality of the human experience – like emotions.

The book even includes a recipe for paratha, which is an Indian bread that is central to the story.

What others are saying about We Are One:

“Mintu is embarrassed that his family speaks Gujarati and not English at home and serves Indian food like paratha, which is different from what his classmates eat. When two friends visit, Mintu realizes that differences are good. The purposeful and well-intentioned story of friends with different heritage and skin and hair colors to discuss diversity with young children”. –  The Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California

“This beautifully illustrated book is a great resource for preschools to teach children diversity and acceptance of our differences.’ We Are One’ is a delightful and charming storybook not only for children but also for parents, as it places a great emphasis on love that unites us and gives value to the recognition of different cultures as well as teaching our children our own traditions and customs.” –Karina Garcia-Barbera, PhD, Preschool Director

Want to know more about Multicultural Children’s Book Day?

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild

PLATINUM:Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors

Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo,  Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles,  Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen,  Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and  MFL Publishing  Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham  Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

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

Free Empathy Classroom Kit 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.