Valarie Budayr's Blog, page 19
January 31, 2019
A Chinese New Year Picture Book: The Little Pigs and the Sweet Rice Cakes
I love ANY book from Tuttle Publishing. Period.
Their mission since 1948 has been, “to discover, create, publish, and deliver best-in-class books & products that bring the World closer together one-page turn at a time.” And they continue to achieve this goal beautifully year after year.
I also especially love the fact that this company focuses their efforts solely on giving the world access to the cultures, visual arts, cuisines, languages, and literatures of Asia through the pages of their award-winning children’s and adult books.
So I wasn’t surprised at all to see that their gorgeous book, The Little Pigs and the Sweet Rice Cakes: A Story Told in English and Chinese (Stories of the Chinese Zodiac) by Li Jian made Publishers Weekly’s list of excellent children’s books for celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year (Year of the Pig).
A Chinese New Year Picture Book
The extra fun thing about this book (perfect for Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3) is that it is a spin on the American classic children’s story, The Three Little Pigs. Pretty much every child knows the story of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf, so they’ll love reading about the pigs’ Chinese counterparts.
In this addition to the Stories of the Chinese Zodiac series, a pig brother describes a dream about an elderly man in English and Chinese: “He asked me to prepare sweet rice cakes for him before the Minor Spring Festival.” Later, he and his siblings gobble up an entire plate of the cakes, but none of them wants to admit it to their mother, who is “disappointed that her children lied to her about eating them.” After they work together to make the cakes again, the pigs offer the most delectable pieces to the Kitchen God (a gentle figure shown emerging from a hanging picture), and the pig brother recognizes him as the man from his dream. Jian illustrates in muted grays and jewel tones, lending the story a serene quality.
When there is only a week left before Chinese New Year’s Eve, their mother lays the sweet rice cakes in front of the portrait of the Kitchen God and prays for the peace for the family. On seeing the portrait, the three little pigs realize that the old man in their dreams is actually the Kitchen God!
“In this addition to the Stories of the Chinese Zodiac series, a pig brother describes a dream about an elderly man in English and Chinese: “He asked me to prepare sweet rice cakes for him before the Minor Spring Festival.” Later, he and his siblings gobble up an entire plate of the cakes, but none of them wants to admit it to their mother, who is “disappointed that her children lied to her about eating them.” After they work together to make the cakes again, the pigs offer the most delectable pieces to the Kitchen God (a gentle figure shown emerging from a hanging picture), and the pig brother recognizes him as the man from his dream. Jian illustrates in muted grays and jewel tones, lending the story a serene quality. Ages 4–8.” ―Publishers Weekly
More Awesome Books from Tuttle Publishing
Something To Do
Make your own sweet rice cakes!
A Chinese sweet rice cake is a “sweet dessert made with glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour) and red bean paste. This recipe was given to me by my Chinese sister-in-law. It is a favorite of my family. It has a firm custard-like texture which is different to many western palates. ” Learn how you can make them in your own kitchen thanks to this recipe from AllRecipes.com.
Experience another yummy Chinese treat thanks to author Eugenia Chu and her book, Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子).
Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子) is about a little Chinese-American boy named Brandon who gets a surprise visit from his grandma from China, Pó Po (婆婆). While Brandon and Pó Po (婆婆) are making Chinese dumplings, called jiǎo zi (餃子), Brandon makes a mess and he and Pó Po (婆婆) have a good laugh!
Chinese dumplings are known as jiǎo zi (餃子), or guo tie (鍋貼) (pot stickers) when pan-fried. Jiǎo zi are made and eaten throughout the year, but especially during Chinese New Year because they represent wealth and prosperity as they have the shape of gold nuggets, the ancient Chinese currency for money.
On Eugenia’s website, readers and kitchen fanatics will find an excellent recipe for Brandon’s jiǎo zi HERE
Learn more about Chinese Birth Signs:
“Twelve Chinese Animal Birth Signs might sound new to you. But what if we told you that these are the Chinese animals that rotate over a 12-year cycle? You may immediately know what they are. You might even know that after the year of the DOG comes the year of the PIG.” Learn more about this fascinating topic via this great post from MulticulturalKidBlogs.com and discover the 12 Chinese Animal Birth Signs – Chinese New Year
The post A Chinese New Year Picture Book: The Little Pigs and the Sweet Rice Cakes appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 29, 2019
World Read Aloud Day 2019 Twitter Party!
Just as we are gathering our thoughts from the wildly successful Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter that occurred on 1/25/19, another amazing kidlit Twitter Party opportunity has presented itself!
World Read Aloud Day 2019
World Read Aloud Day 2019 (#WorldReadAloudDay) is just around the corner! Every year, on World Read Aloud Day, people all around the globe read aloud together and share stories to advocate for literacy as a human right that belongs to all people.
World Read Aloud Day 2019The universal goal is the strengthening kids and communities through the power of their own stories. Together, authoring a bold new world of equity and opportunity. Proudly sponsored by Scholastic, this day is celebrated all over the globe with online and offline activities.
One such online activity is happening before the actual celebration day. The LitWorld Organization is hosting a Twitter chat on Tuesday 1/29/19 to discuss World Read Aloud Day and the importance of diverse texts. It is from 7-8pm ET and participants are invited to use #GetLoudReadAloud to follow along with the fun, discussion and the thoughts of special author guest like Kate Messner and Kwame Alexander.
Something to Do
A fun WRAD Events With Capstone
Mega-publisher and Multicultural Children’s Book Day Sponsor Capstone Publishing invites readers and parents from all over the map to join them for a Drop Everything and Read Hour on World Read Aloud Day!
At 10:00 am CT, on Friday, February 1, Capstone employees will stop whatever they are doing for one hour and read something of their choice.
Prior to that hour and during that hour, we will share what we are reading via our Capstone social sites.
How can you participate?
Post pictures of you or your students reading something. It can be a print book, or a PebbleGo article, or a research paper, or whatever!
Tag us on social media using #ReadingIsForEveryone and #CapstoneForAllKids
Children’s Book Council
Here’s a link to a wonderful PDF with all sorts of activities and ideas on how to celebrate World Read Aloud Day.
The most important part about today is to read aloud to someone whether near or far. You can be sitting near them, read as a family, a classroom, across the seas via Skype or some other virtual technology. Just Read and have a ball!
The post World Read Aloud Day 2019 Twitter Party! appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 24, 2019
Let’s get Linky! The 2019 Multicultural Children’s Book Day Link Up
Welcome to our 6th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day! Here’s how to celebrate:
Link up your diversity book reviews below.
Join us tonight at our 6th annual Twitter Party! Follow @McChildsBookDay to join in on the diverse book discussions, discover new titles and authors and for a chance to win one of our twelve book bundles. Party time is 9 pm to 10 pm EST. RSVP here . Use hashtag: #ReadYourWorld.
Get your copy of our diverse kidlit book recommend-packed ebook, Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators
. It’s FREE today through January 31st!We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of the Sponsors, Authors, Publishers, Organizations, Book Reviewers, Book Donators, Parents, Caregivers, Educators and Librarians who devote their time and energy to helping us to achieve our mission of getting multicultural children’s and YA books into the hands of readers. We appreciate you!
The post Let’s get Linky! The 2019 Multicultural Children’s Book Day Link Up appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 22, 2019
MVP Kids® and the Help Me Become™ series
I came across MVP Kids® several years ago when they became a Medallion Level Sponsor for the wildly popular online literacy event, Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD).
MVP Kids® represents a wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity and are the stars of our products. All told, there are 16 MVP Kids®, along with their parents, siblings and other family members that make up a total of twelve families. I’ve always admired how this quality line of kids’ books are not afraid to tackle the tough (and timely) topics like fear, bullying, anxiety, anger, and friendship.
Help Me Become Series™ (Hardcover, ages 4-10)
Stomp Out Selfishness
Defeat Disobedience
Cure Complaining
Lock Up Lying
Stand Up to Bullies
Block out Bad Sportsmanship
Phase out Forgetfulness
Stand Down, Bullies
Ban Breaking Promises
“Our mission is to inspire an honorable character in young men and women through healthy mentoring relationships, preparing Real MVP Kids® to live responsible and meaningful lives.”
To be the go-to resource for innovative media, our books are being converted into interactive e-book apps. These apps are designed to expand the experience of our content.
Our MVP Kids® represent a wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity and are the stars of our products. The sixteen MVP Kids®, along with their parents, siblings and other family members, make up twelve families. An important goal of establishing our MVP Kids® throughout the product lines is to create familiarity and friendship for readers, a basis of trust to address serious life issues and challenges in products for maturing children. As we develop our products, they will follow the MVP Kids® as they grow from toddlers to adolescents. All MVP Kids™ products are designed to teach young readers how ti gain honorable character through healthy mentoring relationships, while preparing them to live responsible and meaningful lives through books.
Connect with Real MVPKids via their website, Facebook and Instagram.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
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, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC, Claudia Schwam.
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
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
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!
MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/18 at 9:00pm.E.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H
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.
The post MVP Kids® and the Help Me Become™ series appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 20, 2019
Sweet Soulful Sydney | a Powerful Message of Kindness and Inclusion
If we could give Miriam Azeez points for cuteness and adorability…she’d be off the charts!
If we could give her points for creativity and determination, again, it would be off the charts.
Mariam is a delightful young Muslim girl who was inspired to create a book with a powerful message about kindness and inclusion. She is also guest poet, writer, contributor and a source of inspiration for the book, Soulful Sydney Explores Diversity: a delightful children’s book written in rhyme this is fun to read.
My name is Sydney and I’m inviting you to my adventure! Behind my house is an entire forest for us to explore together. It’s filled with critters and creatures, kids and maybe a little chaos. We can figure out ways to get to the peace and serenity through mindful moments and access the abundant joy that is available for us every day. Leave the world behind and find your own Soulful Forest. It’s in YOUR back yard too!
Sweet Soulful Sydney | a Powerful Message of Kindness and Inclusion
The book was a collaboration between two grandmothers (Terry Murphy and Deborah Clarke) and 11-year-old Mariam. When Mariam shared that she wanted to create a book series that had a powerful message about kindness and inclusion. The writers share a passion for the promise of a tomorrow filled with justice, peace, and civility.
We love that Soulful Sydney has a sweetness about the timely topics that Sydney, her dog Max and her assorted friend touch upon, but we also completely admire this trio of awesome’s willingness to talk about tough topics as well.
Learn more about Mariam and Soulful Sydney via their website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
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, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC, Claudia Schwam.
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
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
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!
MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/18 at 9:00pm.E.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H
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.strong>
The post Sweet Soulful Sydney | a Powerful Message of Kindness and Inclusion appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 18, 2019
Zero Cost Diverse Book Reviews, Resources and Recommends #MCBD2019
As you may know, Jump Into A Book has deep ties to the global online children’s literacy event and non-profit, Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD).
The original creator of Jump Into a Book, Valarie Budayr, is the co-founder of this epic on and offline event and I (Becky Flansburg) have been the Project Manager of this event since Day One.
So, as the 6th annual MCBD approaches on January 25, 2019, we have been eyeball deep in all-things-Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019. BUT, we still want to take a moment to remind everyone of the free or low-cost resources that available to parents, caregivers, homeschoolers, educators, and librarians via the MCBD site year-round.
Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators
will be FREE during the week of Multicultural Children’s Book Day, Jan 23-27, 2019!
Big Giant LinkUp of Diverse Book Reviews and Recommends
The 2019 version will be available 1/25/19!~
Downloadable Classroom Poverty Kit 2019
Poverty Doesn’t Discriminate | Understanding Poverty in America
This Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2018 Poverty Classroom Kit is filled with books, activities, discussion questions, resources, and a free classroom poster to help students understand that Poverty Doesn’t Discriminate. Go here for more details.
FREE Classroom Empathy Kit is ready to download and share!
Now more than ever, a message of hope, compassion, empathy, and understanding is needed.
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.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day is proud to offer our free Classroom Empathy Kit to help encourage discovery, hope, acceptance, and exploration through the pages of diverse children’s literature. Go HERE to learn more.
Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents
This is List of Lists so you can find the books you need. Every blue title is a link to more book lists on that topic. Topics include book recommends broken down by country/geographic area, religion, cultures, traditions/holidays/special needs, ethnicity.
Find more diversity, multicultural, and inclusive books on our Multicultural Children’s Book Day Pinterest Board. Follow on Pinterest to get daily updates.
FREE Classroom Kindness Kit is ready to download and share!
Our Kindness Classroom Kit contains:
~ Diverse Kindness Book List for ages 4 -12
~ Classroom Kindness Activities
~ “Be a Hero Be Kind” Kindness Poster
~ Multicultural Children’s Book Day Poster
MCBD Music Video!
This first-ever #ReadYourWorld YouTube video is a great tool for classrooms and homeschool. See how books and familiar faces YOU can spot!
Thank you to Annie Lynn and Walt Wilcezewski for donating their time and expertise to create our first official Read Your World Multicultural Children’s Book Day Music Video!!!
Please support Annie Lynn on her website and YouTube channel!
Past Diverse Kidlit Reviews on Jump Into a Book
Lump Lump and the Blanket of Dreams
MVP Kids® and the Help Me Understand™ series
33 Middle-Grade Latino Books You Should Know About
A Kidlit book in 18 languages: Womagis-A Word Magician Around the World
Watch for the #ReadYourWorld hashtag on social media and share.
Win 1 of 12 Book Bundles! We are giving away Book Bundles every 5 minutes!
Twitter Party
Friday, January 25th
9 pm to 10 pm EST
Hashtag: #ReadYourWorld
Register here!
The post Zero Cost Diverse Book Reviews, Resources and Recommends #MCBD2019 appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 10, 2019
Lump Lump and the Blanket of Dreams | A Read Your World Book Review
As an adult, have you ever resisted sleep because there were just too many exciting things going on?
If you are a parent of young kids, we all know what the answer would be to that question!
And the tiny black bear, Lump Lump, is no different than the average child when it comes to fighting off falling asleep.
Lump Lump and The Blanket of Dreams
Winter is coming, but the little black bear, Lump Lump, isn’t ready to go to sleep! With the help of his mother, the wise Blue Bird, and his forest friends, Lump Lump gathers materials for Spider Woman to weave him a Blanket of Dreams. Inspired by Navajo/Diné culture and folklore, and featuring the work of famed weaver Barbara Teller Ornelas, this beautiful tale of family and friends takes the reader on a journey through the spectacular traditions and landscapes of the Southwest.
Lump Lump and the Blanket of Dreams
Inspired by Navajo Culture and Folklore
“Now we will weave a blanket of dreams.
May the white light of morning beautify this blanket.
May the red light of evening beautify this blanket.
May the falling rain beautify this blanket.
May the rainbow beautify this blanket.
May everyone sleep in beauty under a blanket of dreams.
May everyone sleep in beauty! May everyone sleep in beauty!”
This wonderful picture book is a perfect read aloud for young readers from ages 1-8 or grades K-3rd.
Lump Lump and The Blanket of Dreams |About The Author
Gwen Jackson graduated magna cum laude from Lincoln University with a B.A. in psychology. She won a Ford Foundation Fellowship and attended the University of Michigan, where she received an M.A. in psychology.
An avid lover of history, anthropology, and people, Gwen has traveled to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Sicily, Capri, the Greek Islands, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bali, Malaysia, Thailand, and India.
Connect with Gwen on Facebook, Twitter or at gwenjacksonstories.com
Something To Do
Learn about Navajo Rug Weaving:
Check out this wonderful weaving activity from The Weaving Ideas that was inspired by this book!
About Multicultural Children’s Book Day
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
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, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC, Claudia Schwam.
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
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
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!
MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/18 at 9:00pm.E.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H
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.
The post Lump Lump and the Blanket of Dreams | A Read Your World Book Review appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 8, 2019
MVP Kids® and the Help Me Understand™ series | Read Your World
“Our mission is to inspire an honorable character in young men and women through healthy mentoring relationships, preparing Real MVP Kids® to live responsible and meaningful lives.”
I came across MVP Kids® several years ago when they became a Medallion Level Sponsor for the wildly popular online literacy event, Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD).
MVP Kids® represents a wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity and are the stars of our products. All told, there are 16 MVP Kids®, along with their parents, siblings and other family members that make up a total of twelve families. I’ve always admired how this quality line of kids’ books are not afraid to tackle the tough (and timely) topics like fear, bullying, anxiety, anger, and friendship.
Help Me Understand™ Series
Their Help Me Understand™ hardcover series tackles the relevant issues that kids ages 6-12 face in everyday life like lying, worry, disobedience, standing up to bullies, bad sportsmanship and more.
Titles in the Help Me Understand™ series include
Lucas Tames the Anger Dragon
Miriam Lassoes the Worry Whirlwind
Blakes Rewires the Failure Circuit
Sarah Sizes Up the Insecure Ant
Yong Breaks Out of the Boredom Box
Olivia Uproots the Arrogant Weed
Ezekiel Builds on his Mistakes
“The important goal of establishing our MVP Kids® throughout the product lines is to create familiarity and friendship for readers, a basis of trust to address serious life issues and challenges in products for maturing children. As we develop our products, they will follow the MVP Kids® as they grow from toddlers to adolescents. All MVP Kids™ products are designed to teach young readers how to gain honorable character through healthy mentoring relationships while preparing them to live responsible and meaningful lives through books.”
Connect with Real MVPKids via their website, Facebook and Instagram.
Something To Do
MVP Kids® Help Me Understand™ books include discussion guides that give further insight into the emotion and reflection questions related to the book’s content. The page is designed for parents and children to interact together or for the child to use individually and the MVP Kids®
website is a treasure trove of great discussion guides and conversation prompts (worry, anger, navigating failure, etc) that go with each book
About Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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 on school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents, and educators.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
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, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC, Claudia Schwam.
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
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
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!
MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/18 at 9:00pm.E.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H
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.
The post MVP Kids® and the Help Me Understand™ series | Read Your World appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
January 6, 2019
5 Reasons Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 will be the best EVER
Happy New Year everyone! As you may know, Jump Into A Book has deep ties to the global online children’s literacy event and non-profit, Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD).
The original creator of Jump Into a Book, Valarie Budayr, is the co-founder of this epic on and offline event and I (Becky Flansburg) have been the Project Manager of this event since Day One.
Best. Job.Ever.
So, as the 6th annual MCBD approaches on January 25, 2019, we have been eyeball deep in all-things-Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019.
Here are some reasons why we know for a FACT, that the 2019 Multicultural Children’s Book 2019 will be the best EVER.
Why Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 will be the best EVER
1.Sponsorships: We officially closed all Sponsorship levels at the end of December and we are beyond pleased at the variety and quality of both Medallion Level Sponsors and Author Sponsors this year. When you have a moment, check out both pages and see what we mean
January 4, 2019
The First #DiverseKidLit Link Up of the New Year!
Welcome to the first #DiverseKidLit of 2019! If you are a parent, grandparent, caregiver, teacher, or librarian looking for amazing diverse kidlit recommends to share with your young readers, you will love this recurring monthly resource of diverse book reviews.
If you are a book reviewer, please join us in sharing your diverse children’s book links and resources, as well as visiting other links to find great suggestions and recommendations.
First, What Is #DiverseKidLit?
Diverse Children’s Books is a book-sharing meme designed to promote the reading and writing of children’s books that feature diverse characters. This community embraces all kinds of diversity including (and certainly not limited to) diverse, inclusive, multicultural, and global books for children of all backgrounds.
We encourage everyone who shares to support this blogging community by visiting and leaving comments for at least three others. Please also consider following the hosts on at least one of their social media outlets. Spread the word using #diversekidlit and/or adding our button to your site and your diverse posts.
We hope this community serves as a resource for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and authors!
#DiverseKidLit is Hosted by:
Katie @ The Logonauts
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest
Becky @JumpIntoaBook
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram
Bethany @ Biracial Bookworms
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Goodreads
Carolina @ La Clase de Sra. DuFault
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Google+
Gauri @ Kitaab World
an online bookstore for South Asian children’s books, toys, and games
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram
Gayle Swift, Author of ABC, Adoption & Me
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Google+
Marjorie @ Mirrors Windows Doors
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest
Mia @ Pragmatic Mom
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram
Myra @ Gathering Books
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Goodreads
Shoumi Sen, Author of Toddler Diaries
Blog / Twitter / Facebook
Svenja @ Colours of Us
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Tumblr
Terry @ The Reading Tub
Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest
Click here to join the mailing list. Interested in joining as a host or an occasional co-host? Contact Rebecca (at) franticmommy.com.
(Never participated in a linkup before? Please click here for a more detailed step-by-step.)
Get #DiverseKidLit Recommendations on Pinterest~
Our Pinterest board highlights a wide range of amazing posts and resources for Diverse Children’s Books. Please consider following the board for even more great books!
Share Your Link Below
The post The First #DiverseKidLit Link Up of the New Year! appeared first on Jump Into a Book.
