Showing posts with label latin american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label latin american. Show all posts

Friday, January 25, 2019

Galápagos Girl: Multicultural Children's Book Day



Galápagos Girl by Marsha Diane Arnold, illustrated by Angela Dominiguez (Lee & Low, 2018). 

This is the true story of Valentina Cruz, who grew up in the Galápagos. From a young age, she loved the animals there and promised her grandfather that she would always take care of them. She grew up to become a biologist and help preserve the biodiversity of the islands. There is biographical information on her in the back of the book, as well as facts about the Galápagos and the animals who live there. It's a beautiful book that young animal and nature lovers will love. 







Thank you to Lee & Low for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book for my review!

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, Claudia Schwam, Lori DeMonia, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC 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 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.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.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Alma and How She Got Her Name

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal (Candlewick Press, 2018).

This sweet book is about a little girl with a big name: Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela. She tells her dad how she doesn't like her long name because it never fits when she's writing it. Her father proceeds to explain why she has the name she does. Each name is from a relative on her family tree, and he tells her a little about each person, so that they come alive to her. She notices the similarities between her relatives and herself. When they get to her first name, Alma, her father says he picked the name just for her. "You are the first and the only Alma. You will make your own story."

I've always been interested in family history, as well as origins behind names, so I really enjoyed this. Both the story and the illustrations are so lovely. Juana Martinez-Neal has illustrated a couple other books, but this is her debut as an author. I'm sure we'll see much more from her as she's obviously very talented in both areas! 






Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Hanukkah Moon

Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa, illustrated by Gosia Mosz (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2007).

This is a lovely book about a young Mexican-American girl named Isobel whose Aunt Luisa invites her over to celebrate the eight nights of Hanukkah ("Januka" in Spanish) and see the Hanukkah Moon, or luna nueva, the new moon that appears ever Hanukkah. The illustrations are filled with warmth from family love, light, and the holiday. Aunt Luisa teaches Isobel, and the readers, about Latin-Jewish Hanukkah traditions.

If you're interested in learning more, I found a nice article about how Jewish Latinos celebrate Hanukkah in Los Angeles here.  







For more Hanukkah picture books, see my Pinterest board here.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Gracias the Thanksgiving Turkey

Gracias the Thanksgiving Turkey by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (Scholastic, 1996).

This is a fun book about a young Puerto Rican boy named Miguel who lives in New York City with his abuelos and tia while his truck-driver father is on the road.  His father sends him a turkey to fatten up for Thanksgiving, but of course Miguel ends up attached to his new friend whom he names Gracias. He and Gracias have some fun adventures but Miguel is worried what will happen once Thanksgiving comes, but everything works out when the family decides to have chicken for dinner.  







Friday, December 19, 2014

Multicultural Christmas Books

I'm compiling a list of multicultural Christmas picture books and will continually update.  Please comment with any I've left out.  Also, I haven't read all these books so if I've put any in the wrong category, please let me know.





African


African-American


Afro-Caribbean 

Asian

European


Interfaith (Hanukkah/Christmas)

Latin American

Multicultural


Native American 

Nativity Stories

Oceanian