I was sent these books from the publisher MVPkids to review as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day 2018. All views and opinions expressed are my own. This is my 5th year teaching and one of the goals I set for myself is to really focus on being more intentional especially when it comes to the books that I am exposing my students to. In my first few years teaching, I thought that exposing my students to as many books as possible was best, but I wasn't always considering the other messages I was sending to my students beyond the skills I was hoping to teach. Early in the year, I joined the Diverse Reads for the Classroom Facebook group run by Vera from the Tutu Teacher. This group was such an eye opener for me to how big the world of books with diverse characters really is. Now that I teach in a small rural school, I realize it's not only important to provide my students with opportunities to see themselves and their families in books we are reading, but expose them to the world and its people in an appropriate and positive way. I jumped at the chance to be a part of Multicultural Children's Book Day so that I can not only be exposed to more authors, publishers, and series with diverse characters and experience, but help other teachers find such amazing books for their classrooms as well. MVPkids sent me 5 of the 12 board books in their Celebrate! Series, all by author Sophia day. The first thing I noticed about these books was how good the quality was. The pages were thick and the binding is strong. As teachers, we think about these things as much as the content because if it doesn't last, then our students won't see it. The next thing I noticed about the books as a whole is that not only are there diverse characters throughout these books, but the books are talking and exploring the characters everyday lives. This makes these great for daycares, Early Childhood classrooms, and special education lessons. My favorite books were Celebrate! Our Difference and Celebrate! The Way I'm Made. As a special education, both of these books were perfect from the images to the language used to describe everyone's differing abilities and cultures. I also really like how important messages in the text are highlighted with different colors or size font. My 2 year old LOVED Celebrate! Bedtime. It was a beautiful representation of different types of bedtime routines and included how to say "good night" in other languages. It offered lots of opportunities for my daughter and I to talk about her bedtime routine compared to the characters in the books. She also loves looking at books and identifying different people in family structure and this book gave her plenty of opportunities to see families that do not look exactly like hers. The last two books, Celebrate! Mommies and Daddies and Celebrate! Grandmas and Grandpas, both touch upon how families have their own special relationships and ways that they show each other they love one another. These books show many different cultures and family structures but again, don't make it seem different or special in any way. It's just families being families! Overall, the Celebrate! Series from MVPkids did not disappoint. They would be a great addition to any classroom or home library. This is not MVPkids only series either and I was also excited to see a series on social-emotional learning. Make sure to visit their website to check out all of their titles Follow this link to see all of the other great reviews for Multicultural Children's Book Day! #ReadYourWorld More About Multicultural Children's Book DayMulticultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5th 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 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.
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.
2 Comments
1/27/2018 10:24:01 am
These look fantastic! I love the "everyday" diversity, celebrating people living their everyday lives and showcasing the diversity around us every day!
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1/27/2018 01:02:39 pm
I was so glad to learn about these terrific diverse board books from your review. They are new to me!
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About MeHi! My name is Kelsey & I am a Special Education Teacher in WI. I love what I do & love sharing new ideas & awesome materials. When I'm not teaching, I'm enjoying being a Mommy, cooking, & being outdoors. Archives
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