Celebrating Multicultural Children's Book Day With Flying Colors

I am really looking forward to this year's MCBD celebration. We all need something to celebrate after a long hard year of the pandemic. 2021 is a new beginning and I feel the positive energy is a must these days. Language Lizard's bilingual series is a delight to read. In English and Chinese, idioms using colors are introduced and explained. It's simple and friendly to young children. Mostly importantly, it makes reading in two languages FUN. The illustrations are also multicultural with a variety of ethnicity represented. This is certainly a great educational resource to have around the house or in school. 

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators.

Eight years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!

FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Prgamaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com)

Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media

Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Candlewick Press, Capstone,  Hoopoe Books,  KidLitTV, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc.

Silver Sponsors: Charlotte Riggle, Connecticut Association of School Librarians, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Pack-N-Go Girls

Bronze Sponsors: Agatha Rodi and AMELIE is IMPRESSED!, Barnes Brothers Books, Create and Educate Solutions, LLC, Dreambuilt Books, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin Real Estate, Snowflake Stories, Star Bright Books, TimTimTom Bilingual Personalized Books, Author Vivian Kirkfield, Wisdom Tales Press, My Well Read Child 

MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!

Poster Artist: Nat Iwata

Authors: Author Afsaneh Moradian, Author Alva Sachs & Three Wishes Publishing Company, Author Angeliki Stamatopoulou-Pedersen, Author Anna Olswanger, Author Casey Bell , Author Claudine Norden, Author Debbie Dadey, Author Diana Huang & Intrepids,  Author Eugenia Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Green Kids Club,  Author Gwen Jackson, Author Janet Balletta, Author Josh Funk, Author Julia Inserro, Karter Johnson & Popcorn and Books, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, Author Keila Dawson, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Author Mia Wenjen, Michael Genhart, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Natalie Murray, Natalie McDonald-Perkins, Author Natasha Yim, Author Phe Lang and Me On The Page Publishing, Sandra Elaine Scott, Author Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher,  Tales of the Five Enchanted Mermaids, Author Theresa Mackiewicz, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Author Toshia Stelivan, Valerie Williams-Sanchez & The Cocoa Kids Collection Books©, Author Vanessa Womack, MBA, Author Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series

MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!

MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!

Check out MCBD's Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents

Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit

FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit

Gallery of Our Free Posters

FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program

TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

Celebrating Multicultural Children's Book Day: TimTimTom invites children into their own stories

Once again, I'm celebrating with many parents and teachers on the Multicultural Children's Book Day - January 31, 2020. There are more authors and more books this year. I signed up as a reviewer and learned about some wonderful bilingual books from TimTimTom.

We all know a good story draws the readers in, as if they were right there in the actions.  TimTimTom's story books do just that. I went on to www.timtimtom.com, chose a story on swimming with the Dolphin (who wouldn't want to swim with a Dolphin!), type my daughter's name and viola I got a customized book called "Chantal and the Dolphin". What's even more exciting for me and my daughter when we read the story is that the book is in bilingual format. The readers can choose two languages they want printed on the book. It is so simple yet powerful. Multicultural books not only need to tell stories that reflect our culturally diverse world, but also promote multilingual literacy. It is so heartwarming to see TimTimTom create such a product line. A big thumb's up from me!


The story, written by Saskia Reusens and illustrated by Katrien Van Schuylenbergh, is a delight to read. The colorful illustration sparks children's imagination and the adventure takes us through the joy of learning how to swim. Every page, Chantal's name appears either in the narration or the dialogue with the Dolphin and other sea creatures. I can see Chantal's intense interest in her own story and the big smile on her face.

As a bilingual author, one of my pet peeves is the quality of the translations. I often see great stories being ruined by bad translations. I am not sure whether TimTimTom's original stories were created in English then translated into all other languages. I must say the Chinese writing was of very good quality and that's why I can't tell what's the original and what's the translation. I can only speak about the Chinese writing but I think TimTimTom has taken the same care for other languages. It really is a quality product and one that should be embraced by all of us who care so much about multicultural and multilingual reading.

Please go online and order one. There are stories about soccer and dance, too. You, and more importantly your kids, would love it.

About Multicultural Children's Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 (1/31/20) is in its 7^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators. Seven years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues.

MCBD 2020 is honored to have the following 

Medallion Sponsors on board

Super Platinum Make A Way Media/ Deirdre “DeeDee” Cummings,
Platinum Language Lizard, Pack-N-Go Girls,
Gold Audrey Press, Lerner Publishing Group, KidLit TV, ABDO BOOKS: A Family of Educational Publishers, PragmaticMom & Sumo Jo, Candlewick Press,
Silver Author Charlotte Riggle, Capstone Publishing, Guba Publishing, Melissa Munro Boyd & B is for Breathe,
Bronze Author Carole P. Roman, Snowflake Stories/Jill Barletti, Vivian Kirkfield & Making Their Voices Heard. Barnes Brothers Books, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, Barefoot Books Talegari Tales

Author Sponsor Link Cloud
Jerry Craft, A.R. Bey and Adventures in Boogieland, Eugina Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Kenneth Braswell & Fathers Incorporated, Maritza M. Mejia & Luz del mes_Mejia, Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Josh Funk and HOW TO CODE A ROLLERCOASTER, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Lauren Ranalli, The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! By Dr. Sharon Chappell, Phe Lang and Me On The Page, Afsaneh Moradian and Jamie is Jamie, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, TUMBLE CREEK PRESS, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Gwen Jackson, Angeliki Pedersen & The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 by Mia Wenjen, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher (Founders of Inner Flower Child Books), Ann Morris & Do It Again!/¡Otra Vez!, Janet Balletta and Mermaids on a Mission to Save the Ocean, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo & Bruna Bailando por el Mundo\ Dancing Around the World, Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Teresa Robeson & The Queen of Physics, Nadishka Aloysius and Roo The Little Red TukTuk, Girlfriends Book Club Baltimore & Stories by the Girlfriends Book Club, Finding My Way Books, Diana Huang & Intrepids, Five Enchanted Mermaids, Elizabeth Godley and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle, Anna Olswanger and Greenhorn, Danielle Wallace & My Big Brother Troy, Jocelyn Francisco and Little Yellow Jeepney, Mariana Llanos & Kutu, the Tiny Inca Princess/La Ñusta Diminuta, Sara Arnold & The Big Buna Bash, Roddie Simmons & Race 2 Rio, DuEwa Frazier & Alice’s Musical Debut, Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series Green Kids Club, Inc.

 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, Afsaneh Moradian, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Bethany Edward & Biracial Bookworms, Michelle Goetzl & Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Educators Spin on it, Shauna Hibbitts-creator of eNannylink, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joel Leonidas & Descendant of Poseidon Reads {Philippines}, Imagination Soup, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Serge Smagarinsky {Australia}, Shoumi Sen, Jennifer Brunk & Spanish Playground, Katie Meadows and Youth Lit Reviews FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

• Free Multicultural Books for Teachers
• Our New FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit http://ow.ly/kcbZ30p3QWz
• Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators
• Free Understanding Developmental & Physical Challenges Classroom Kit

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

Multicultural Children's Book Day

A few months ago, I answered a call to participate in the Multicultural Children's Book Day. I did not hesitate. The book review just came out on Bicultural Mama's Blog. It is so encouraging to see and be connected to a community of authors, readers and parents who care about and promote multicultural living. For me, bilingual books are the true reflection of our lives. For my family, we are embracing, but at times struggling, to maintain an environment for multiple languages. My children have access to French instruction at school so they are fluently bilingual in English and French. Their Chinese lessons are now reduced to tutorial sessions. I still order books online, and from my work travel, I bring back publications from China once in a while. The stories that interest my daughters, and most importantly, resonnate with their life experiences are still rare to find. I am hopeful that Multicultural Chidren's Book Day will change that. After all, there are a lot of families like mine - we live in the intersection of cultures. It makes sense to celebrate that.