Multicultural Children's Book Day 2018
Last year around this time I kept hearing about Multicultural Children's Book Day and I had no idea what it was. The title sounded fabulous, though, and when I figured out that it was akin to an online Book Festival/Book Review party, I was in. Except I wasn't. It was too late to sign up!
This year I signed up on time and am happy to review Pattan's Pumpkin: A Traditional Flood Story from Southern India written by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Frane Lessac (published August 2017 by Candlewick Press). I grew up in a Catholic household and went to Catholic school for 13 years of my life. So of course I grew up listening to certain biblical stories, like one about the mustard seed—that one was my favorite because I've always been short—and the one about Noah's Ark.
For those of you who don't know the story of Noah's Ark, it's a story about a great flood, which Noah is warned about. So he sets about collecting two of each animal and species and builds a great big boat (ark) for them to survive the flood. That's the gist of it, and though I'm not longer a practicing Catholic (Sorry, Mom!), I still remember this story.
Excerpt from Pattan's Pumpkin written by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Frane Lessac.
Pattan's Pumpkin tells a similar story, though the setting is in a valley below the Sahyadri Mountains in Southern India. Pattan and his wife live in harmony with the animals and people around them, and Pattan shares his food with everyone in his village. When the great rains start, he looks out to an ever-enlarging pumpkin in his field for a solution. As a community, the animals help to hollow out the pumpkin so they can use it to survive the flood. And, perhaps eat some of the pumpkin during their stay in the pumpkin boat, as Little Lion suggested when we were reading it together.
Pattan's Pumpkin is a lovely rendition of a flood story--something I hadn't realized may come up in different themes in other cultures. Not only does it tell a tale of survival, it also emphasizes the animals, insects, and humans working together for a similar cause. A true community effort. And your little ones will get a kick out of the animals and Pattan and his wife living temporarily in a large pumpkin.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for sponsoring Multicultural Children's Book Day and to all the sponsors below.
Lastly, I'd like to say thank you to Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen for creating this fabulous Book Event and raising awareness for need for diverse books. And thanks to their fabulous team too! See info below and join in on the Twitter party later today.
Tell Dr. Bookworm!
What are some of your favorite books that include diverse main characters? Have you read any of the featured books included in Multicultural Children's Book Day list this year? How do you #ReadYourWorld? Let me know in the comments.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2018 (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.
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.
