Multicultural Children’s Book Day

2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s 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.

Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that. This event has also proven to be an excellent way to compile a list of diverse children’s book titles and reviews for parents, grandparents, educators and librarians to use all year long.

Ellis Monroe has always been curious about the world. When his father brings home an ancient mirror with the power to reveal the truth about the people and things around him, Ellis begins to see the world in a whole new way. But things get more than a little strange/even more interesting when Ellis brings the mirror to school. While on the playground with the mirror and his best friend Toro Quispe, Ellis discovers that someone or something is hiding out at Harriet Tubman Elementary and trying to stop children from learning. Determined to solve the mystery, Ellis, Toro, and his little sister, Freddye go on a secret mission to find out the truth about the mischievous Buddy Cruster and stop whatever he has planned. Join Ellis, Freddye and Toro as their quest leads them deep into the forest and on an adventure you will never forget.

Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomello Books

Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo , Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O'Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Andrea Y. Wang

Our family read this book in our homeschool. My youngest son Eli is the initial reviewer for this book. I went on his word alone for how he related to this book and what he initially thought of it. Now just to let my readers know, he had no idea that this book was going to be featured in the Multicultural Children's Book Day 2017. I wanted him to tell me anything special about the characters and the first thing that he noticed was that the main character was a person of color.

Starting off he came forward to tell me about the protagonist and that he was a person of color. Now that really had me happy, just for the fact that it stood out to him. My son is 9 years old and this book was a winner in our homeschool! The authors Cerece Rene and Aryeh Rennie Murphy really made our son happy. Sometimes when we get books to do for review he is not as enthusiastic as he was with this book and that means something in our homeschool. Something good to say the least!

Having a good book to read in the homeschool can sometimes be a challenge. A challenge because sometimes mommy can not always tell what the kids will enjoy. Well this time I am so happy that the book was chosen for me and it was a good choice. So, I asked Eli what he would rate this book on a scale of 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. He said a fantastic five! So there you have it my awesome readers, this book passes in our homeschool with flying colors.

Just as an added note to my readers we used this book for his writing as well as reading course. He read it and then did a verbal story telling to me on the story line as well as characters and then he filled out one of my character sheets for presentations.

Thank you authors, sponsors and the entire Multicultural Children's Book Day Team! You guys did an awesome job!

Cerece Rennie Murphy fell in love with science fiction at the age of seven, watching "Empire Strikes Back" at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C., with her sister and mom. It's a love affair that has grown ever since. As an ardent fan of John Donne, Alice Walker, Kurt Vonnegut and Alexander Pope from an early age, Cerece began exploring her own creative writing through poetry. She earned her master's degrees in social work and international relations at Boston College and Johns Hopkins School for Advance International Studies, respectively, and built a rewarding 15-year career in program development, management and fundraising in the community and international development arenas - all while appreciating the stories of human connection told in science fiction through works like Octavia Butler's "Wild Seed," Frank Herbert's "Dune" and "The X-Files." In 2011, Cerece experienced her own supernatural event - a vision of her first science fiction story. Shortly after, she began developing and writing what would become the best selling "Order of the Seers" trilogy.

Cerece lives in her hometown of Washington, D.C., with her husband, two children and the family dog, Yoda.