#WATWB #ReadYourWorld Multicultural children's Book Day

#WATWB #ReadYourWorld Multicultural Children’s Book Day

25 Replies

On the last Friday of each month We Are the World Blogfest invites bloggers to join together in promoting positive news. With this the first for 2018, it’s a good time to think about joining in. If you would like to do so, please check out the rules and links below.

A statement of mission from the We are the World Blogfest website:

“There are many an oasis of love and light out there, stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. Sharing these stories increases our awareness of hope in our increasingly dark world.”

The co-hosts for this month are:  Shilpa Garg, Simon Falk, Lynn Hallbrooks, Eric Lahti, Damyanti Biswas and Guilie Castillo. Please pop over to their blogs to read their stories, comment and share.

This month I am sharing an inspiring story that, while it may not be “News”, was certainly news to me and maybe is news to you too. I hope it fits the criteria for sharing.

A little while ago I came across the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website. I admire the mission of the organisers to:

“not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.”

There is certainly a need for more understanding, acceptance, empathy and compassion in the world, and it is very pleasing to see projects such as this being promoted. I’m sure you’ll agree that education of our children is a great place to start.

Multicultural Children's Book Day

Used courtesy of Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day was initiated by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom, and is celebrated for the fifth time this year on 27 January with a #ReadYourWorld Twitter party!

There is much to explore on the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website; including resources such as, a list of diversity books and activities for teachers and parents, and  a free Classroom Empathy Kit that includes a book list and activities to help children develop empathy. You can even sign up to get a free diversity book for your classroom.

(Note: There is also a great way for authors and publishers to help out by donating their books with multicultural themes.)

I hope you see how both these organisations are working towards making our world a more positive place for all of us.

Here are the guidelines for #WATWB:

1. Keep your post to Below 500 words, as much as possible.

2. Link to a human news story on your blog, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Paste in an excerpt and tell us why it touched you. The Link is important, because it actually makes us look through news to find the positive ones to post.

3. No story is too big or small, as long as it Goes Beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD badge or banner on your Post and your Sidebar. Some of you have already done so, this is just a gentle reminder for the others.

  1. Help us spread the word on social media. Feel free to tweet, share using the #WATWB hashtag to help us trend!

Tweets, Facebook shares, Pins, Instagram, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. We’ll try and follow and share all those who post on the #WATWB hashtag, and we encourage you to do the same.

Click here to join in and enter the link to your post. The bigger the #WATWB group each month, the greater the joy!

Thank you blog post

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.

 

25 thoughts on “#WATWB #ReadYourWorld Multicultural Children’s Book Day”

  1. hilarymb

    Hi Norah – great to combine the story for two blogfests .. makes sense. I love the idea of this multi-cultural site – the giving of books and letting kids read about other kids and their parts of the world, or the challenges we all face wherever we might be … so good to know about – cheers Hilary

    Liked by 1 person

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  2. reocochran

    It is always wonderful to have reminders to be inclusive in our choices for children, young middle schoolers and high school students. There’s just too much out in the world for us not to open every child’s mind to the possibilities, Norah. Lovely post and a great source! 📚 📔

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Norah Post author

      Thank you, Robin. I very much agree with your comment. How sad it is when children’s eyes are closed to possibilities. They lose so much of the magic and wonder.

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    1. Norah Post author

      I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Ally. Thank you for reading and commenting. I think there are more multicultural books available now than there used to be – makes it easier to choose them. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. Norah Post author

      Thank you, Lynn. I thought it was perfect to combine the two. I’d actually prepared another story to share – now I’m all set to go for next month! 🙂

      Like

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  7. Shilpa Garg

    Multicultural Children’s Books… that’s such a fantastic idea to teach children about diversity and also respect and empathy for other cultures. Kudos to Valarie and Mia for this fabulous initiative. And thanks for joining us for this edition of #WATWB, Norah!

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. dgkaye

    Wonderful contribution this month Norah. Indeed, it shouldn’t be news that it’s important to share reading awareness for children everywhere. And thanks for reminding me this Friday is WATWB. I better get something together soon! 🙂 xx

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Norah Post author

      Thanks, Debby. I’m pleased you approve of the contribution. I wasn’t sure if I was breaking the “rules” but I wanted to share anyway as I think it’s a fabulous idea. If it encourages authors to write, and publishers to publish, more diverse books too – then that’s an added bonus. I’m sure you’ll have something wonderful to share for #WATWB – you always do! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. dgkaye

        Anything that brings goodness, kindness and education is inspiring Norah. And arg, I still haven’t put together anything yet. I’m so behind. I hope I find something inspiring today. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Norah Post author

          I’m pleased that the post works okay, Debby. I wonder what you have found. I was thinking about your own lovely post about the nurses and their sign about kindness. I think it would work well – what better news is there that that?

          Liked by 1 person

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          1. dgkaye

            Thanks Norah. So funny you said that because I thought of that nurse’s sign too when I couldn’t find the right thing I wanted to post. It’s been a hectic week and I still didn’t have tine to search around for the right subject so I went into my files of saved posts in my blog and chose a beautiful story by Andrew Joyce. I think you’ll enjoy it. 🙂 x

            Liked by 1 person

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