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This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills has challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about a parade of nations. It can be literal, or it can be a phrase that you use to describe a situation. Explore what it could be. Go where the prompt leads.

One need look no further than a classroom of children to find a parade of nations. Below is my response to Charli’s prompt, but please read on for information about Multicultural Children’s Book Day, International Day of Peace, and suggestions of books to read.

A parade of nations

The children listened intently, eager to learn. Each family’s wish was for a better life. The group was a parade of nations; with Dragos from Serbia, Duy from Vietnam, Melino from Tonga, Ervine from Scotland, Rongo from New Zealand, Jung from Korea, Sanhitha from Sri Lanka, and Jawara from Senegal; and these were only the new arrivals. Others were first and second generation with but a few who could count back further than three, except for Kinta whose ancestors were the first to arrive. The wall map, dotted with pins to show each one’s heritage, was their proudest display.

While I have taught classes with children from each of these countries, and many more, for the purpose of my story I used the Baby Name Finder at Mom Junction to locate names with friendly, peaceful meanings. It is a very helpful resource.

It was my experience in such multi-cultural classrooms that prompted me to make a resource to facilitate learning about our own and each other’s cultural traditions and celebrations. The resource is now available on readilearn.

Thinking about the diversity that exists in our classrooms, our cities, our countries and our world is a perfect time to bring to your awareness Multicultural Children’s Book Day, the focus of which is on “bringing attention to all of the amazing children’s books available that celebrate diversity.”

The co-creators of the event Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen define multicultural books as those that

• include characters of colour or that represent a minority point of view
• share ideas, stories, and information about cultures, race, religion, language, and traditions
• embrace our world and offer children new ways to connect to a diverse and richer world.

On the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website, teachers can find a collection of helpful resources; including a classroom kindness kit and a classroom empathy kit. Authors and publishers of multicultural books are also invited to sponsor Multicultural Children’s Book Day through a range of sponsorship options already open for 2019. Interest in the day has increased in the six years since its inception and that growth can only continue. While it is wonderful to see the greater number of books with multicultural and diverse themes now available, more are still needed.

One of my long-time favourites is Whoever You Are written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Leslie Staub. I have read it to many groups of children, every one of whom has loved its powerful message: that underneath it all, we are just the same.

You can read about, listen to Mem read, or purchase the book here.

A newer favourite is another by Mem Fox —I’m Australian Too. This one is illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh.

This book is a celebration of all cultures and heritages that are represented in the Australian population and together make our country what it is.

You can read about, listen to Mem read, or purchase the book here.

An even newer favourite is All are Welcome written by Alexandra Penfold and illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman.

I first heard about this book from the wonderful Patricia Tilton who blogs at Children’s Books Heal. Patricia’s aim with her blog is to “share books on a wide range of topics that have a healing impact on children who are facing challenges in their lives.” I have purchased many lovely books recommended by Patricia and never been disappointed.

Just as I was completing a draft of this post, I received notification of a new post by Patricia. You won’t believe it, but Patricia wrote about the book again for the International Day of Peace on 21 September. How perfect. Please pop over to Patricia’s post for more details about this beautiful book.

Once, long ago, there used to be a recording of Bill Martin Jr. singing I am Freedom’s Child on his website. I loved singing along to it with my class. The words were especially meaningful in our multicultural classes. We sang, “As I learn to like the differences in me, I learn to like the differences in you.” What a wonderful thought that, with acceptance of ourselves, comes acceptance of others. If we could just do that, we would indeed, all be freedom’s children.

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