Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review – Building Bridges with Bilingual Books and Multicultural Resources

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.

I was gifted a copy of this book to review for multicultural children’s book day: Building Bridges with Bilingual Books and Multicultural Resources: A Practical Manual of Lesson Plans, Literacy Games, and Fun Activities from Around the World to Celebrate Diversity in the Classroom and at Home, by Anneke Vanmarcke Forzani, with Dr. Heather Leaman, Edmond Gubbins, and Ellen O’Regan.

I am not a teacher or homeschooler, but I am married to an immigrant, and I am the parent of biracial and bilingual children. I found this book to be an insightful and needed educational resource. It begins by talking about the increasing diversity in American schools, and the challenges and discrimination minority students often face. For example, it talks about how some educators may devalue a child’s dual language abilities, rather than viewing them as an asset. Other educators may fail to reach out to immigrant parents and engage them in their child’s educational experience, often due to communication difficulties.

This book provides teachers with resources to help them create an inclusive learning environment that accepts differences and celebrates diversity. There’s a whole section on multicultural lesson plans, with fun themes including folktales and holidays. The lesson plans utilize multicultural picture books highlighting various cultures, and they include games, discussion ideas, activities, and tips for accommodations/differentiation.

There is also a section with activities and games that teachers and parents can use to support multiculturalism. One of the activity suggestions I liked was to have a teacher read a book out loud at school in the school language, and have the parents read the same book at home in their home language. There are also fun games from around the world, multicultural crafts, and international recipes you can try at school or at home.

All in all, I thought this was a great resource for teachers and parents with some excellent information and resources to promote multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion.