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Welcome to the final installment of three, for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (you can read the first here and the second here)! I’m so honored to be apart of this program this year and I can’t wait to share the incredible books I was gifted to review by MVP Kids Media, LLC! For more information about the Multicultural Children’s Book Day, scroll to the bottom of this post!
NOTE: I received these books for free in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.
Now, welcome to the world of the Real MVP Kids® ! This is such an exciting book series written by Sophia Day, a pen name to represent the creative team behind the Real MVP Kids® to help build a consistent and familiar brand for the series!
The Help Me Understand™ hard cover book series inspires character building in elementary aged children by providing meaningful stories with the same recognizable characters and enticing artwork you are used to. All Real MVP Kids® books come with teachable moments with mentor guidance support and the Help Me Understand series is no different. It includes discussion questions after each story to help parents and educators find new opportunities to interact together on the books topic, tips to strength emotional connections, and practical ways to help children apply this to their own lives individually. Furthermore, the Real MVP Kids® website includes science-based resources of what makes each book important, and additional activities to further develop the related skills.
If this sounds like the best kids book series you’ve ever heard of, then keep reading because each book stands on its own! In no particular order:
Title: Yong Breaks Out of the Boredom Box
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 6-12
Hardcover: 68 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2019
ISBN: 9781642552317
What to Expect: How to beat boredom.
Short Description: Yong Breaks Out of the Boredom Box is creativity booster to help children fight boredom!
Overall Thoughts: This book is an adorable lesson in attitude and fighting boredom by finding creative ways to entertain yourself. With thoughtful introspective’s and tips, a cute poem at the end followed by discussion questions to help parents encourage this practice. For me, I found this book to be a great lesson not only for kids, but for parents as well. Teaching them to step back, let your kids learn and free play on their own, and learn to be creative through their own curiosity. Absolutely recommend, if not for your kid – for yourself!
Title: Blake Rewires the Failure Circuit
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 6-12
Hardcover: 68 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 9781642047875)
What to Expect: Positive attitude towards failure
Short Description: Blake Rewires the Failure Circuit is about rewiring your view of success and failure.
Overall Thoughts: To be honest, this book is equally important for any adult to read as kids! Being positive isn’t about being obsessively optimistic in everything you do, its about setting yourself up for success. The lessons in the book teach that, and teach that failure isn’t a bad thing, its simply a lesson so you can move forward. This is a great book, even without the discussion guide in the back. Highly recommend this read!
Title: Miriam Lassoes the Worry Whirlwind
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 6-12
Hardcover: 68 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 9781642047868
What to Expect: Lessons in overcoming anxiety
Short Description: In Miriam Lassoes the Worry Whirlwind, learn the LASSO process to overcome anxiety.
Overall Thoughts: The lesson in lassoing worries is one of the best perspectives on anxiety I’ve ever come across. Not only should every parent with a nervous child read this, but truly should be a required read in education as well. I’d love to get the LASSO motto on a poster for my daughter (or for me)! The discussion section in the back was surprisingly bare compared to other books in the series BUT the book was a fantastic walk-thru of the process!
Title: Lucas Tames the Anger Dragon
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 6-12
Hardcover: 68 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 9781643707587
What to Expect: Dealing with anger
Short Description: Lucas Tames the Anger Dragon is about dealing with anger.
Overall Thoughts: I think the back of this book is the strongest in the series, its full of some very thoughtproviking questions and answers to help parents with the difficult discussions surrounding anger. The book is relatable (and adorable) and a really approachable way to open dialog with children. Absolute must read for any parent, regardless of how their child responds with anger. I think everyone can learn something from this story.
Title: Sarah Sizes Up the Insecure Ant
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 6-12
Hardcover: 68 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 9781642047882
What to Expect: Discovering how our differences make us alike
Short Description: CELEBRATE! Our Differences is about having a sense of pride in our uniqueness, while gaining respect in what makes others unique.
Overall Thoughts: This is a beautiful story people from all ages should read. The advice in the story is simple but fantastic, and I love that her parents helped her practice what she was learning and really got involved in the process. My only concern was the parents signing her up for basketball camp when there was no indication she ever wanted to or showed interest in doing so. Sarah had other interests and hobbies, and while encouraging your child to try new things is important, I feel they should be part of the process not pushed into something they don’t feel comfortable doing. Maybe that’s just a personal parenting thing, and I don’t want to detract from the great message here but something to keep in mind as a conversation topic after reading!
I hope that everyone was able to find a book (or five!) to add to their shelves this week! I’m so excited to be apart of this wonderful program and I completely love these books. The series should truly be a must have in any education program, and I’m excited to follow the Real MVP Kids as they grow up! For information on Multicultural Children’s Book Day, how to get involved, find more books and more- read on!
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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 homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!
*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN
Medallion Level Sponsors
Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.
Super Platinum: Make A Way Media
GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,
SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,
BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board
Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
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.
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