Celebrate! Board Books for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019

Welcome to the first installment of three (read the second and the third), for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019! 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 Celebrate™ board book series inspires character building in young children by providing meaningful stories with recognizable characters and enticing artwork. All Real MVP Kids® books come with teachable moments with mentor guidance support and the Celebrate series is no different. It includes teachable tips in the back of the book to help parents and educators find new opportunities to share additional information on the books topic, tips to strength emotional connections, and practical activities to help children gain real life experience. 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: CELEBRATE! The Holidays
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2017
ISBN: 9781640078628
What to Expect: Winter Holiday Traditions
Short Description: In a fun rhyming story, CELEBRATE! The Holidays shares some of various winter holidays celebrated by different cultures throughout the world.
Overall Thoughts: This book is an excellent introduction to the various holidays that different cultures celebrate. It fits very well in my home, as my husband and I follow different religions and this book will be used as an opener to that discussion as she gets older. Though of course the 4 line rhymes leave much to be desired, the back of the book offers information and tips to an open discussion on each culture and holiday. I love that the moral of the book is to celebrate your traditions together, not to simply be yourself, but to share your culture with each other to teach and grow! If your child will be exposed to different cultures at a young age, I recommend this book to start the conversations, and if your child isn’t exposed to different cultures then I recommend this book to teach awareness and sensitivity!

Title: CELEBRATE! Counting Critters
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 0-4
Hardcover: 26 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 978-1642047899
What to Expect: Bugs and numbers
Short Description: The Real MVP Kids step out to the garden to count bugs!
Overall Thoughts: This fun book is an adorable introduction to bugs and counting! In a unique combination, CELEBRATE! Counting Critters uses various everyday bugs to introduce young children to numbers in nature, numerical and written form, as well as simple addition math, all while enjoying nature! I love the exposure to all of these elements, and my daughter loves the bugs! I really appreciate the format of this book, it doesn’t feel like yet another basic counting book. I only wish the book went up to 10 (it stops at 5). If you’re looking for a book to introduce math in everyday situations, or teach respect of nature, or even simply expose your child to numbers – this book has it all and I highly recommend it!

Title: CELEBRATE! Grandma’s and Grandpa’s
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 28 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2017
ISBN:  9781640078635
What to Expect: Cultural Proverbs and Elder Wisdom
Short Description: Learn ancient proverbs from various cultures from grandma’s and grandpas around the world!
Overall Thoughts: I love stories with strong morals and this is one of the best. The book focuses on ancient proverbs, sharing wisdom from elders in different cultures. It’s such an incredible way of connecting cultures through shared concepts. Every culture has a ‘grandma’ and ‘grandpa’ elder figure, using this connection, children can hear ancient proverbs and learn to apply these ideas to every-day scenarios. They are also exposed to cultural and language differences and overall learn to respect this wisdom and the their elders for sharing it! I absolutely recommend this book for anyone with a ‘grandma’ or ‘grandpa’!

Title: CELEBRATE! The Way I’m Made
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 28 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2018
ISBN: 9781641367806
What to Expect: Discovering what makes you unique!
Short Description: CELEBRATE! The Way I’m Made is about accepting who you are physically, emotionally, skills and interests and so much more!
Overall Thoughts: I think everyone goes through some sort of phase of wondering if they are alone, if they are too different. But these differences are what makes us unique and important to the world. This book celebrates these differences, not only physical but emotional, mental, skills, strengths and interests, and these differences are truly what brings us together not apart. I would have loved to see this book go longer, exploring additional differences such as cultural and religious characteristics. But I know they have other books that focus on these so if you want just one book in your library celebrating differences in all shapes and sizes – this is it. However if you want to hone in on specific characteristics, I do admit this might not be the strongest in the series. It’s a great book focusing on physical characteristics such as hair color, size and shape, and even skin color and wheel chair disabilities. And while it would take forever to list every possible difference someone can experience, less focus on freckles and more focus on hijab’s for example would make it a more rounded read in my opinion.

Title: CELEBRATE! Our Differences
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2016
ISBN: 9781684182459
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: I believe this may one of the strongest books in the CELEBRATE! series! The emphasis on cultural and ethnic differences and how these characteristics not only make each of us unique, but also makes us alike is incredibly important to instill in a young child. Learning to respect and appreciate these differences is a life changing experience. This book does an incredible job on showing the type of differences one may encounter on any given day, and why they should be celebrated, why they should be understood and why differences aren’t scary in a really fun and relatable way. Possibly more importantly, the back of the book goes into great detail about this characteristics and even provides opportunities for moments of teaching compassion in everyday situations. I think this is a must read for any age!

Title: CELEBRATE! Bedtime
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 26 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2016
ISBN: 9781684190591
What to Expect: Learn to say goodnight
Short Description: CELEBRATE! Bedtime is about learning to say goodnight in 11 languages and healthy habits and routines from all around the world!
Overall Thoughts: I One of my favorite things about the MVP Real Kids series is how they should the commonalities with people you may otherwise think you don’t have anything in common with. In this story, children are tucked into bed all across the world and we are exposed to 11 total languages, saying goodnight! We are also shown different bedtime routines, from reading to brushing teeth to kisses and flying through the sky! This book is a beautiful reminder of what we have in common, even when language and culture may be different. This is absolute must own for anyone looking to expose their little ones to different languages and cultures!

Title: CELEBRATE! Mommies and Daddies
Written by: Sophia Day (MVP Kids Creative Team)
Illustrated by: Stephanie Strouse
Age Range: 2-6
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: MVP Kids Media, LLC 2017
ISBN: 9781640078604)
What to Expect: Gain security in our parent’s love
Short Description: CELEBRATE! Mommies and Daddies is about the different ways parents show their love.
Overall Thoughts: The overall concept of this book is wonderful, it celebrates the different ways that parents show love, helping children understand and recognize that. I of course love the shared connection with different cultures and languages and 12 ways to say I love you. I know from reading the character backgrounds there is a lot of diversity in the parents as far multicultural parents and adoption, but I would of loved to see that actually shown and represented. I also felt that foster parents, step parents and grandparents taking care of kids could also feel left out of this story. But I don’t think that takes away from the message, and of course just the exposure to the language alone makes this book a must have!

I hope that everyone was able to find a book (or seven!) 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! Stay tuned next week for my next set of reviews on the Help Me Become! series! 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 6^th 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.

FINE ART AMERICA |REDBUBBLE |PINTEREST |INSTAGRAM | FREEBIES | LINK PARTIES