ABC Adoption Book Review and Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016

It's that time of year again! Multicultural Children's Book Day is January 27, 2016.

Not familiar with MCCBD? It's the brainchild of cofounders Mia Wenjen and Valarie Budayr.

So what's the point of MCCBD?

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

The MCCBD team’s mission is to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book.

Want to participate?

We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along with the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, and a multicultural children’s book linky via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. Visit the MCCBD website to learn more.

In addition to all that, teachers can participate in the Classroom Reading Challenge in order to win a free hardcopy of a multicultural book that ties into Common Core for their classroom library.

If I were still teaching in the classroom, I would welcome this opportunity to add multicultural books to my bookshelves.  I think my students would have appreciated it too.

Find out more about the reading challenge here. Be sure to share this with teachers you know.

 All of this wouldn't be possible without our amazing sponsors and co-hosts.

Multicultural Children’s Book day 2016 Medallion Level Sponsors

Platinum: Wisdom Tales Press * StoryQuest Books*Lil Libros

Gold: Author Tori Nighthawk*Candlewick Press,* Bharat Babies

Silver: Lee and Low Books*Chronicle Books*Capstone Young Readers T

Tuttle Publishing ,NY Media Works, LLC/KidLit TV* China Institute.org

Bronze: Pomelo Books* Author Jacqueline Woodson*Papa Lemon Books* Goosebottom Books*Author Gleeson Rebello*ShoutMouse Press*Author Mahvash Shahegh*Live Oak Media

Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016 Co-hosts

All Done Monkey, Crafty Moms Share,Educators Spin on it,Growing Book by Book,Imagination Soup,I’m Not the Nanny,InCultural Parent, Kid World Citizen,Mama Smiles,Multicultural Kid Blogs,Spanish Playground

As a blogger and children's book reviewer, I am truly pleased to be a part of this event. Not only do I support the mission behind it, but it gives me the opportunity to see first-hand some of the wonderful multicultural books now available to children and their families.

I'd like to share my thoughts on one such book today - ABC Adoption by mother-daughter duo, Gayle and Casey Swift. As you can tell by the title, her book tackles a topic that can be awkward for children and adults alike. The author's straightforward discussion of adoption shows us that there really doesn't need to be any awdwardness about it at all. Using the format of an alphabet book to brooch this subject is a clever way to break the topic down into bite-size chunks that can be discussed individually.

The book image is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Here are a few of my favorite lines.

Y is for You. Families treasure what makes you one-of-a-kind special.

F is for Family. Adoptive families are forever families.

D is for Dreams. Sometimes I dream about my birth parents and wonder if they look like me.

The illustrations were done by Paul Griffen who says his aim was to "bring the message of love, support, and understanding to support adoptees and their families." What I really like about his illustrations is the diversity they show. There is diversity among the different families depicted throughout the book as well as diversity within the families. I think it would be good for adopted children to see more of this diversity in print.

This book would be great for families of adopted children. In addition to the message of the book, the authors provide some useful ways for adoptive parents to use this book with their adoptees. They also provide information on developing your Adoption Attunement Quotient (something I had never heard of before).

This book would also be a good resource in a classroom setting to make all children aware of the possible feelings and concerns of children who have been adopted.

If I were still teaching in the classroom, I would use this book as part of a discussion on family with the point being that families can look so different from one another. A great activity to enhance this book and discussion would be for children to create an ABC poem or book about their own family describing what it looks like and what it means to them.

I would recommend this book for children ages 4 and up, although even 3 year olds would understand a lot of it.

Please note: I was given an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Don't forget to share about the big day!

[bctt tweet="Multicultural Children's Book Day Jan 27 - join the fun! #ReadYourWorld"]