Multicultural Children’s Book Day Book Review: ’The Remembering Day/ El Día de los Muertos’

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I am excited to participate in a book review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day, the annual event to celebrate and encourage the publication of multicultural books for children. The co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. You can find a bio for Mia and Valarie here.

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Arte Público kindly sent me the bilingual book “The Remembering Day / El Día de los Muertos” (aff link) written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Robert Casilla. The book is a great resource to learn more about the Day of the Dead. Also called Día de los Muertos or Día de Muertos, it is a holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd.

From calavera figurines to papel picado banners, Day of the Dead is becoming a well-known celebration in the U.S. More people are adopting this holiday from Mexico and other countries in Latin America, Europe, and the Philippines. Unfortunately, in the midst of the festivities, the real meaning of this holiday can get easily lost or misunderstood.

RELATED: Day of the Dead Facts in English and Spanish

“The Remembering Day/El Día de los Muertos” shares the fictional story of the origin of the Day of the Dead that hopes to rescue the real significance and meaning of this popular holiday. The story will help children to understand the reason for the celebration and the tradition of making altars.

The rich and colorful illustrations of the book take the reader to a remote village in what it is known today as Mexico. They provide a fascinating glimpse at Bella and her grandmother’s loving relationship. Mamá Alma, the grandmother, raised Bella and taught her everything she knows about life. As Mamá Alma gets weaker and older, Bella is aware that the physical separation between them is imminent.

“You will feel me near you, Bella, every year,” the grandmother promised before instructing her to plan a Remembering Day where family and friends come together to decorate a special place about the people they love and are not with them anymore. After her grandmother’s passing, Bella organizes the first Remembering Day and soon enough, other families in the village adopt the Remembering Day tradition, too.

The book captures very well the spirit of the Day of the Dead celebration and provides a great opportunity for discussion about death and ways to cope with it. The warm story of the book will also encourage children to honor and remember their loved ones. I recommend this book for children ages 5-8 years old.

Complementary Activities

You can also plan a Remembering Day! Decorate your own table or special place with items that reflect the character and personality of some loved one you’ve lost. Be creative and remember that the decorations don’t need to be elaborate.

Information about Multicultural Children’s Book Day

The mission of the Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCCBD) 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. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.

Multicultural Children’s Book day 2016 Medallion Level Sponsors! #ReadYourWorld

Platinum: Wisdom Tales Press * StoryQuest Books* Lil Libros

Gold: Author Tori Nighthawk * Candlewick Press

Silver: Lee and Low Books * Chronicle Books * Capstone Young Readers * Tuttle Publishing

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

Multicultural Children’s Book Day has 12 amazing Co-Hosts and you can view them here.

Classroom Reading Challenge:

Help spread the word about our  Classroom Reading Challenge. This very special offer from MCCBD gives teachers and classrooms the chance to (very easily) earn a free hardcover multicultural children’s book for their classroom library. These books are not only donated by the Junior Library Guild, but they are pre-screened and approved by them as well.

What we could really use some help with is spreading the word to your teacher/librarian/classroom connections so we can get them involved in this program. There is no cost to teachers and classrooms and we’ve made the whole process as simple as possible. You can help by tweeting the following information:

FREE BOOK!!!!!!

Teachers! Earn a FREE #Multicultural Kids Book for Your Classroom! #teachers, #books #teacherlife
http://ow.ly/UUy96

The Classroom Reading Challenge has begun! Teachers can earn a free diversity book! #teachers #books
http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/?p=1796
For more information, follow Multicultural Children’s Book Day on Facebook and Twitter.

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Linda

Linda is a mom of three, a bilingual writer and a Latino advocate. Her site, HispanicMama.com, serves as a platform for Latina moms (and Latinas at heart) raising bilingual and bicultural children while trying to preserve their heritage and language. You can connect with Linda on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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