Disclosure: Thank you to TimTimTom Books and Barefoot Books for providing copies to review. All opinions are the author’s own.
For Multicultural Children’s Book Day this year, Multicultural Kid Blogs was chosen to review Underwater Adventure from TimTimTom and Amazing Places from Barefoot Books.
I’m so honored I got to review these two books to celebrate and promote Multicultural Children’s Book Day!
Valerie Budayr and Mia Wenjen have created this day with the mission of getting books in classrooms and libraries to help tell the stories of all types of people from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures.
Underwater Adventure was such a delight for us since we are aspiring bilinguals at our house!
Multicultural Children’s Book Review: TimTimTom
Have you heard of TimTimTom books? The company allows you to personalize the child’s name and look into the story. If you choose the bilingual option, you can have the story written in two different languages of your choice. In our case, we have chosen English and Spanish as those two languages are spoken in the house.
And get this. You can write a dedication in the front of the book, which makes these books such a wonderful fit for gifts! If your family is bilingual and you want to encourage them to read in the minority language, try having a grandparent, parent, or relative who speaks this language give one of these books a gift with a dedication in the front.
That’s what I did. I chose to give this book to my 7-year-old son who has shown a committed interest in learning Spanish. In the dedication, I was able to applaud him for his work and encourage him to keep at it.
My son is a nature-lover, and the Underwater Adventure story puts him in the middle of an adventure helping a turtle out of a dangerous situation. He loves to engage in the story to help the animals. Tim Tim Tom has other storylines, such as Soccer Story & Swan Lake that have at least one element that will capture your child’s interest.
Multicultural Children’s Book Review: Amazing Places
Amazing Places is one of my new favorites because my family cannot travel around the world. Amazing Places is a great book to introduce my kids to different countries and cultures around the globe. The book helps us “travel” to see new sights that I had not even heard of before. Amazing Places includes Rapa Nui Chile which is where my family is currently studying.
Below are the places you will enjoy “visiting”:
- India
- Egypt
- China
- Easter Island
- Spain
- Mexico
- Italy
- Peru
- Germany
- Jordan
- Greece
- Brazil
- England
- Cambodia
- Australia
Reading Amazing Places encourages imagination. The book gathers facts about history, geography, cultures and even directs your child to pack some boots. Your kids will be ready to hop on a plane to see these places in person!
I would like to give a big thank you to each of these publishers who strive each day in their work to contribute books for our kids and communities that promote cultural awareness, diversity, and understanding across borders. And thank you to Multicultural Kid Blogs for giving me the chance to partake in the amazing Multicultural Children’s Book Day!
**The links to the Barefoot Books website in this article are my Community Bookseller links.
Related Posts
Multicultural Children’s Book Day Book Reviews
Multicultural Children’s Book Day: Interview With the Founders
Easy Multicultural and Bilingual Activities Kids Can Do At Home
Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8th 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 on getting those book into the hands of young readers and educators.
Eight 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. Read about our Mission & History HERE.
MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Prgamaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com)
Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media
Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Hoopoe Books, KidLitTV, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc.
Silver Sponsors: Charlotte Riggle, Connecticut Association of School Librarians, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Pack-N-Go Girls
Bronze Sponsors: Agatha Rodi and AMELIE is IMPRESSED!, Barnes Brothers Books, Create and Educate Solutions, LLC, Dreambuilt Books, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin Real Estate, Snowflake Stories, Star Bright Books, TimTimTom Bilingual Personalized Books, Author Vivian Kirkfield, Wisdom Tales Press,
MCBD 2021 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Poster Artist: Nat Iwata
Authors: Author Afsaneh Moradian, Author Alva Sachs & Three Wishes Publishing Company, Author Angeliki Stamatopoulou-Pedersen, Author Anna Olswanger, Author Casey Bell , Author Claudine Norden, Author Debbie Dadey, Author Diana Huang & Intrepids, Author Eugenia Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Green Kids Club, Author Gwen Jackson, Author Janet Balletta, Author Josh Funk, Author Julia Inserro, Karter Johnson & Popcorn and Books, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, Author Keila Dawson, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Author Mia Wenjen, Michael Genhart, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Natalie Murray, Natalie McDonald-Perkins, Author Natasha Yim, Author Phe Lang and Me On The Page Publishing, Sandra Elaine Scott, Author Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Tales of the Five Enchanted Mermaids, Author Theresa Mackiewicz, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Author Toshia Stelivan, Valerie Williams-Sanchez & The Cocoa Kids Collection Books©, Author Vanessa Womack, MBA, Author Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series
MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!
MCBD 2021 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!
Check out MCBD’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents
Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program
TWITTER PARTY! Register here!
Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter Party! This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. ** Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!
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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