Celebrating Diversity with Fathers Incorporated On Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day everyone! I was so excited to learn that there is an entire day devoted to celebrating diversity in children’s literature. I’ve said before that we very intentionally stocked our home library with as much diversity as possible, and I love the opportunity to share and explore other titles. I am thrilled to be taking part during it’s fourth year. As part of the festivities, I was lucky enough to receive two books from Fathers Incorporated to review. Both are authored by Kenneth Braswell, the Executive Director of Fathers Incorporated. Daddy Is Feeling Blue was illustrated by Merve Terzi, while Joe Dent and Julie Andersen illustrated Daddy, There’s A Noise Outside.
Both books have a very similar illustrative style- contemporary, sketchy images that are modern, bright, and appealing to kids. The text is written in short, conversational sections, reminiscent of comic books, which will also draw children to the books. Both stories center around a young family – mom (Kim), dad (Brandon), daughter (Samantha), and son (Cory) – which allows the reader to follow along with some of the obstacles the family faces together.
Daddy Is Feeling Blue is the perfect jumping off point for a discussion about heart health, exercise, and healthy eating. Brandon suffers a minor heart attack, and though the family is understandably scared, they band together to make changes to improve their health. The dialog is reassuring and even, so that the topic of a heart attack can be addressed with kids in a non-frightening way. The book offers concrete tips for improving overall health, such as regular physical activity, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, etc. Those key points will help to reinforce what children are likely already learning in daily life.
While I have made a conscious decision to avoid talk of politics on my blog, it is very likely that after the last few weeks of political discord and demonstrations, your children may have some questions. Perhaps you have tried to shield them from some of the current happenings – even so, it’s very likely they’ve picked up snippets of information secondhand from friends, or overheard from snippets of news programs. Maybe you make a point to speak openly and often about the political landscape – it can still be a tricky topic to tackle at times. Daddy, There’s A Noise Outside is the ideal choice to start a dialog about the protests and marches that have been taking place recently.
Although it is centered around a Black Lives Matter protest, the main ideas and take home points can be applied to any protest. If you’ve been looking for a way to talk with your children about the women’s march this past week, this book could be a great conversation starter. It references historical examples of protests, such as the 1963 March on Washington, and the Million Man March in 1995, which will likely spark some Google sessions looking for pictures and learning about the events, if your kiddos are anything like mine! The book emphasizes peaceful forms of protest, citing boycotts, marches, sit-ins, petitions, letter writing, and civil disobedience. It also discusses the role children can play in protests, making it a great way to discuss involving your children in affecting change within your community.
Inspired by Daddy, There’s A Noise Outside, I created a printable drawing and coloring sheet for your children to design their own protest posters. This is a great opportunity for further discussion of the current political state here in the United States, as well as the issues that are being debated world wide. It can also help you gain insight into what issues, big or small, are on your child’s mind. Grab your free printable, and take some time to talk with your children about the posters they design.
printable:
I was so honored to be included in this special event, and am grateful to Fathers Incorporated for sharing their books with me. I encourage anyone reading to check out their mission. Please be sure to take a look through the sponsors and hosts, and click through to their sites for more information about how they can help you to build a diverse home or classroom library. It’s a crucial part of raising a more tolerant generation than our own.
More excellent book suggestions for your kids can be found here.
Check out other great ideas for arts & activities inspired by children’s literature!
Both books are available directly from the Fathers Incorporated Official Store, or via the Amazon links below.
Disclosure: Although I received a free copy of each book for review, all opinions are my own.
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post (at no additional cost to you), which allows me to continue providing free content on the blog.
Learn More & Connect With Our sponsors
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.
Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.
Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli.
Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books
Author Sponsors include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Delores Connors, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang
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 work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
MCBD Links to remember:
MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/
Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with is on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
SIC Mama
I love children’s books with a good life lesson in them. Both of these seem very strong in that department. And as a former nurse, you had me at heart health! ?
Kate
I knew the health angle would be right up your alley! Thanks for checking out my post.
Vicki @ Babies to Bookworms
I love the printables! These books both sound so great. Your activity sounds like a great way to talk to kids about the protests and marches going on!
Kate
Thank you- even though the book was not written about the current political state, it’s so incredibly relevant to what is happening right now, and explaining it to kids.
momtessorilife
Love! I also am really trying to choose books that feature diverse characters, and it’s sometimes difficult to even find any at the library! I will definitely see if our local library has those two!
Kate
That is so frustrating Angela- we’re lucky that our local library has a very diverse collection for us to choose from. Maybe you could try speaking with the children’s librarian at your library- I know some libraries encourage patrons to make suggestions and requests for future purchases. It might be worth checking out!
The Logonauts (@thelogonauts)
Powerful post and thanks for introducing these books to me! LOVE the protest poster idea too. So important for kids to know that their voices matter. #ReadYourWorld
Kate
You’re right- the next generation is going to change the world, so we need to teach them early that their voices can impact change. Thanks for reading the post!
Meredith from Mommy in Leggings
Awww I love daddy books!! My daughter’s favorite is a book about dads. These two look amazing! We love having a more diverse character type of books in our collection!
Kate
I agree, character diversity is a great quality in a home library- for kids and adults!
ericaaugust
Though my daughter isn’t old enough to understand the level of importance that these type of books play into her life, I plan on buying them and saving them for the future! They look incredible.
Kate
Erica, I applaud that. It’s so crucial for raising tolerant and open minded kids- having them in the house from the very beginning normalizes the cultural differences they may see in the books. Best of luck to you and and your daughter!
Nermarí
I love how these books cover some challenging topics that can bring up great conversations with our kids. Thanks for sharing!
Kate
Thanks so much for checking it out!
therusticfive
I’ve been looking into getting more multicultural books and activities for my nursery school. Thanks for sharing this.
Kate
When we were choosing a preschool for my oldest, we specifically considered those that made diversity a priority, so I LOVE this! Thanks for checking the post out, and happy book shoppping!
onepeainthepod
These are tough topics to discuss with a child so its really great someone is out there writing something for them to understand!
Kate
They can definitely be really tough… The great part about the books is that they help to start the dialogue, in a really comfortable way for kids.
Kim S
I heard about these books from another blog! I’m happy to see some of the ones you’ve featured!
Kate
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking them out, Kim!
Kathy
Wow! These look like terrific books. There aren’t enough well-written books out there that focus on the role of the father in the family. When my little one was born, I looked for some for my husband as a gift and had a hard time finding more than a small handful. I also love that one of them addresses heart health. I’ll definitely check these out!
Kate
I agree, it can be difficult to find books where Dad is portrayed as a capable, and involved parent. I don’t want to always read my kids the book where Dad is essentially a babysitter, or a bumbles through the role of father. Although the focus of these books isn’t necessarily Dad’s place within the family, they do feature Dad actively engaged with the kids, talking things through with them, even doing the dishes after dinner, so they model that positive take on fatherhood without being in-your-face about it. Thanks for taking a look at the review!
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