Posts Tagged diversity

Last Minute Book Buying Suggestions from the Mixed-Up File Members

By Jennifer Swanson on December 19, 2018 / Articles, Book Lists

Do you have your gifts bought already? Come on. Be honest. You are probably still shopping. I know I am. There’s always one person that has everything and you just can’t figure out what to get them. Here’s a tip, buy them a book!

And just because we are in the holiday mood here at the Mixed-Up Files, we thought we’d share some of our best book-buying tips with you. Hope you find them helpful. 🙂

For the reader who loves fantastical adventure stories like CORALINE,

try K.A. Reynold’s THE LAND OF YESTERDAY

Fantasy adventurer’s who enjoyed THE NIGHT GARDENER would surely be enthralled with

LOCKWOOD & CO: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

For kids who love graphic novels and sci-fi, pick up SANITY & TALLULAH by Molly Brooks

Have a budding explorer in your family? Give them Jennifer Swanson’s ASTRONAUT-AQUANAUT: HOW SPACE SCIENCE AND SEA SCIENCE INTERACT

Sporty aliens and their Earthbound fans will enjoy THE AMORPHOUS ASSASSIN in the Galaxy Games series by Greg R. Fishbone

Young readers who like a spunky, take-charge main character need to MEET YASMIN, by Saadia Faruqi

For readers who like music and magic become enchanted with THREE RULES OF EVERYDAY MAGIC, by Amanda Rawson Hill.

For readers who love wrestling, try TAKEDOWN, by Laura Shovan

For readers who love fantasy and adventure seek THE HOTEL BETWEEN, by Sean Easley

For readers who are dealing with complex family relationships and mental illness read WHERE THE WATERMELON GROWS, by Cindy Baldwin

For the young reader who is an animal advocate , check out Nancy Castaldo’s BACK FROM THE BRINK

or Patricia Newman’s SEA OTTER HEROES.

For readers who love space blast off with THE DISASTERS, by MK England

For mystery lovers puzzle through THE GALLERY by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

For kids who like spooky books dare to try Jan Eldredge’s EVANGELINE OF THE BAYOU

For kids who like impossible rescues and invading knights tilt with THE MAD WOLF’S DAUGHTER by Diane Margas

For kids who like an unconventional ghost story , THE PECULIAR INCIDENT ON SHADY STREET, by Lindsay Currie

For kids who like unconventional love stories about tolerance, acceptance, and how to be brave enough to be your authentic self read ONE TRUE WAY by Shannon Hitchcock.

For the reader who loves gross science that is also cool, check out Heather Montgomery’s

SOMETHING ROTTEN: A FRESH LOOK AT ROADKILL

Didn’t see a recommendation that helps you? Leave your own! We always love to hear about middle grade books that are a great read.

Happy Holidays from the MUF team! May your joyous season be filled with amazing BOOKS… and the time to read them.

Diversity in MG lit #5 Refugees

By Rosanne Parry on December 14, 2018 / Book Lists, Diversity, For Librarians, For Teachers, New Releases

I’ll start with a picture book, because MG readers still love them. ME AND MY FEAR by Francesca Sanna is the follow up to her deeply moving THE JOURNEY from last year. Sanna’s new book explores the territory of a newly arrived refugee who wants to get to know her new neighborhood but is held back by Fear–a marshmallow like creature who grows in response to the stress of navigating a new culture. This story felt so honest and real (in spite of the fanciful externalization of fear) I think it will make a great conversation starter.

From the team that created the Artimis Fowl graphic novels comes a book about the North African refugee experience. ILLEGAL by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano is the story of two brothers who leave their small town in Ghana to find their older sister who has already traveled to Europe. The journey is a harrowing one and this is not a book for the tender-hearted reader. Still there is plenty of heart in young Ebo who tries to do the decent and kind thing in increasingly harsh environments. This book moves back and forth in time which I found a little distracting but the art is beautiful and the story is gripping.

REFUGEE by Alan Gratz is an ambitious story that weaves together the journeys of a German refugee in 1938, a Cuban refugee in 1994, and a Turkish refugee in 2015. This story is well rooted in research but is not based on a the story of a particular refugee. The end matter contains detailed maps of each refugee’s journey and a detailed author note about what in the story is based on real persons or events. It contains suggestions for how to help refugees in your community and in the world. The author will be donating a portion of his proceeds to UNICEF for its relief efforts to refugee children world wide.

I’m going to call your attention to one more book which will be out in the first week of January in 2019. WE ARE DISPLACED: MY JOURNEY & STORIES FROM REFUGEE GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD is written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Did you know that there are more than 65 million displaced persons in the world? Yousafzai shares her own story and the stories of displaced girls like herself that she has met through her activist work all over the world, putting a human face on the refugee experience.

I have chosen to focus on new books in this collection but most public libraries have a resource list of books about the refugee experience for young readers. Here is a list, including older titles, from the New York Public Library,

As always if you have a favorite book for MG readers about the refugee experience, please chime in below. Thank you!

Celebrating Multicultural Literature for Children

By Julie K. Rubini on December 12, 2018 / Articles, Diversity

I had the honor of presenting at the 34^th annual Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for children this past year. This is the longest running event of its kind…focusing solely on multicultural literature for young readers.

The conference was established by professors at Kent State University while the beloved and most honored author of children’s literature, Virginia Hamilton, was alive.

Sixteen years after her death, Virginia would be thrilled that this conference is not only alive and well, but other initiatives are taking place across the country to celebrate and champion multicultural works.

One such event is Multicultural Children’s Book Day, (MCBD) celebrated on January 25, 2019.

The celebration was born out of frustration by two women in not being able to find diverse or multicultural children’s books for their families. Bloggers Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom took matters into their own hands by creating the event in January 2012.

The mission from the beginning has been to not only raise awareness around children’s books that celebrate diversity, but to also get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries.

“Kids need to ‘see themselves’ in the pages of the books they read,” noted Budayr. “We are determined to not only shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books available but also offer visibility for the amazing authors and publishers who create them.”

Now in its sixth year, the MCBD online celebration attracts thousands of supporters, over 700 book reviewers and dozens of quality authors and publishers.

There are many ways that educators, media specialists, authors and families can become involved in the initiative and celebrate diverse works with young readers.

Some actionable ideas include encouraging students to bring a multicultural book to share with students in class, creating a MCBD book display in the classroom or library, or focusing on books that address social topics such as poverty, or civil rights.

Children’s book authors (including yours truly!) are supporting the initiative by becoming sponsors, intending to create awareness about our works and to support the cause.

The upcoming January 25, 2019 event promises to be the MCBD’s biggest yet!

To learn more, visit http://www.MulticulturalChildrensBookDay.com

Posts Tagged diversity

Last Minute Book Buying Suggestions from the Mixed-Up File Members

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Diversity in MG lit #5 Refugees

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Celebrating Multicultural Literature for Children

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Posts Tagged diversity

Last Minute Book Buying Suggestions from the Mixed-Up File Members

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Like this:

Diversity in MG lit #5 Refugees

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Like this:

Celebrating Multicultural Literature for Children

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Giveaways!

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