About Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Multicultural Children’s Book Day: Celebrating Diversity in Children’s Literature is the brainchild of Mia Wenjen of Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr of Jump Into a Book. The mission of Multicultural Children’s Book Day?
“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, Mia and Valarie are on a mission to change all of that. Their mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries. Another goal of this exciting event is create a compilation of books and favorite reads that will provide not only a new reading list for the winter, but also a way to expose brilliant books to families, teachers, and libraries.”
You can read about Multicultural Children’s Book Day for more information.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day Sponsors
I received the copy of my book from the lovely people at Chronicle Books. I would like to thank them for that, so….Thank you, Chronicle Books. I’d also like to thank Valarie, Mia, and Becky (the fearless project leader) for the opportunity to work with them on this project.
Other companies and authors that made this possible: Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, and Susan Fayad,
About Josephine
The book I received was called Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell. The book was illustrated by Christian Robinson. It is a picture book about the life of the famous Josephine Baker. The book was written by a dancer turned children’s book writer and librarian.
“In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine’s powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.” – about Josephine on Chronicle Books
The book is a hardcover picture book measuring 8″x10″ and is recommended for ages 7-10 years old. It is 104 pages long. The book retail for $17.99.
My Review of Josephine
I read this out loud to my kids (11, 9, 7, and 2). The toddler wasn’t too impressed, but that doesn’t really say much considering he is two and not a fan of sitting still. The older kids loved the pictures and found Josephine’s story interesting. Particularly my oldest daughter (11), who recently read the story of Bessie Coleman and made comments on the similarities in their stories.
The artwork in this book is stunning. They are acrylic paintings. Vivid colors come to life on the page. There isn’t a lot of white space in this book, even text pages are printed on textured, colored pages. I love that. It is not hard to read that way either.
The book is divided into sections that make reading the book easier to remember where you are, similar to chapters. They are divided by time period: The Beginning, 1906-1917; Leavin’ With the Show, 1917-1921; My Face Isn’t Made for Sleeping, 1921-1925; et cetera. As you can see, some of the section titles are witty.
The literary style the book is written in is blank verse. This was rather different from our usual reading. It was a little hard for me to find a rhythm for reading it out loud, but I got better the more I read. The words paint as vivid of a picture as the beautiful illustrations.
Overall, Josephine is a beautiful book that would make a great addition to anyone’s library shelf and is a great read for Black History Month!
Other Multicultural Children’s Book Day Reviewers
Be sure to check out the main pages on Pragmatic Mom and Jump Into a Book to see ALL the reviews for many, many books.
You can read more reviews on these blogs:
2GirlsLostInaBook · 365 Days of Motherhood · A Bilingual Baby · A Simple Life, Really? · Africa to America · After School Smarty Pants · All Done Monkey · Andi’s Kids Books · Anita Brown Bag  · Austin Gilkeson · Barbara Ann Mojica ·  Books My Kids Read · Bottom Shelf Books · Cats Eat Dogs · Chasing The Donkey · Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac · Children’s Books Heal · Church o Books · CitizenBeta · Crafty Moms Share · Discovering The World Through My Son’s Eyes · Early Words · Flowering Minds · Franticmommy · Gatheri
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