Right on time for back to school, KidLit TV is teaming up with Pragmatic Mom, Jump into a Book, Franticmommy and Multicultural Children’s Book Day to give parents, teachers, and librarians a chance to win a multicultural book bundle for their school library.
School libraries play an integral role in the life of students. Many students can cite their school library as a place where a love of reading and learning is fortified. Throughout the country, budgets for school programs are being slashed, school libraries have been heavily hit. Hours for library time are cut in some schools, and non-existent in others. Furthermore, the tight budget impacts a school librarian’s ability to secure funds to purchase new books.
Starting today, September 15th and through September 30th you can enter to win a curated bundle of multicultural books featuring StoryMakers guests and additional kid lit authors.
Watch this fun video, to see some of the kid lit your school library can win!
Books featured in the giveaway bundle include:
The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan
Beauty and The Beast by Pat Cummings
The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh
Gone Crazy In Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia
The Seeds of Friendship by Michael Foreman
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation by Edwidge Danticat
PLUS three more to be announced soon!
Current and former librarians share why they believe school libraries are essential:
Happiest is the school that provides its children with access to information in all its myriad forms and has a professional on hand to help direct them. — Betsy Bird
Collection Development Manager, Evanston Public Library
School Library Journal (Fuse8)
Every child should have access to a school library accessible throughout the school day and well-stocked with materials to engage, entertain, educate, and inspire. — Matthew Winner
Library Media Specialist
The Busy Librarian
Let’s Get Busy Podcast
As a retired school librarian, I certainly know the importance of school libraries. With more and more school librarians being eliminated it is of the utmost importance that we advocate and publicize the important role they play. — Rocco Staino
Contributing Editor, School Library Journal
Director, Empire State Center for the Book
Host, KidLit TV’s StoryMakers
Here’s how it works:
- Enter to win via the Rafflecopter widget below.
- Winners are chosen randomly. We’ll notify all winners via email.
- You’ll give us the name of your librarian, and address of your school library.
- We’ll send the books to your school library, in your name!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Entrants must be at least 13 years old and reside in the United States
More than 60 education and library research studies have produced clear evidence that school library programs staffed by qualified school librarians have a positive impact on student academic achievement. Yet, many students are returning to school without a resource essential for success: a strong school library program lead by a certified school librarian. — I Love Libraries
We couldn’t have done this without wonderful publishers who’ve graciously donated books. Please give a round of applause to the publishers participating our giveaway!
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
HarperCollins
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Candlewick Press
Abrams Books
Dreamscape Media
Dial Books
Want to increase your library’s chances of winning? SHARE this post with other librarians, parents and educators in your area!
ABOUT
Pragmatic Mom
Pragmatic Mom was born of several circumstances; one child’s lackluster academic year, a mishap during a reading session, and realizing it was okay for a mom to love kid lit more than adult fiction. Mia Wenjen chronicles her family’s journey through education, parenting, and children’s literature via Pragmatic Mom. Mia is a leader in literacy and parenting. She is one of the co-founders of Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
Connect with Pragmatic Mom on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Jump into a Book
Jump into a Book (JIAB) is a site about the love of children’s books and how they can be incorporated into our everyday lives through play, crafting, cooking, movies, games, traveling and author visits. At JIAB, they strive to pull books off shelves and stories off pages to create reading experiences for families. Amazon and iTunes best-selling author and founder of Audrey Press, Valarie Budayr is a play and reading advocate, whose mission is to inspire children, families, and communities to experience and create a world together through books while having fun.
Connect with Jump into a Book on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Franticmommy
Rebecca Flansburg (a.k.a Franticmommy), is a freelance writer, blogger and virtual assistant. Franticmommy.com, is filled with laughter and love about the joys of parenthood. Rebecca is also committed to helping women realize their work-from-home dreams, enjoying life beyond the cubicle, and find clarity in the work/life/family balance.
Connect with Franticmommy on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Multicultural Children’s Book Day’s (MCCBD) mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.Children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom have teamed up to create an ambitious (and much needed) national event. On January 27th, 2014 Jump into a Book and Pragmatic Mom presented the very first Multicultural Children’s Book Day as a way of celebrating diversity in children’s books. The results and support overwhelming as authors, publishers, parents, teachers, bloggers and librarians joined forces to offer up an online event designed to shine the spotlight on diversity in children’s literature.
Connect with Multicultural Children’s Book Day on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
KidLit TV
KidLit TV is a community of authors, illustrators, educators, and parents all working together to bring great books to kids. We hope to reinforce an appreciation of reading that children will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Click here for more.
Connect with KidLit TV on Facebook (page), Facebook (group) Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. Sign up for the newsletter too!
Like it? Pin it!
The post Back to School Library Book Bundle Giveaway! appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
Wow! what an amazing week!
Mia @pragmaticmom and I started off Multicultural Children’s Book Day with a bang on January 27th!!!
We had a wonderful blogtalk radio interview with Kori Miller from Back Porch Writer. There we discussed why we started Multicultural Children’s Book Day as well as the importance of children having diverse books in their hands, schools, and libraries.
Our MCCBD linky went wild with incredible reviews of books from our publisher and author sponsors as well as people putting up links to reviews and activities they’ve done in the past. If you have a link you’d like to share which deals with a multicultural or diverse children’s book please fill free to link HERE. The linky is up for a couple more days.
Twitter Party! Our first-ever twitter party for MCCBD was a huge success and we had 11 lucky winners win multicultural book bundles including a Grand Prize bundle of 12 children’s books!
I loved seeing comments from party participants like this one:
I don’t think I’ve ever had an hour fly by so fast! We had 11 lucky winners who won multicultural book bundles. Lots of great reading for the winter months 
Here’s a Storified recap of the MCCBD Twitter Party thanks to the wonderful Kim Vij at Educator’s Spin on It . Miss the party ? Don’t worry !! Did you know that with Storify you can still interact with everyone on the twitter party as if you were at there with us. Just click reply or retweet and bring this party back to life. Remember to use the hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
Friends Celebrating with Us!!!
Sherri is a champion in so many ways. She is the author of more than 40 books !! To read more about Sherry, her daily journey with cancer, plus her incredible philanthropic heart raising over $400,000 with Coca-Cola for the Atlanta Cancer Care Foundation, providing patients with their daily expenses so that they can afford to seek treatment, have a look
HERE. Get ready to be inspired!
Other friends celebrating with us this week is the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) who announced the winners of the 2015 Sydney Taylor Book Awards for Jewish children’s and teen literature. You can find a listing of all the winners
HERE. There are so many wonderful books on this list and few of them I’ll be reviewing here in the next few weeks.
The post Weekend Links-A Recap of the Wildly Successful Multicultural Children’s Book Day appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
Are we excited or what!? Today is Multicultural Children’s Book Day and both Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom and I would love it if you’d celebrate with us.
This is our second annual event and is bigger than ever before. Along with 17 sponsors , 9 blog co-hosts, and 150+ bloggers, we’re reading our world in many amazing and wonderful ways.
Head on over to www.multiculturalchildresnbookday.com/blog and have a look at our linky party. There you will find many great multicultural and diverse books to read.
Twitter Party! Join us for Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter Party on Jan 27th 9:00pm EST.
Use hashtag: #ReadYourWorld to win 10 book packages! This Twitter Party is hosted by myself and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom! View the prize list HERE.
How it all Began
So many times Mia and I are asked how “it all began” with Multicultural Children’s Book Day so we teamed up to make this video that answers that very question:
Let’s get LINKY! Link up your multicultural children’s book review and let’s create an amazing resource for teachers, parents and librarians!
[inlinkz_linkup id=485122 mode=1]
The post Today’s the Day! It’s Multicultural Children’s Book Day! appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
Do you know who influenced and inspired Mahatma Gandhi into using nonviolence when dealing with the fight for India’s freedom from British rule ?
Did you know that Gandhi inspired Martin Luther King Jr. in using non-violence in bringing equal rights for African-Americans?
Can you imagine bringing justice, equality, and peace to the world without using violence?
Today I’m sharing a book which shares such a message. ‘Mahavira: The Hero of Nonviolence’ by Manoj Jain and illustrated by Demi tells the remarkable story of a young prince who renounced his wealth and power to become a wandering monk and leader of the Jain religion.
Mahavira imagined a world where no one gets hurt, a world where no one is teased or bullied, a world where there is no fear or anger.
Today, more than 2,500 years later, over 10 million Jains follow Mahavira’s example.
Mahavira: The Hero of Nonviolence is brought to life in exquisite detail by award-winning illustrator Demi. I especially love Demi’s details and her use of color and gold. Simply stunning.
Though I had heard of Jainism throughout my travels until I read Mahavira I didn’t know any details about the religion or what they believed in. Mahavira: The Hero of Nonviolence is a perfect beginning book into the world of the Jains. The front section of the book tells the story of Mahavira himself. The story then moves seamlessly and simply into what Jains believe. The word usage and difficulty is appropriate for the age group which is for ages 6 and up. This is a beautiful and captivating book which is a brilliant introduction to one of the worlds oldest religions.
Something To Do
What do the Jains believe ?
There is no supreme creator god in Jainism. Instead Jains believe as do the Buddhists and Hindus in a cycle of birth and rebirth. This cycle is influenced by the effects of good and bad deeds and ones attitudes. This is accomplished by following ‘The Jewels’ of Jain belief and ethics.
The Jewels of Belief are:
- The first belief is nonviolence or love. It is not to cause harm to any living being. It is to have love and compassion for all living things. Avoiding anger and practicing forgiveness are essential.
- The second belief is non-absolutism. One is to tolerate and accept another person’s view, to keep an open mind.
- The third belief is non-possessiveness or detachment. It is to separate true needs from false desires. Avoid greediness and be generous and charitable.
Did You Know….
- Jainism is one of the world’s oldest religions, with its original roots in India?
- Mahavira lived at the same time as the Buddha during the 6th century?
- There are 10 million Jains in the world?
- There are 125,000 Jains in the United States?
- Jains who are inspired by the example of Mahavira, live a life of compassion and forgiveness?
- Jains are vegetarian?
- Green !!! That’s right, Jains practice a sustainability and are custodians of the earth?
Discussion Questions:
1. Have you come across any of these rules in other religions or cultures you’ve studied ? Which ones ? Where are they located on the planet?
2. Remember or imagine a difficult situation such as bullying, hitting, grabbing a toy, stealing, unkindness, cheating etc. Write a short paragraph or two about a non-violent solution to this problem. Share your solution with others such as classmates, friends, or family.
3. It is important to Jains to avoid violence in the work place. List 3 professions a Jain could choose that would be good for them and their Jain practices. List 3 professions which wouldn’t be good for a Jain to choose and why.
Snakes and Ladders
Did you know the game of Snakes and Ladders originated in India? There are HIndu, Muslim, and Jain versions of the game. The Jains call their version of the game “Gyanbaji” which means “Game of Knowledge’.
Look at the photo of Snakes and Ladders. It is made up of 84 numbered squares. Each square represents a steps and progress in one’s life. The words on each square point out good and bad traits and conduct along with the consequences for them.
The ladders are linked to good behavior and the snakes are linked to bad.
1. Count the snakes and then the ladders. Why do you think there are more snakes than ladders ?
The pavilion at the top of the game represents the heavens. Jains believe all people should aspire or work to go to heaven.
Below is a template for you to make up your own version of Snakes and Ladders.
- Using ‘Jain’ rules, think of five actions which would cause a player to ascend a ladder and eight actions that would cause a player to go down a snake.
- You can also design a Snakes and Ladders game using study habits, school rules, house rules, chores and rewards, society rules and morales, your own religious values and beliefs.
- Or you can simply use the numbers, dice and some markers such as paperclips or coins.
Rules to Snakes and Ladders
- Decide which player is going first.
- Roll the dice.
- Move the counter or marker
- If you land on a snake you go down it and if you land on a ladder you go up it.
- When you get to the top you’re the winner.
A Little Celebration
On the day of Mahavira’s death, Jains celebrate the festival of Diwali eating tasty sweets and singing religious songs. They also visit family and friends and exchange gifts. For a further look at the celebration of Diwali, have a look here.
Don’t forget to grab your FREE copy of my Read Your World Multicultural Booklists and Activities for Kids.
The post Want to Meet a Hero of Nonviolence? appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
