Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day- Featuring TWO Wonderful Biographies: VIRGINIA HAMILTON-AMERICA’s STORYTELLER by Julie K. Rubini and DELORES HUERTA STANDS STRONG by Marlene Targ Bill

It’s my honor to participate in Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 to celebrate the gift of story and diversity in children’s books. To celebrate, I’m featuring two recent biographies about important women trailblazers. First up, Virginia Hamilton: America’s Storyteller by Julie K. Rubini.

Virginia Hamilton was a shy, quirky, and extraordinary author that I knew very little about before reading VIRGINIA HAMILTON: AMERICA’S STORYTELLER. In this biography, author Julie K. Rubini shares the life and times of this amazing children’s author who published forty-one books. Her works include Zeely, MC Higgins, The Great, and many others. Virginia Hamilton won nearly every award ever bestowed upon a children’s author and was known for her unique storytelling, which was unlike other children’s books written at that time. In 1975, she became the first black author to win the Newbery award for MC Higgins, The Great, which also won the National Book Award, the Horn Book Award, and the NY Times Outstanding Children’s Book of the Year award. Though Virginia was very introverted, she loved to talk about writing and books, and was invited to deliver her inspiring lectures and speeches all over the country to celebrate the gift of story and writing.

This biography is very well told with short paragraphs and numerous photographs, making it accessible to young readers who enjoy biographies. The historical perspectives were fascinating, and it’s interesting to see how Virginia never let adversity get her down. She was an energetic powerhouse, dedicated to her craft and her family. Reading about the influences in her life on her writing made me interested in reading her stories. This biography will be fascinating for aspiring young writers and other ambitious children who would be interested in learning the step by step details that allowed Virginia to achieve her dreams and beyond.

VIRGINIA HAMILTON: AMERICA’S STORYTELLER earned a starred Kirkus review and is currently available from booksellers and for request from your local library.

The second biography is Delores Huerta Stands Strong by Marlene Targ Bill.

Delores Huerta is a community organizer who was awarded the highest award for American civilians by President Barack Obama, the Medal of Freedom. Delores, a fiercely independent visionary with an entrepreneurial spirit, partnered to Cesar Chavez to form the American Farm Worker’s Association to protect farm workers. Their activism and organization fought for human treatment and non-hazardous working conditions for farm workers.

Delores tirelessly worked for farm workers’ rights and a fair wage. Her interest in supporting the rights of others grew out of how she saw that Chicanos (Americans of Mexican descent) were treated differently by teachers in school. Because no one believed in them, their school work and outlook often suffered. Delores understood that by improving the working conditions of the parents of these school children, the lives of the children would be opened to more opportunities. Delores’ activism often included working with politicians to create legislation to help farm workers, such as Robert F. Kennedy. Thanks to her tireless work, interest in supporting the working and living conditions of farmworkers blossomed once many American singers joined the cause and began writing songs about their plight.

DELORES HUERTA STANDS STRONG is a great biography for students interested in learning about activism, workers’ rights, and about strong, unstoppable women. It also earned a Kirkus starred review and is available in bookstores and for request from your local library.

Thanks so much to Ohio University Press for providing me with review copies of both books in exchange for my honest opinion.

From Multicultural Children’s Book Day:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!

*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN

Medallion Level Sponsors

Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.

Super Platinum: Make A Way Media

GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,

BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board

Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana andA Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC

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 works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts

A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read,Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup, Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground