Expanding Horizons #ReadYourWorld #IMWAYR
January 21, 2019
What a pleasure to read Mommy Eats Fried Grasshoppers by Vilyvanh Bender. This book is a charming offshoot of what I hope is beautiful conversations between the author and her own daughter, Mahlee. Through simple text and illustration, Mahlee tells us the differences between her daily life and the life of her mother while growing up in Laos.
Topics that will interest all children are discussed including snack foods, play time, breakfast, school, and even New Year’s Celebrations. It would be wonderful to read this book during Laos New Year’s (Pi Mai, April 14th). 
Nor Sanavongsay’s illustrations cheerfully compare the similarities of life experiences that would be relevant to children not of Southest Asian descent.
The author and illustrator include a glossary of Laos words at the end of the story. I carefully googled all of the pronunciations so that I might approximate accuracy when reading this aloud. 
This beautiful book celebrates our ‘sameness’ as well as our fascinating differences. I won’t reveal the ending here, but Mommy gives Mahlee plenty of time to come around to trying fried grasshoppers. I immediately wished I could try them myself.
I remember having my relative painstakingly show me the beautiful steps in her making of sticky rice including the amazing pot and basket she uses to make this. (Note to author: as a dietician, there are so many food related things you could write about). I hope Ms. Bender will write many more books about her cultural heritage. I am imagining stick puppets, how to make sticky rice, and even more about fried grasshoppers.
The author, Vilayvanh Bender shared this book with me as a part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day , celebrated this year on January 25, 2019.
LaDonna Plays Hoops is a book for basketball lovers. Full of playground hoops jargon, this tales celebrates growing up enough to hold your own and definitely ‘girl-power’. Kimberley Gordon Biddle adds many details to this young character including her cousin’s names, frog pet, and obstacles along the way. Set in the backdrop of her family reunion, An African-American girl, LaDonna, returns to give one on one another go with her older more experienced cousin. This book is clearly a celebration of a first time author making her dream come true. I hope all of those characters are her real life cousins.
This book was shared with me by the author, Kimberley Gordon Biddle.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
Reflections from a Coach 