Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2024 (1/25/25) is in its 11th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of young readers and educators.
Read Your World’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission and history HERE.
This year, we were given the opportunity two fantastic books that weave Jewish and Latino culture into their respective stories. One is a science fiction, dystopian fantasy, and the other is a contemporary coming-of-age story. Both are appropriate for young adults and a great way to introduce other cultures through literature.
Young Adult - Jewish
When everyone has a brain-interfacing tracking chip, one glitch threatens the entire network. Kaya Weiss is that glitch.
Through thoughts and blinks, Kaya can access anyone or anything on the tracker network. But the authorities monitor everything--where Kaya goes, who she talks to, and what she searches. And without the ability to turn it off, Kaya and her family can't observe a tech-free Shabbat. To fix the glitch, the authorities slice into her skull to reset her tracker, leaving Kaya to question more than the system's invasion into her faith.
Kaya won't be a lab rat again.
Evading the authorities requires some serious tech skills the rogue underground Ghosts can offer. But Kaya's not sure she can trust them--even if their top tech wiz, Bailen, has interest in her running deeper than her bum tracker. Kaya must decide if gaining freedom is worth losing her tracker's infinite knowledge--because to take down the tracker network, she must betray the only tech she's ever known.
Thoughts
Covering questions that are already being asked today - with our social media and relianace on technology and computing - this book takes it a step further by putting the computer directly into the characters' brains and having them wired together. How does a Jewish girl, who is supposed to unplug for Shabbat, reconcile that ever-present technology? The story features many 'normal' aspects of teenage life, including a romance, high school classes, and family drama, but injects both cultural and technological struggles into this dynamic. Teens who like dystopian literature will enjoy this one.
Young Adult - Latino
Where I Belong (Marcia Argueta Mickelson)
In the spring of 2018, Guatemalan American high school senior Milagros "Millie" Vargas knows her life is about to change. She has lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, ever since her parents sought asylum there when she was a baby. Now a citizen, Millie devotes herself to school and caring for her younger siblings while her mom works as a housekeeper for the wealthy Wheeler family. With college on the horizon, Millie is torn between attending her dream school and staying close to home, where she knows she's needed. She is disturbed by what's happening to asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, but she doesn't see herself as an activist or a change-maker. She's just trying to take care of her own family.
Then Mr. Wheeler, a U.S. Senate candidate, mentions Millie's achievements in a campaign speech about "deserving" immigrants. It doesn't take long for people to identify Millie's family and place them at the center of a statewide immigration debate. Faced with journalists, trolls, anonymous threats, and the Wheelers' good intentions―especially those of Mr. Wheeler's son, Charlie―Millie must confront the complexity of her past, the uncertainty of her future, and her place in the country that she believed was home.
Thoughts
Told through an authentic voice, the story provides a detailed and intimate experience for the reader of the struggles that immigrants face in the US. It features Millie, who came to the US as a young child, and Charlie, the son of a wealthy Senate candidate. It shows the dichotomy of rich and poor, the class system, and cultural values. There are a lot of really big topics covered here, including immigration, coming of age, and learning to persevere...but it's a good read for teens and young adults. Will Millie continue to try and blend in, or will she finally decide to stand up and stand out?
Starswept (Mary Fan)
This last-minute addition to our Multicultural Book Day round-up featured an Asian-based, futuristic culture and was one we'd recommend to teens who like dystopian and futuristic fiction. In 2157, the Adryil an advanced race of telepathic humanoids contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce. A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her. When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real by way of telepathy and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music. But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he s hiding something from her and it s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.
Thoughts
While this is Multicultural Book Day, and I understood the culture the author was coming from, I didn't feel a lot of 'world culture' here. It really was more of a futuristic and dystopian read, which isn't a bad thing, just not what I expected for MCBD. In the book, Earth's resources are used up. Earth is fighting aliens who are wanting non-conformity, art, music, and soul. The alien culture is all about groupthink and conformity, and they want was Earth has...which can be found in these talented musical teens. The book started out slow, but escalated about halfway through with some great action sequences. It does appear to be the first in a trilogy.
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Join us on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at 9 pm EST for the 11th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Read Your World Virtual Party!
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