Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017: Dragons Are Real

Looking for a book that encourages kids to look beyond stereotypes and see the real person inside? I can’t wait to tell you about Dragons Are Real from Valarie Budayr!

(I received a complimentary copy of this title for review purposes.
Post contains affiliate links; see disclosure for details.)

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 is in its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom.

Their mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

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 holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that and I’m happy to take part in the effort.

I received Dragons Are Real from MCBD co-founder Valarie Budayr and Audrey Press for my Multicultural Children’s Book Day selection this year. If you haven’t heard of this one yet, read on. It’s a great one to share with your children!

Multicultural Children’s Book Day:
Dragons Are Real

It’s interesting how we think we have someone all figured out simply based on what we’ve heard about them or read. It’s also interesting that we think we can know all there is to know – the good and the bad – about people we’ve never met. The same is true for dragons.

In Valarie Budayr’s Dragons Are Real, we’re reminded of all the things we think we know about dragons: the angry tempers, the fire-breathing monsters waiting to be crossed, the snarly creatures that will stop at nothing to devour a damsel in distress.

We’re reminded of all of those notorious dragon characteristics and the origins of some of those labels, but Dragons Are Real introduces of a different side to dragons, a lesser-known side.

It turns out that dragons aren’t those violent, fear-evoking creatures after all. Valarie Budayr shows us that, while dragons can fly and breathe fire when needed, that’s the extent of truth in the dragon lore.

Instead of images of dragons we usually see, dragons are lovers of books and poetry. They love to laugh and dance. They even love sweet treats and riddles. Indeed, there’s a side to dragons that’s been overlooked all these years!

From a multicultural standpoint, this colorful picture book is a wonderful way to remind children that there’s more to people than what we’ve heard others say about them. It’s also a relatable way to help young readers understand the importance of giving others a chance and and forming their own thoughts based on personal experiences rather than popular opinion.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017

Current Sponsors

MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books, and Pomelo Books.

Author Sponsor include

Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, and Andrea Y. Wang.

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team. They not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but also work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View the CoHosts HERE.

More MCBD links to remember

You can learn more about MCBD by checking out the website. While you’re there, you’ll find information about free multicultural books for teachers, as well as free kindness classroom kits for homeschoolers, organizations, librarians, and other educators.

Better yet, there are tons of diversity book lists and activities for teachers and parents. You can also follow along with the MCBD fun by following #ReadYourWorld on social media.