June is Pride Month!
Last year I shared a stack of books for pride
But I’m making it a point this year to work on my book rec posts and Pride was on my list
I was actually surprised at the number of graphic novels I had to add on my list!
As always, these are all books we’ve read over the years that have queer rep or authors or both.
Have you read any of these?
Are you reading any specific books for pride month?
June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month
The Caribbeanis made up of a total of 13 sovereign states and 12 island territories, and is home to a rich diversity of cultures
Since 2006 this month is celebrated in June to honor the achievements and contributions of Caribbean immigrants and their descendants living in the United States, particularly in government, sports, entertainment, and the arts.
It’s a great occasion to highlight and celebrate so many wonderful authors who add so much to our lives through their work.
I was born in a Caribbean island and currently live in another one, no matter where I live, I’ll always be an island girl. You can’t shake the sand, salt and sea from my veins.
Today I compiled a list of many books for different age groups and genres, so there is a little for everyone.
I have a lot of books from DR (my home country), and I need to add books from Haitian, Jamaican and Trinidadian authors to my tbr.
So send me your book recs!
See any books you’ve read?
Give me some recommendations for your favorites
🇵🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇯🇲🇹🇹🇭🇹🇵🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇯🇲🇹🇹🇭🇹🇵🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇯🇲🇹🇹🇭🇹
May is Jewishs Heritage month in both the US and Canada
Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) is an annual recognition and celebration of American Jews’ achievements and contributions to the United States of America during the month of May.
As I set to make this list, I honestly thought it would be shorter, but then I realized I had many authors that I really enjoyed and have read many books by.
Have you read any of these?
Any other authors or books you can recommend?
In honor of National Space Day (that was last Friday) I wanted to share some great books about Space that we’ve enjoyed
Thanks to our cute buddy Rocky for serving as the official presenter 😅
Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! 👎🏼
These have a wide variety of age ranges and are from diverse authors
Have you read any of these?
Any books about space that you’d recommend?
February is African American History Month
I wanted to share some books we’ve read and enjoyed. The most of the kids lit choices come from my kids 🤗
I’m looking for more adult fantasy and romance, give me your best recs please!
November is Native American Heritage Month
As many lot of us prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, the sentiment behind the celebration remains a treasured and important one, but I think it’s important to research and learn about the real story behind the frequently told tale of the first Thanksgiving and acknowledge the wrong that was done to all the Native tribes through the colonization and since then.
Today I’m sharing some of the books by Native authors and native stories that we have read (or are currently reading) and have enjoyed in the last couple of years as we diversify our reading and learn more about the beautiful culture and communities.
Picture Books:
Middle Grade:
YA:
Horror Anthology:
Romance:
Non-fiction:
Did you pick any books for Native American Heritage Month?
Have you read any books you can recommend?
This week I’m sharing the second list of book recs. Middle grade books can be surprisingly profound in the topics they deal with, and at the same time, have an uplifting message.
With my kids, we’ve picked some of our favorites. For this one I added some info about book genre and also adding little flags from the authors heritage if known 😊
Featured books:
Standalones:
– 🇨🇺 Graciela in the abyss by Meg Medina
– 🇵🇷 Iveliz explains it all/ Iveliz lo explica todo; Something like home / Casino, casino un hogar & It’s all or nothing Vale / Todo o nada, Valentina by Andrea Beatriz Arango
– 🇧🇷🇵🇷Lola Reyes is so not worried by Cindy L. Rodriguez
– 🇲🇽 The last cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
– 🇲🇽 The Pecan sheller by Lupe Ruiz-Flores
– 🇲🇽 Mañanaland by Pam Muñoz Ryan
– 🇩🇴 The extraordinary orbit of Alex Ramirez by Jasminne Paulino
– 🇩🇴 Ghost squad by Claribel Ortega
Series:
– 🇨🇺 Sal & Gabi by Carlos Hernandez
– 🇲🇽 The Storm runner by JC Cervantes
– 🇩🇴 Witchlings series by Claribel Ortega
Graphic Novels:
– 🇩🇴 ¡Manu! By Kelly Fernandez
– 🇩🇴 Frizzy / Rizos by Claribel Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra
– 🇩🇴 Doodles from the Boggiedown by Stephanie Rodriguez
– 🇨🇺🇨🇴 Home & Speak up, Santiago! by Julio Anta
– 🇨🇺 How to say goodbye in Cuban by Alexis Castellanos
– 🇨🇺 Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos
Have you read or seen any of these before?
Share some of you own recs!
This is my 5th year participating as a reviewer for Multicultural Children’s book day. This year I was assigned 2 books, and today I’m excited to share my review for the second of them.
Estado de la Unión / State of the Union by Kitty Felde is a MG contemporary fiction novel. It’s the second in the Fina Mendoza mystery series that features Josefina (Financial) a 10 yo daughter of Mexican-American congressman, as she discovers living in Washington DC and hanging around in the Capitol.
In this book, she pairs with Senator Something, the dog she walks after school to help solve the mystery of the bird that pooped on the Presidents head during thr State of the Union address.
The setting is interesting and definitely educational for kids to learn about the different branches of government, special events like the State of the Union address, democratic participation in this case and peaceful protest for immigration, etc.
The mystery itself is simple, and Fina goes about it asking questions and investigating by reasearching online, and asking people like bird experts from the zoo. It also has complex family dinamics, specially between their grandmother who loves from California to help them at home and Fina’s older sister Gaby; and also their father.
Overall the book was entertaining and a great tool for introducing civics education to kids. There are also free educational guides available for teacher to download and use in their classrooms.
Thank you to Chesapeake press and Read Your World for this gifted copy.
All opinions are my own.
Read Your World 2025 (1/30/25) is in its 13th year! Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen founded this non-profit children’s literacy initiative; they are two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural diverse 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 need to include kids’ books celebrating diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission and history HERE.
Read Your World is honored to be Supported by these Medallion:
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Pragmaticmom) and Valarie Budayr (Audreypress.com)
🏅 Super Platinum Sponsor: Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media
🏅 Platinum Sponsors: Publisher Spotlight and Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 60 Languages
🏅 Gold Sponsors: Third State Books
🏅 Silver Sponsors: The Quarto Group, Red Comet Press and Lerner Books
🏅 Silver Corporate Sponsor: Scholastic Books
🏅 Bronze Sponsors: Lee and Low and Star Bright Books
🏅 Bronze Corporate Sponsor: Crayola Education
🏅 Ruby Corporate Sponsor: MagicBlox
Read Your World is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Authors: Stephanie M. Wildman, Martha Seif Simpson, Anna Jennings, Gwen Jackson, Afsaneh Moradian, Joaquín Camp, Rahana Dariah, Ziggy Hanaor, Josh Funk, Nancy Tupper Ling, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Gea Meijering, Eugenia Chu, Dorktales Story Time, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Authors J.C. Kato and J.C.², Cynthia Levinson, Diana Huang, Rochelle Melander, Lisa Chong, Lisa Stringfellow, Brunella Costaglioga, Lindsey Rowe Parker, Rachel C. Katz, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Shifa Safadi, Lisa Rogers, Sylvia Liu, Eva Clarke, Crystal Murakami, Teddi Ahrens
Read Your World is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts and by our Partner Organizations!
Check out RYW’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
📌 FREE RESOURCES from Read Your World Day
📌 Register for the Read Your World Virtual Party: https://readyourworld.org/virtualparty
Join us on Thursday, January 30, 2025, at 9 pm EST celebrating 13 years of Read Your World Day Virtual Party! Register here.
This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away a 10-Book Bundle during the virtual party plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants are welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, and connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. We look forward to seeing you all on January 30, 2025, at our virtual party!
This is my 5th year participating as a reviewer for Multicultural Children’s book day. This year I was assigned 2 books, and today I’m excited to share my review for the first of them.
The Pecan Sheller by Lupe Ruiz-Flores is a MG historical fiction novel set in the late 1930s in Texas. Following the Great Depression, the Pecan industry that had terrible work conditions and relied mostly on immigrant and child labor, significantly cut wages to its workers.
Petra, a thirteen-year-old girl has to leave school and get a job shelling pecans with her stepmom after her father’s death in order to help take care of her younger siblings.
The setting of this story is important, it seems ludicrous that a young child would be taken out of school to work in such horrible conditions. Yet, before workers rights, this was commonplace. And it’s the movement for workers rights that takes center stage, and Petra’s role within it, her journey and growth bring out the brave young woman she is, fighting not only for herself and her family, but for her work friends.
This book delt with some very difficult topics and I appreciated how well it tackled them. It was set in a period I was unfamiliar with. I really enjoyed the fact that I learned new things, and I think it’s a great tool for young readers to become familiar with a time when things where so different. I would have loved for her writing to be a bigger part of the story.
As a little side note, I liked that the author wrote this novel to honor her mother and grandmother whi were Pecan shellers.
This novel comes out April 1.
Thanks to Lerner Books and Read Your World for this gifted ARC.
All opinions are my own.
Read Your World 2025 (1/30/25) is in its 13th year! Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen founded this non-profit children’s literacy initiative; they are two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural diverse 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 need to include kids’ books celebrating diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission and history HERE.
Read Your World is honored to be Supported by these Medallion:
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Pragmaticmom) and Valarie Budayr (Audreypress.com)
🏅 Super Platinum Sponsor: Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media
🏅 Platinum Sponsors: Publisher Spotlight and Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 60 Languages
🏅 Gold Sponsors: Third State Books
🏅 Silver Sponsors: The Quarto Group, Red Comet Press and Lerner Books
🏅 Silver Corporate Sponsor: Scholastic Books
🏅 Bronze Sponsors: Lee and Low and Star Bright Books
🏅 Bronze Corporate Sponsor: Crayola Education
🏅 Ruby Corporate Sponsor: MagicBlox
Read Your World is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Authors: Stephanie M. Wildman, Martha Seif Simpson, Anna Jennings, Gwen Jackson, Afsaneh Moradian, Joaquín Camp, Rahana Dariah, Ziggy Hanaor, Josh Funk, Nancy Tupper Ling, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Gea Meijering, Eugenia Chu, Dorktales Story Time, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Authors J.C. Kato and J.C.², Cynthia Levinson, Diana Huang, Rochelle Melander, Lisa Chong, Lisa Stringfellow, Brunella Costaglioga, Lindsey Rowe Parker, Rachel C. Katz, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Shifa Safadi, Lisa Rogers, Sylvia Liu, Eva Clarke, Crystal Murakami, Teddi Ahrens
Read Your World is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts and by our Partner Organizations!
Check out RYW’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
📌 FREE RESOURCES from Read Your World Day
📌 Register for the Read Your World Virtual Party: https://readyourworld.org/virtualparty
Join us on Thursday, January 30, 2025, at 9 pm EST celebrating 13 years of Read Your World Day Virtual Party! Register here.
This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away a 10-Book Bundle during the virtual party plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants are welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, and connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. We look forward to seeing you all on January 30, 2025, at our virtual party!
Today’s list of book gift ideas for middle grade readers (8-12 yo) and YA comes with the assistance of my lovely 14 yo daughter. Since she started venturing into some YA territory and we narrowed our favorites to share today.
So in no particular order:
Middle grade:
The Selkies Daughter by Linda Crotta Brennan
Something like home by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Kicked out by AM Dassu
Release the Wolves by Stephan Bachmann
Lily Xiao Speaks out by Nicole Chen
The one and only family by Katherine Applegate
The Wild robot by Peter Brown
Land of Broken promises by Jane Kuo
Lola Reyes is so not worried by Cindy L. Rodriguez
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
– Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Young Adult:
Divine Rivals & Ruthless vows by Rebecca Ross
A drop of Venom by Sajni Patel
Twin Flames by Olivia Abtahi
A tall dark trouble by Vanessa Montalban
– The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams
Nonfiction:
Lifeskills book for teens by Maureen Stiles
Do you ever read middle grade or young adult books?
Have you read any these before?
For the love of Libros 