Safe Passage review for 2024 MCBD
I was gifted an advanced reader copy of Safe Passage from publisher Lee & Low Books. It is a 224 page 8.9 x 6.5 graphic novel written by G. Neri and illustrated by David Brame for young adult readers from 5th grade on up to 12th grade. This book will soon be available everywhere books are sold in March, so please be on the look out for it!
The story is about teenage boy Darius living in today's South Side of Chicago with his stepdad and stepsister, Cissy. The stepdad, a war veteran who served in Irag, struggles to find a job so everyone is uncertain about being able to stay in their house in a not so great neighborhood. Even though money is tight, the father makes sure Darius knows he has a family that loves and looks out for him.
The kids have to walk several blocks through dozens of different gang territories to get to school, so their father walks them to school teaching them survival skills he learned as a soldier. He leaves them safe at school with Darius in charge of his sisters safety, but Cissy is the one who does her best to look out for her older brother and keep him on the straight and narrow. Booger is Darius' best friend who drags him into a get-rich-quick scheme leading all three of them on a harrowing adventure beyond their neighborhood territory.
This book has amazing black and white drawings that really pumps up the intensity of the situations the kids get themselves in. Its page flipping horror after horror as boo boo brained Booger makes their situation worse and worse with one bad idea after another. This is a great adventure story for boys and girls who have seen too much already and what they normally read for school comes off as too bland.
Sequential art, like cartoons and comic books, helps struggling readers acquire language. The illustrator does all of the work describing how everything looks and feels so the reader can focus on dialog, character relationships, and story. Graphic novels are not just for struggling readers. They are quick reads but looking at all of the art is a skill too. Educators can discuss the imagery with their students, have them describe to you in their own words what is going on, and have them write it all down.
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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2024 (1/25/25) is in its 11th 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 celebrates Multicultural Children’s Book Day and is honored to be Supported by these Medallion and Ruby Sponsors!
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, Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Lerner Publishing Group
🏅 Gold Sponsors: Barefoot Books, Astra Books for Young Readers
🏅 Silver Sponsors: Red Comet Press, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Lee and Low Books, Cardinal Rule Press
🏅 Bronze Sponsors: CK Malone, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Anita Crawford Clark, Star Bright Books, Blue Dot Kids Press, Brunella Costagliola, Red Fin, Fabled Films
Ruby Sponsor: Crayola
Poster Artist: Rebecca Burgess
Classroom Kit Poster: Barefoot Books
MCBD 2024 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Authors: Gwen Jackson, Josh Funk, Eugenia Chu, Sivan Hong, Marta Magellan, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Angela H. Dale, Maritza M Mejia, Authors J.C. Kato and J.C.², Charnaie Gordon, Alva Sachs, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Lisa Chong, Diana Huang, Martha Seif Simpson, DARIA (WORLD MUSIC WITH DARIA) Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou, Gea Meijering, Stephanie M. Wildman, Tracey Kyle, Afsaneh Moradian, Kim C. Lee, Rochelle Melander, Beth Ruffin, Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Alina Chau, Michael Genhart, Sally J. Pla, Ajuan Mance, Kimberly Marcus, Lindsey Rowe Parker
MCBD 2024 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!
MCBD 2023 is Honored to be Supported by our Partner Organizations!
Check out MCBD's Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
📌 FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
📌 Register for the MCBD Read Your World Virtual Party
Join us on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at 9 pm EST celebrating more than 10 years of Multicultural Children's Book Day Read Your World 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 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 25, 2024, at our virtual party!
2024 Happy New Year Cartoon
Stay animated everyone! :D
I made 7 of them using a combination of Blender, Photoshop, and After Effects.
I was gifted the book Brandon Goes to Beijing(2019) by Eugenia Chu. It is a 64 page chapter book with charming illustrations by Eliza Hsu Chen and additional information pages. It is a travel adventure story written at 2-5th grade reading level about a Chinese American boy from Florida who goes to visit his relatives in Beijing. It has a weird and wacky mystery twist to keep readers engaged while exploring popular sites. They go to the Great Wall, the Hutong(alleyways), the zoo, and the Forbidden City.
Really interesting facts pepper this book like: the southern direction represents holiness so the front of ancient buildings faced south, and not north because that was where enemies, cold winds, and evil spirits came from. I have yet to visit China and see these places in person so there are things I did not know about until I read this book.
Along with interesting history this book also provides a lot of words repeatedly in simplified Chinese writing along with pronunciation within the context of the story. This is really useful for those who are learning Chinese and want to remember vocabulary words.
The audiobook version along with the author's website is here: http://eugeniachu.com
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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2023 (1/26/22) is in its 10th 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.
Ten years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.
MCBD 2023 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Pragmaticmom) and Valarie Budayr’s (Audreypress.com)
🏅 Super Platinum Sponsor: Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media
🏅 Platinum Sponsors: Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages
🏅 Gold Sponsors: Interlink Books, Publisher Spotlight
🏅 Silver Sponsors: Cardinal Rule Press, Lee & Low, Barefoot Books, Kimberly Gordon Biddle
🏅 Bronze Sponsors: Vivian Kirkfield, Patrice McLaurin , Quarto Group, Carole P. Roman, Star Bright Books, Redfin.com, Redfin Canada, Bay Equity Home Loans, Rent.com, Title Forward, Brunella Costagliola Bronze Sponsor
Poster Artist: Lisa Wee
Classroom Kit Poster: Led Bradshaw
MCBD 2023 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Authors: Sivan Hong, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Josh Funk , Stephanie M. Wildman, Gwen Jackson, Diana Huang, Afsaneh Moradian, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Eugenia Chu, Jacqueline Jules, Alejandra Domenzain, Gaia Cornwall, Ruth Spiro, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Kiyanda and Benjamin Young/Twin Powers Books, Kimberly Lee , Tameka Fryer Brown, Talia Aikens-Nuñez, Marcia Argueta Mickelson, Kerry O’Malley Cerra, Jennie Liu, Heather Murphy Capps, Diane Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney, John Coy, Irene Latham and Charles Waters, Maritza M Mejia, Lois Petren, J.C. Kato and J.C.², CultureGroove, Lindsey Rowe Parker, Red Comet Press, Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Nancy Tupper Ling, Deborah Acio, Asha Hagood, Priya Kumari, Chris Singleton, Padma Venkatraman, Teresa Robeson, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Martha Seif Simpson, Rochelle Melander, Alva Sachs, Moni Ritchie Hadley, Gea Meijering, Frances Díaz Evans, Michael Genhart, Angela H. Dale, Courtney Kelly, Queenbe Monyei, Jamia Wilson, Charnaie Gordon, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Debbie Zapata, Jacquetta Nammar Feldman, Natasha Yim, Tracy T. Agnelli, Kitty Feld, Anna Maria DiDio, Ko Kim, Shachi Kaushik, Shanequa Waison-Rattray, Susan S. El Yazgi, Shirim Shamsi
MCBD 2023 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!
MCBD 2023 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!
Check out MCBD's Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
📌 FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
📌 Register for the MCBD Read Your World Virtual Party
Join us on Thursday, January 26, 2023, at 9 pm EST for the 10th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Read Your World Virtual Party!
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 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 26, 2023, at our virtual party!
Author Readings of Stories
I am starting to make audio versions of my stories.
26 recordings on Soundcloud -> https://soundcloud.com/user-213208928
AND
YouTube:
All 12 chapters of Vicki: An Urban Legend
First 12 chapters of Intrepids