Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: “Chloe and Her Two Red Shoes”

I am beyond excited to be a part of such a great community. And now I get to share with you an exciting event as well as a review of a very cute book, “Chloe and Her Two Red Shoes” written by Shanequa Davis and Illustrated by Barbara Mason Rast.

First let me tell you about the wonderful event. It is Multicultural Children’s Book Day on January 27^th, 2015. Here are some great facts about the celebration from their website:

Multicultural Children’s Book Day: Read Your World

January 27, 2015

Our mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.

Children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom teamed up in late 2013 to create an ambitious (and much needed) national event. On January 27th, 2015 this dynamic duo will be hosting yet another Multicultural Children’s Book Day as a way of celebrating diversity in children’s books.

The Multicultural Children’s Book Day team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along via book reviews, author visits, multicultural booklists and visit the huge multicultural book review link-up that will occur on the MCCBD website 1/27/15.

Here are some ways you can help us celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day

• Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website and view our booklists, reading resources and other useful multicultural information.

• Visit our Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board for more reading ideas.

• Have children bring in their favorite multicultural book to school on this day and share it with the class.

• Watch for the #ReadYourWorld hashtag on social media and share.

• Visit our Diversity Book Lists and Resources for Educators and Parents on our website.

• Visit MCCBD sponsors (you can find them HERE)

• Create a Multicultural Children’s Book Day display around the classroom or library.

• Visit The Multicultural Children’s Book Day website on January 27^th to view and participate in our huge blogger link-up, multicultural book reviews, giveaways and more!

Other Fun Details:

Our Sponsor Line-up Platinum Sponsors:Wisdom Tales Press,Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  MulticulturalKids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof, Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing. Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author FeliciaCapers,   Chronicle Books  Muslim Writers Publishing,East West Discovery Press.

Our CoHosts: We have NINE amazing Co-Host. You can view themhere.

-MCCBD now has its own Paper.li! A Paper.li is a free online newspaper that aggregates information on the topic of multicultural books for kids from all over the Internet. Please feel free subscribe and stay up-to-date with this topic.

-Connect with us on our new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay

-Connect with us on our new Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay

If you would like more information, or have questions regarding Multicultural Children’s Book Day, please contact Valarie Budayr at Valarie@AudreyPress.com or Mia Wenjen at pragmaticmomblog@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your support!

Here is My Review

A childhood memory becomes a beautiful picture book.

 “Chloe and Her Two Red Shoes” is a lovely story of a sweet little girl who gets her very own pair of brand new shoes for the first time instead of the usual hand-me-downs. It is told as a memory from the author’s point of view which makes it very unique and honest. I love the idea of turning something personal into a book, and the author does a great job taking you back in time with her.

I come from a family of six girls and know all about hand-me-downs.  If you have siblings, the story will most likely resonate with you, too. I read it to my boys soon after M received a new pair of shiny tap shoes.  This of course made the book extra special for him as he and Chloe had something in common. He really liked how she wore her shoes everywhere. He even asked if he could wear his shoes to bed like she does.  This, of course was a no, but he was cute for asking.

I love the illustrations of this book as well. I really like how realistic they are. They make the book even more authentic for the reader. I am all about raising my kids in a multicultural world and this book is perfect for showing diversity.

I especially like how in the end, those very same shoes become a part of all of the cherished items kept by the mother that had belonged to all of the children. Everything is kept in a very special treasure chest and the shoes will remain there for another little girl to fall in love with as well one day. Lovely!

Play Acting

If you are looking for an activity to do with your little ones, let the book lead your way. Open up your closet, let your little ones look through it and dress as silly as they can. My little guys really love walking around in their papa’s shoes. Just letting them pretend to be you can bring hours of entertainment if you let them. Also, if you or a family member with a chest full of things that belonged to you when you were younger, that would make for a new world of imagination for you and your kids. You would be surprised at how childhood memories can come rushing back to you as look through all of those beautiful things. You can tell them your own memories from those clothes and treasures and have a beautiful and fun bonding moment as well.

Here is to always making memories with those with love with anything and everything around us.

Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day!!

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