For those of you that aren’t familiar, Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) 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 in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

We’re glad to be participating in Multicultural Children’s Book Day for the second year in a row (read our last year’s review here). As a culturally diverse family, we love raising awareness for great initiatives such as MCBD, and encourage our family, friends, and readers to spread the word.

This year, thanks to Markelle Media publishers, Lou Lou got to read a book, Starr and the High Seas Wedding Drama (buy it here), from the award-winning kids book series, Flower Girl World by author Lynelle Woolley. The book was a great addition to Lou Lou’s worldschooling curriculum, and after reading it, wrote a mini book review for the blog.

Read it below!

Starr and the High Seas Wedding Drama Book Review

Title: Starr and the High Seas Wedding Drama

Author: Lynelle Woolley

Main Characters: Starr Rubio, Abuela, Grandpa Walt, Ivy

Summary: Starr Rubio, the main character in this Flower Girl World book, finds out that her family is growing bigger because her Abuela (grandmother in Spanish) is engaged and about to be married to Walt, a man her grandmother met on a cruise. Her grandmother surprises the family with a cruise to Mexico so they can get to know Walt, his daughter, and grand-daughter, Ivy, better before they get married. No family trip is complete without some kind of drama, and during the cruise Starr realizes that Ivy is not happy her grandpa’s going to be married and the girls get together to try and break up the happy couple! It really is a High Seas Wedding Drama!

My brother Jaffer and I always enjoy being on a cruise. The last time we were on a cruise, we sailed to Alaska and got to see a lot of glaciers…it was also so cold! I like that the book was set on a cruise, but going to a warm country, Mexico. We haven’t been to Mexico yet, but the way Starr described it in the book, it makes me want to go – I love bright colors, Mexican food, and would be able to practice the Spanish I learned in Spain (link). I was able to understand all the Spanish words Starr and her family used in the book, and, if I didn’t know one, the glossary at the back of the book was very helpful.

My favorite part of the story is when Starr and Ivy participate in the music contest on board the cruise in their flower girl dresses – I love singing and performing, and it’s something I would do to bring my family together as well. The book was a short and easy read, and thanks to the author, Lynelle, I was able to read another book in the series, Iris and the Aloha Adventure, which was set in Hawaii where I live!

BUY THE BOOK

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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. 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.

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 Khan, 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, Andrea Y. Wang

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

MCBD Links to remember:

MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/

Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld