Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 is tomorrow (1/31/2020) and it’s in its 7th 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 book into the hands of young readers and educators.
Seven 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.
I received a book from MCBD to feature here on the blog. I was happy to help spread the word about multicultural kids’ books! Check out my thoughts below and also make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post to find out about the Twitter Party where you can join the discussion and enter to win prizes!
The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! by Sharon Chappell Illustrator: Jackie Gorman
Genres: Picture Book
Pages: 44
Source: The Author
What happens when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer? In this inspiring story written by a breast cancer survivor, The Little Green Monster helps Marie and her family survive and thrive through her mother's treatment. The book includes cancer and feelings vocabulary, as well as family cancer resources and activities. The book explores the questions like: what can you expect while the loved one goes through treatment? While science does its work, what can love and everyday magic do to help?
$5 donated to Susan G. Komen Orange County with the purchase of this book.
This sweet book would be wonderful for kids who are going through the scary experience of having a parent going through cancer treatment (or who are going through treatment themselves). The idea of a magical friend who is there for you through everything could be very comforting for many children. The cast of characters depicted is wonderfully diverse, with characters who appear to be Asian, Hispanic, black, white and multiracial. The book is told from the perspective of a mother telling her daughter a story (a fact that I missed at first, and it caused me a bit of confusion). And I could see a mother with cancer reading it to her child.
I would definitely check out the back of the book, which features cancer vocabulary, a feelings chart, and activities. The activity of having the child create their own version of a Little Green Monster that they can imagine seems especially helpful for kids who might want to know what this magical creature has to do with them. And you also get an introduction to the inspiration behind The Little Green Monster—the author’s senegal parrot!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the author via Multicultural Children’s Book Day in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About the Author: Sharon Chappel l is a credentialed, bilingual arts educator, a breast cancer survivor, and parent. Sharon has experienced multiple medical crises with her father, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma during her youth, heart transplant while a young adult, and terminal Glioblastoma brain cancer last year.
Sharon is the author of The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic!, a story for families impacted by cancer. She has donated over 1,000 copies of the book since November 2018. Sharon is also a teacher educator at California State University Fullerton, where she specializes in social emotional learning and the arts for social justice. Check out The Little Green Monster Project website!
About the Illustrator: Jackie Gorman is a Chapman digital arts graduate with a game development minor currently based in Los Angeles. She was born in New Zealand, raised on Maui, HI and is proud of her Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Hawaiian, German, and Irish heritage. She aims to tell fascinating stories of Polynesia through animation. Find more of Jackie’s artwork on her website!
MCBD 2020 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
Super Platinum
Make A Way Media/ Deirdre “DeeDee” Cummings,
Platinum
Language Lizard, Pack-N-Go Girls,
Gold
Audrey Press, Lerner Publishing Group, KidLit TV, ABDO BOOKS: A Family of Educational Publishers, PragmaticMom & Sumo Jo, Candlewick Press,
Silver
Author Charlotte Riggle, Capstone Publishing, Guba Publishing, Melissa Munro Boyd & B is for Breathe,
Bronze
Author Carole P. Roman, Snowflake Stories/Jill Barletti, Vivian Kirkfield & Making Their Voices Heard. Barnes Brothers Books, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, Barefoot Books Talegari Tales
Author Sponsor Link Cloud:
Jerry Craft, A.R. Bey and Adventures in Boogieland, Eugina Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Kenneth Braswell & Fathers Incorporated, Maritza M. Mejia & Luz del mes_Mejia, Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Josh Funk and HOW TO CODE A ROLLERCOASTER, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Lauren Ranalli, The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! By Dr. Sharon Chappell, Phe Lang and Me On The Page, Afsaneh Moradian and Jamie is Jamie, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, TUMBLE CREEK PRESS, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Gwen Jackson, Angeliki Pedersen & The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 by Mia Wenjen, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher (Founders of Inner Flower Child Books), Ann Morris & Do It Again!/¡Otra Vez!, Janet Balletta and Mermaids on a Mission to Save the Ocean, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo & Bruna Bailando por el Mundo\ Dancing Around the World, Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Teresa Robeson & The Queen of Physics, Nadishka Aloysius and Roo The Little Red TukTuk, Girlfriends Book Club Baltimore & Stories by the Girlfriends Book Club, Finding My Way Books, Diana Huang & Intrepids, Five Enchanted Mermaids, Elizabeth Godley and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle, Anna Olswanger and Greenhorn, Danielle Wallace & My Big Brother Troy, Jocelyn Francisco and Little Yellow Jeepney, Mariana Llanos & Kutu, the Tiny Inca Princess/La Ñusta Diminuta, Sara Arnold & The Big Buna Bash, Roddie Simmons & Race 2 Rio, DuEwa Frazier & Alice’s Musical Debut, Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series Green Kids Club, Inc.
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 works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Afsaneh Moradian, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Bethany Edward & Biracial Bookworms, Michelle Goetzl & Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Educators Spin on it, Shauna Hibbitts-creator of eNannylink, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joel Leonidas & Descendant of Poseidon Reads {Philippines}, Imagination Soup, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Serge Smagarinsky {Australia}, Shoumi Sen, Jennifer Brunk & Spanish Playground, Katie Meadows and Youth Lit Reviews
FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
- Free Multicultural Books for Teachers
- Our New FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
- Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators
- Free Understanding Developmental & Physical Challenges Classroom Kit
TWITTER PARTY! Register here!
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
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14 responses to “Multicultural Children’s Book Day! The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! by Sharon Chappell”
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I love when books are written for kids who are going through real life things like this. What a great idea.
Yes, kids definitely need books to get them through rough circumstances sometimes.
wonderful post! this looks like a great book for helping children…and maybe come adults along the way
It’s very sweet!
Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day! I love books that features diverse characters, and it’s great that The Little Green Monster teaches children about cancer.
Yes, I was really interested to read the illustrator’s bio and see how her background influences her illustrations as well.
It’s really wonderful that stories like this exist to help younger children understand a tough situation
I agree! We need books like this in the world.
Thank you so much for your sensitive review of The Little Green Monster. I’m glad that there are more books that talk about cancer affecting children. Thank you also for your support of Multicultural Children’s Book Day!
Thanks so much for hosting this wonderful event!
I’m confused about what Cancer Magic means and look forward to reading this myself.
I’ll confess that the idea of cancer magic did seem odd to me at first too—it’s more the magic of a “friend” who helps take some of the scariness away and supports you. I think it could possibly have been more aptly named.
Facing cancer as a young child is actually very scary and can be very difficult to explain. It sounds like this picture book does a wonderful job of approachfully handling the topic. I am working as an au pair again and have been reading a lot of picture books again, and I am happy to be finding some very good diverse, and meaningful picture books like this one.
Oh, how wonderful! Hope the job goes well!!