AAPI Panel Discussion
I was one of the panelists talking on this panel. I talked about how science fiction and fantasy can make it easier to talk about very difficult experiences like bullying as an introvert/quiet kid. We accumulate enormous amounts of stress inside. Watch it here:
ReadYourWorld IG Live Interview
This 25 minute interview was filmed last Thursday. I talk about my art background, who I was as a kid, and why I started making books.
2025 MCBD Book Reviews
This year I was gifted two books for MCBD.
The first one was Dragon Surf from author D.G. Driver and Jeni Bautista. It is a 205 page middle grade novel about Eric Long, a 15 year old Chinese American boy growing up in Southern California coastal city's beach and surf culture. The boy is annoyed by his mother's obsession with Chinese dragons as she made a career of painting them. He admires his dad, though, who is a competitive professional surfer. He was excited to go with his father to northern California for summer surfing competitions.
Through the eyes of Eric, we also get to hang around, learn about surfing, and make new friends. At first the boy is a skeptic but he started seeing things while getting into trouble in coastal waters and gets rescued by something. This is a fun read that touches upon Chinese mythology and history as part of the immigration movement into California during the 1800s.
I can understand Eric's attitude towards his mom. It comes from wanting to develop his own American identity away from the heritage his mom wants him to embrace. He didn't think his mom was cool, but his dad was. The desire to come off as cool and have great friends is a common desire. This story shows his growth and change in his attitude about his own heritage.
A thing that bothers me about this book is the repeated usage of the word kimono, a Japanese word for a specific type of traditional Japanese clothing, to refer to the traditional clothes of the clearly stated Chinese garment pieces. This takes me out because there are different Asian cultures and languages. We are not a monolith, the specific parts of our languages, cultures, and histories are not interchangeable like this. Any non-Asian reading this book needs to be aware of this, please. Take everything with a grain of salt. Otherwise this is an interesting story with ideas to explore.
The second book I was gifted is Solstice: Around the World on the Longest, Shortest Day a chapter book written by Jen Breach and illustrated by 14 different artists from around the world. It is a 60 page 14 chapter book with each chapter a story told from the point of view of a kid living in that specific latitude and their culture's relationship with the sun. The regions covered are Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, Nepal, Morocco, China, Turkey, North West United States, United Kingdom, and Norway.
It is a colorful, fun, well put together book that teaches a lot of things. Each chapter comes with a circled map to show us where on Earth each story is about. They also tell us average temperatures and daylight hours. I like how each region's story teaches about ordinary people whose lives are not 100% rosy perfect as they hint at messier darker histories of their regions. This book helps to paint a bigger picture of how geography determines the daily lives, rituals, and special events of various cultures including a handful of words from their language. Highly recommended for any educational library.
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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!
Go here to buy the book -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0DM6FDZQ3
TTCBT3 is out!
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1L1BBB1
Some of the writing featured in the new anthology publication: