Multicultural Kids Picture Book About Family and Africa
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Under the Same Sun by Sharon Robinson, illustrated by A.G. Ford is a warm-hearted multicultural picture book about a grandmother’s visit to her son and grandkids in Tanzania. This story is based on the daughter of Jackie Robinson’s real family and is published by Scholastic Books.
This book celebrate diversity and is a lovely multicultural book choice for your home or classroom library.
Multicultural Kids Picture Book About Family and Africa
In Under the Same Sun, Bibi, the grandmother visits her son David who lives in Tanzania with his wife and their children. In Africa, the family celebrates Bibi’s birthday with a safari where they see lots of animals. They also travel to a slave-trading post and glimpse of that terrible history and we learn why Sharon’s brother, David, choose to return to Tanzania from the U.S., the Robinson’s ancestral home, to live permanently.
You’ll find Swahili words embedded in the story which are also referenced in the back. See if you can pronounce the new words.
The book is mostly about family time and it includes the family eating chicken in peanut sauce recipe which is a traditional dish that you can make at home, too. Try this recipe here if you don’t have allergies, it’s so yummy!
While on safari together, the family sees giraffes, lions, and gazelles. Download this free safari coloring page so you can imagine your own safari trip.
#ReadYourWorld
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. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ 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.
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 is 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, Delores Connors, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, 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, and 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 works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
See a huge list of free multicultural books for teachers here.
Get a free kindness classroom kit here.
Discover free diversity book lists and activities for teacher and parents here.
Don’t forget to connect with us on social media with the hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
