Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) 2022!! For this year’s MCBD, I was delighted to receive a copy of One Whole Me: A Book about Being Bicultural written by Dia Mixon and illustrated by Natalia Jiménez Osorio. A big, warm thank you to Dia Mixon for the beautiful book and for being an author sponsor of MCBD!
In well-crafted rhyme, One Whole Me describes what it is like to be bicultural with the repeating refrain “two different [languages, families, histories, etc.], make one whole me.” What a perfect book to celebrate this day!
Mixon’s lyric language describes a specific character’s bicultural identity with fun, engaging, and sometimes educational examples from the United States and Columbia. She also presents a general situation that can apply to anyone with a multicultural background. From my own life experience, I know that it can be too easy to not feel fully part of any of the cultures in one’s rich background. Messages from others create that situation. Mixon alludes to these difficulties in the opening of the book, but she does not dwell on them. Instead she focuses on the positive, always landing on the powerful words, “one whole me.” The words “one” and “whole” can be healing to those who have already received negative messages. But this book and this day offer hope that strong, positive messages about the beauty of who we are, exactly as we are, will be well-established in children’s minds and hearts before negative messages begin to reach them.
Mixon includes a few Spanish words in each spread, most of which are understandable in context or because of their similarity to an English equivalent. A glossary in the back of the book provides more definitions and information. The Spanish words make the rhyming, rhythmic language all the more fun to read aloud. The experience of another language getting mixed to English will be familiar to many families whether that language is Spanish or another one.
Osorio’s warm, colorful illustrations portray the everyday joy that emanates throughout this book—and create a sense of the abundance of rich elements that make up the narrator’s one whole life.
Be sure to check out the MCBD 2022 Giant Linky to see the book reviews of more books that reflect the rich diversity of who each of us is and of those who we share this world with. And read below for more information on MCBD 2022. #ReadYourWorld
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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2022 (1/28/22) is in its 9th 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 books into the hands of young readers and educators.
MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission & History HERE.
MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!
SUPER PLATINUM: Make A Way Media
PLATINUM: Language Lizard
GOLD: Barefoot Books, KidLitTV, Candlewick, Capstone, Abrams Books
SILVER: Pack-n-Go Girls, Charlotte Riggle, Kimberly Gordon Biddle
BRONZE: Carole P. Roman, Patrice McLaurin, Dyesha and Triesha McCants/McCants Squared, Redfin.com, Redfin Canada, Redfin Mortgage, Redfin/Title Forward, Create & Educate, Star Bright Books, Vivian Kirkfield, Dr. Eleanor Wint, Kind World Publishing, Snowflake Stories, Lisa Wee, SONGJU MA, Melissa Stoller, J.C. Kato and J.C.², Crystel Patterson, Audrey Press, Pragmaticmom, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales
MCBD 2022 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Charlene Mosley (official MCBD2022 Poster Creator)
Illustrator Isabelle Roxas (Class Kit Poster Creator)
Alva Sachs, Brianna Carter, Ebony Zay Zay, Rita Bhandari, Gwen Jackson, Lois Petren/The 5 Enchanted Mermaids, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Josh Funk, Afsaneh Moradian, Eugenia Chu, Maritza Martínez Mejía, Diana Huang, Kathleen Burkinshaw, CultureGroove, Sandra Elaine Scott, Dorena Williamson, Veronica Appleton, Alejandra Domenzain, Lauren Muskovitz and Sandfish Publishing, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Kimberly Lee, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher, Nancy Tupper Ling, Winsome Hudson-Bingham, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Sivan Hong, Michael Genhart, Debbie Dadey, Elizabeth Cureton, Stephanie Wildman, Maryann Jacob, Sherri Maret, Rochelle Melander, Dia Mixon, Kiyanda and Benjamin Young, Shereen Rahming, Linda Thornburg and Katherine Archer, Rebecca Flansburg and BA Norrgard , Maxine Schur Natalie McDonald-Perkins
MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!
MCBD 2022 is Honored to be Supported by these Media Partners!
Check out MCBD’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!
FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents
Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
FREE Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
FREE Teacher Classroom Raising Awareness on Systemic Racism in America Classroom Kit
FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program
Join us on Friday, Jan 28, 2022, at 9 pm EST for the 9th annual Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter Party! Be sure and follow MCBD and Make A Way Media on Twitter!
This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.
We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **
Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter!
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
Karin Fisher-Golton 
So many kids will identify with this story! It is so well written and the happy illustrations show a boy who’s content with who he is! Thanks for the recommendation.
It definitely seems like your kind of book!
Thank you for your support of Multicultural Children’s Book Day and for this lovely review!