As families around the world gather together, food is always centered. Food structures families’ schedules, provides social activity, defines relationships, and represents ethnic identities. Food is part of family celebrations, ceremonies, and rituals.
Sunday Dinners
For many in the Americas, the Sunday dinner table was where you really learned about your family. Histories and memories of grandparents were remembered. Uncles shared stories of their adventures. Cousins imparted their stories and jokes. The meal was special, too—something that had been cooking all morning while the family was at church, food that was delicious, comforting, and made with love.
Dinner on Domingos written by Alexandra Katona and illustrated by Claudio Navarro is a delightfully illustrated book celebrating these Sunday traditions through the eyes of a first-generation Latinx American girl, Alejandra, as she experiences a typical Sunday night dinner at her Abuelita’s house.
As an English language development teacher, I was excited to receive Dinner on Domingos to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day. I was immediately drawn to the theme of family and heritage celebrated in Katona’s story from her own childhood.
My students are emerging bilinguals and one of my goals for them is that they retain their home language. Alejandra is a role model for my students. As she reflects on all the good times her family has had at Abuelita’s, she decides that she wants to be brave and try speaking Spanish with Abuelita so that they can deepen their bond.
During the pandemic, many families had not been able to get together regularly. Many friends and family members have expressed to me feeling a loss of connection.
Sharing Recipes
Dinner on Domingos has been featured on Edible Finger Lakes magazine’s “9 Favorite New Books about Families Cooking Together.” In the endnotes, you will find a recipe for homemade locro which makes for a fun, family-friendly activity to accompany the story.
There’s just something about stories that connect with food. Earlier this year, I taught a traditional foods unit that incorporated a variety of books featuring recipes. Many students were eager to try the recipe at home.
As a culminating project, we created a classroom recipe book featuring our own family favorites. We used a fun, thematic Google Slides template on Slidesgo to provide a cohesive look to our project.
Students wrote up the step-by-step instructions and included photographs of themselves making the recipe with their families. They then gave a presentation in class to teach their peers and enjoyed cooking lefse with me in class.
I then combined student pages into a larger class book to share virtually and/or printed with each family. These books will soon be presented to families.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day
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 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th 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.