Story Quest Books – Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016

Story Quest Books Report: What Was The Impact of Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016?

Multicultural Children’s Book Day — founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen — is a virtual online holiday dedicated to raising awareness about diverse, inclusive and multicultural kids’ books. To boost the event’s impact, Budayr and Wenjen teamed up with the three groups who screen children’s reading material — librarians, teachers and parents. As one of the three Platinum Sponsors of Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016, I participated on behalf of my company, Story Quest Books, in all activities leading up to and including the big day — January 27. Here’s a summary of third annual event’s impact:

— Librarians. A new partnership with the Junior Library Guild helped highlight the best current diverse books published. Over 185 librarian bloggers reviewed books and shared their insights and recommendations on social media. 

— Teachers. A new collaboration with schools and teachers put 1,000 free diverse books in classrooms and libraries. Participating teachers also received an extensive resource of more than 200 book lists covering diversity. 

— Parents. Over 200 book bloggers wrote book reviews and shared their unique perspectives on websites and other social media to reach parents. 

In addition, a huge Diversity Book Giveaway took place during the #ReadYourWorld Twitter Party from 9-10pm EST on 1/27/16.

Story Quest Books reports that the 2016 event resulted in 96 MILLION social media shares — an increase of 30 percent from 2015. 

“Getting books into the hands of children is our ultimate mission,” according to Budayr and Wenjen. With very little money raised, they gave more than 1,000 books away during the event. Even after the event ends, they ship free multicultural books to schools and organizations.

Why is this important? Less than 1 in 10 children’s books published in the U.S. includes multicultural children. The goal of bringing more diverse books to parents, teachers, librarians and young readers is a worthy one. Keep an eye out for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017!