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Day 2 (April 28): Helping Multicultural Kids Approach the World with Confidence
10 am EST Mia Wenjen, Live Interview
Standing Up To Racism in Your Community and Schools
I will talk about how my high school did the anti-Asian racist musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and how I used my microblog to fight against it. This was 7 or 8 years ago. The high school changed its vetting policies but they have a BIPOC-only play and some people in the community complained. It also got a write-up in The Daily Mail in the UK. I will talk about the importance of speaking up and making the change on a 1:1 level in your own community and how that will ripple.
Mia Wenjen is half Japanese & half Chinese American and married to a Korean American. This unusual ethnic combination made her seek out all kinds of Asian representation in children’s books for her three kids. She started a blog, PragmaticMom.com, to share her favorite books, and Multicultural Children’s Book Day to celebrate diverse KidLit. Her debut picture book, Sumo Joe (Lee and Low, 2019) was selected as a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She wrote Asian Pacific American Heroes for Scholastic (2020) and Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes as a Kickstarter pandemic project. Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World releases spring of 2023 through Barefoot Books. Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist (Red Comet Press) and Boxer Baby (Eifrig Publishing) releases in 2024. Follow her @pragmaticmom on social media and check out her blog, PragmaticMom.com.
Questions:
- Let’s talk about the time your local high school decided to put on an anti-Asian play. Can you tell us a little bit about the backstory and what you did about it?
- What are some actions anyone can take, kids or adults, to speak out when they see racist things like this happening in their community?
- Do you need to be a part of the people group being discriminated against to take action?
- How can we prepare our kids to stand up for themselves and others if they notice racism at school?
- What are ways we can combat racism in our everyday lives?
- Where can people find out more about you and your work?
Sponsor: Little Beans Toy Chest
Moderator: Vanessa/ Little Beans Toy Chest
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
My books:
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
