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Anyone who knows me knows that adult coloring is my jam. Anything that is line-art-inspired, that can be colored with coloring pencils or Sharpies makes my heart sing.
And then I came across a fellow Minnesotan that offered up a project that made my heart sing even louder.
Terri Birnbaum’s The RealGirls Revolution was created out of her frustration that modern dolls and princesses didn’t reflect the diversity and uniqueness that makes women beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Cofounded with her tween and teen daughters, Terri enlisted the help of talented artists to create visual alternatives to stereotyped princesses and dolls.
The RealGirls Revolutions was born.
But this much-needed project wasn’t all unicorn and rainbows. Terri agreed that “It took a village” to navigate the over six-year journey that resulted in a new company, ForGood.
ForGood is on a mission to provide girls with images they can identify with so that they might feel empowered to remain proud and confident. Terri’s tween-aged daughters, Evelyn and Lydia, felt there needed to be an alternative to representations of princesses and dolls, so they spent six years producing a coloring book that celebrates our differences.
“I’ve met so many talented, passionate artists, as well as teachers, college professors, community leaders, student organization leaders, parents, and girls along the way, Terri shared. “Each person has shared with me their own story or reasons for joining me in this book’s creation, and they’ve also given me suggestions for more things to incorporate, or other things this book should address. Out of these conversations, came the idea to reach out to organizations that support girls with physical differences, girls battling illnesses, and girls with learning challenges, to request permission to feature girls they recommended. This process has lead me to some amazing organizations, and some amazing girls, who are breaking stereotypes and defying any and all limitations, in their own way, each and every day.”
“Our book, RealGirls, is a 50-page illustrated coloring book created by many artists of diverse cultures and ethnicities working to fight stereotypes and generalizations by making visible what isn’t shown in our mainstream popular culture: the unique and beautiful qualities in the myriad girls that exist in reality.”
RealGirls is giving $100 each month to an organization that supports girls. Please help Terri and her RealGirls team by sending your suggestions to terri(at) realgirlsrevolution (dot) org. Each month we will list the charity and the person who suggested it on the RG website.
The bottom line is that, though any sort of color makes me giddy, this book is so much more. Embedded in each illustration are real stories, real hopes, and real aspirations, put onto the pages with the hope that girls everywhere might see an image they can identify with.
About Terri
Terri and her daughters are honored to have partnered with Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Helping Hands Foundation, National Down Syndrome Society, Lucky Fin Project, and The Cleft Lip & Palate Foundation of Smiles, to feature girls they recommended.
Connect with Terri and the RealGirls Revolution via their website, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
About Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th 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 homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents, and educators.
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board
Medallion Level Sponsors
Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.
Super Platinum: Make A Way Media
GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,
SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,
BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board
Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,
Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC, Claudia Schwam.
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.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup, Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground
TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media!
MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/18 at 9:00pm.E.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H
Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.
Mia Wenjen says
Coloring books are really getting innovative! I love this message of diversity and girl empowerment!
Suzie Olsen says
My birthday is coming up, I’m adding this coloring book to my b-day present wish list. 🙂
Rebecca Flansburg says
I would! I love mine 🙂