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.
Each year authors and publishing companies provide multicultural children’s
books for educational bloggers and social media influencers to read and write
about online. In previous years, I’ve written about Hi, My Name is Jenny, A Unicorn Ate My Homework, Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, and From My Window. This year, I was given a copy of Your Life Matters by Chris Singleton to read. Keep reading to learn more about Your Life Matters and how you can integrate it into your social studies lessons.
Your Life Matters by Chris Singleton is a motivational children’s book that reminds Black children that their lives matter. It was written in 2021, during a time in which racial violence and intolerance have deeply affected Black children and their families. These children have witnessed violence, riots and protests in places such as Ferguson, Baltimore, Charleston, Milwaukee, and Charlotte. In a time in which children might feel uncertain and fearful, Your Life Matters was written to give them comfort, validation, and hope for their future.
Author’s Summary
Empowering and validating, Your Life Matters reassures Black
children everywhere that no matter what they hear, no matter what they
experience, no matter what they’re told, their lives matter. Written by
national speaker Chris Singleton, who lost his own mother in the 2015
Charleston church shooting, Your Life Matters teaches kids to
stand tall in the face of racial adversity and fight for the life they
dream of. Each page depicts a famous hero from Black history mentoring a
child of today and encouraging them to use their mind, heart, voice, and
hands in that fight.
Hero-mentors in the book include Maya Angelou, Jackie Robinson, Martin
Luther King, Jr., Aretha Franklin, Katherine Johnson, Harriet Tubman,
Frederick Douglas, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Washington Carver, and
others.
🍎 Author: Chris Singleton
🍎 Illustrator: Taylor Barron
🍎 Publisher: Bushel and Peck Books
🍎 Year: 2021
🍎 Pages: 32
Essential Vocabulary Words and Concepts
In order for your students to fully understand the context in which
Your Life Matters was written, there are some essential
vocabulary words and concepts you may need to review with your students. Being able to understand these words
and concepts will help them understand the important message of the
story.
The essential vocabulary words and concepts include:
- Black Lives Matter
- racial adversity
- racism
- prejudice
- heroes
- mentors
- headlines
- invisible
- future
- mystery
- generations
- truth
- balm
- foundations
- right is right
- forgive
- inspire
Famous Black Americans Mini Research Project
Many of the illustrations in Your Life Matters feature famous Black
Americans who have heavily influenced art, science, sports, music, politics,
and history. These famous Black Americans include:
- Harriet Tubman
- President Barack Obama
- Katherine Johnson
- George Washington Carver
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Oprah Winfrey
- Maya Angelou
- Jackie Robinson
- Muhammad Ali
- Tegla Loroupe
After reading Your Life Matters with your students, take the time to
talk about each of these people and how they made significant impacts on the
people around them. How did/do they help others? How did/do they inspire
others? How did/do they make the world a better place?
If you’d like, you can have your student complete this mini-research project
about the Black Americans featured in this book. Young readers can use the
information from the back of the book to help them, whereas older readers
can use other sources to find the information they need.
on the image above. Clicking this image will take you to the
Teachers-Pay-Teachers third-party website. This is a
FREE download— no purchase necessary.
About Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2023
The mission of the Multicultural Children’s Book Day event is to raise
awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate
diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about MCBD’s
mission & history
HERE.
MCBD 2023 is honored to be Supported by these Medallion Sponsors!
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE: Mia Wenjen (Pragmaticmom) and Valarie Budayr (Audreypress.com)
🏅 Super Platinum Sponsor:
Author Deedee Cummings and Make A Way Media
🏅 Platinum Sponsors:
Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages
🏅 Gold Sponsors: Interlink Books, Publisher Spotlight
🏅 Silver
Sponsors: Cardinal Rule Press, Lee & Low, Barefoot Books,
Kimberly Gordon Biddle
🏅 Bronze Sponsors: Vivian Kirkfield,
Patrice McLaurin , Quarto Group,
Carole P. Roman, Star Bright Books, Redfin, Redfin Canada, Bay Equity Home Loans,
Rent.com, Title Forward
(image by Lisa Wee)
MCBD 2023 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!
Sivan Hong, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Josh Funk , Stephanie M. Wildman, Gwen
Jackson, Diana Huang, Afsaneh Moradian, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Eugenia Chu,
Jacqueline Jules, Alejandra Domenzain, Gaia Cornwall, Ruth Spiro, Evelyn
Sanchez-Toledo, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Kiyanda and Benjamin Young/Twin Powers
Books, Kimberly Lee , Tameka Fryer Brown, Talia Aikens-Nuñez, Marcia Argueta
Mickelson, Kerry O’Malley Cerra, Jennie Liu, Heather Murphy Capps, Diane
Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney, John Coy, Irene Latham and Charles
Waters, Maritza M Mejia, Lois Petren, J.C. Kato and J.C.², CultureGroove,
Lindsey Rowe Parker, Red Comet Press, Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Nancy Tupper
Ling, Deborah Acio, Asha Hagood, Priya Kumari, Chris Singleton, Padma
Venkatraman, Teresa Robeson, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena
Publishing, Martha Seif Simpson, Rochelle Melander, Alva Sachs, Moni Ritchie
Hadley, Gea Meijering, Frances Díaz Evans, Michael Genhart, Angela H. Dale,
Courtney Kelly, Queenbe Monyei, Jamia Wilson, Charnaie Gordon, Debbie
Ridpath Ohi, Debbie Zapata, Jacquetta Nammar Feldman, Natasha Yim, Tracy T.
Agnelli, Kitty Feld, Anna Maria DiDio, Ko Kim, Shachi Kaushik
📌 MCBD 2021 is honored to be supported by our
Co-hosts and Global Co-hosts!
📌 MCBD 2021 is honored to be supported by these
Media Partners!
📌 Check out MCBD’s Multicultural Books for Kids
Pinterest Board!
(image by Led Bradshaw)
FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Did you enjoy this post about Your Life Matters and Multicultural
Children’s Book Day 2023? If so, check out these blog posts about the other
MCBD books I’ve written about in the past:
search words: Black Lives Matter, famous Black Americans, famous
Americans, Black History Month, #ownvoices, #readyourworld
