Hello, friends! Welcome to Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016.
Multicultural Children's Book Day (also known s MCBD) is an annual celebration
of multicultural children's literature and some of the authors who write these
books. This blog post takes a look at Why Juan Can't Sleep by Karl
Beckstrand. Keep reading to learn more about Why Juan Can't Sleep and
for a quick minilesson you can use in your classroom.
Disclosure: Affiliate links to Amazon are included in this post.
Author's Summary
Crazy day—of work and play—worn-out Juan “Must sleep!”Tonight he’ll dream of dragons … or will he?
A bedtime mystery—with finding activities for children and hilarious illustrations by Luis F. Sanz that aid comprehension and help build vocabulary (especially adjectives. Ages 4 - 10). Young and old will identify with this funny, spooky quest for rest. Hispanic-themed children's book.
🍎 Author: Karl Beckstrand
🍎 Illustrator: Luis F. Sanz
🍎 Publisher: Premio Publishing & Gozo Books, LLC
🍎 Year: 2012
🍎 Pages: 34
What Is Stream-of-Consciousness?
Karl Beckstrand didn’t write Why Juan Can’t Sleep in the
traditional ‘character, setting, problem, solution’ format. Instead, he wrote
the book using stream-of-consciousness. Stream-of-consciousness is
a writing technique that authors use to describe the random and rapid
thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations the characters experience.
In Why Juan Can't Sleep, poor little Juan’s mind is preoccupied with
its own racing thoughts, the noises around him, and the sensations like itchy
skin that bother him. Of course... just as in real life... every time Juan
starts to doze, his racing mind springs back into action, causing him to be
wide awake again. We’ve all been there. We can all relate to what Juan is
going through!
Language Arts Minilesson
Even though Why Juan Can't Sleep is written in a
stream-of-consciousness format, it still contains traditional story
elements... character, setting, problem, and solution. Being able to identify
and describe these story elements in text is a critical reading skill for
young readers. After reading and discussing Why Juan Can't Sleep with
your students, take a few minutes to review what story elements are and help
them identify the following story elements for this book:
- characters: Juan
- setting: at home, in bed, at night, present-day
- problem: Juan can't sleep because his thoughts are racing and are keeping him awake.
- solution: Eventually, Juan gets so tired he falls asleep on his own... just as the sun starts to come up!
About Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016
Mission: The MCBD team’s mission is to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions, and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers, and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky, and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.
MCBD Classroom Reading Challenge
Help spread the word on our Classroom Reading Challenge . This very special offering from MCCBD offers teachers and classrooms the chance to (very easily) earn a free hardcover multicultural children’s book for their classroom library. These books are not only donated by the Junior Library Guild, but they are pre-screened and approved by them as well.What we could really use some help with is spreading the word to your teacher/librarian/classroom connections so we can get them involved in this program. There is no cost to teachers and classrooms and we’ve made the whole process as simple as possible. You can help by tweeting the below info:
Teachers! Earn a FREE #Multicultural Kids Book for Your Classroom! #teachers, #books #teacherlife http://ow.ly/UUy96
The Classroom Reading Challenge has begun! Teachers can earn a free diversity book! #teachers, #books http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/?p=1796
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016 Medallion Level Sponsors!
🍎 Platinum: Wisdom Tales Press, StoryQuest Books, Lil Libros
🍎 Gold: Author Tori Nighthawk, Candlewick Press, Bharat Babies
🍎 Silver: Lee and Low Books, Chronicle Books, Capstone Young Readers Tuttle Publishing, NY Media Works, LLC/KidLit TV
🍎 Bronze: Pomelo Books, Author Jacqueline Woodson, Papa Lemon Books, Goosebottom Books, Author Gleeson Rebello, ShoutMouse Press, Author Mahvash Shahegh, China Institute.org, Live Oak Media
Multicultural Children’s Book Day CoHosts
All Done Monkey, Crafty Moms Share, Educators’ Spin on It, Growing Book by Book, Imagination Soup, I’m Not the Nanny, InCultureParent, Kid World Citizen, Mama Smiles, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Spanish Playground
Did you enjoy this post about Juan Can't Sleep by Karl Beckstrand? If
so, check out these other posts for more of his books:
- Book + Printable: Anna's Prayer by Karl Beckstrand
- Book: The Bridge of the Golden Wood by Karl Beckstrand
- Book: Ida's Witness by Karl Beckstrand
- Book: Grow! How We Get Food from Our Garden by Karl Beckstrand
- Book + Printable: Great Cape o' Colors by Karl Beckstrand
- Book + Slime Recipe + Printable: It Came from Under the Highchair by Karl Beckstrand
Thanks Kelly!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
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