Reading Is Fundamental Releases the 2014 Multicultural Book Collection

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation's largest children's literacy nonprofit, released this morning its latest collection of 40 highly recommended children's books featuring diverse characters and stories with themes that promote STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering, arts and math). The 2014 Multicultural Book Collection includes books for readers in grades K-5, as well as free activity guides for educators, community coordinators and families to use with each book.

RIF launched the collection at a Black History Month celebration at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington, Va., a school served by RIF of Northern Virginia. Barcroft students, along with hundreds of students from RIF programs across the country, participated in a lively discussion via webcast with co-author Steven Sellers Lapham and illustrator R. Gregory Christie of Philip Reid Saves the Statue of Freedom, a children's book published by Sleeping Bear Press that highlights the history of the U.S. Capitol dome statue. (View a recording of the discussion at http://www.rif.org/live.)

"Books have the power to transform lives, and the diversity in this collection's books will inspire children of all backgrounds," said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of RIF. "We can make a world of difference when we put more books, like those in the Multicultural Book Collection, in the hands and homes of more children."

Thanks to the generous support of Macy's, RIF has released a Multicultural Book Collection annually since 2007 and distributed over 4,000 collections to RIF programs across the nation as part of its Multicultural Literacy Campaign, a multi-year initiative to promote and support early childhood literacy in African American, Hispanic and American Indian communities.

The 2014 collection includes celebrated and award-winning titles such as:

• Philip Reid Saves the Statue of Freedom by Steven Sellers Lapham and Eugene Walton, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
• Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
• Diego Rivera: His World and Ours by Duncan Tonatiuh
• Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts

The full list of books in the collection and all activity guides are available at http://www.rif.org/mbc.

Each book in the Multicultural Book Collection was carefully reviewed and selected by RIF's Literacy Services team with guidelines provided by RIF's Literature Advisory Board and Multicultural Advisory Committee, national panels of educators and experts in books for children.