Blazing Brilliance

As a former English teacher and librarian, book talks were a staple in my classroom and library. I used to post my book talks and reviews on my educatorbarnes.com. Now, I am shifting them to my business page because we receive many book recommendation requests at Blazing Brilliance. For the book talks and book reviews I have on my personal website/portfolio, I will shift them to this page and categorize them for easy use.

*I received a free copy of Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess – A Little Magic in exchange for offering an honest review for the 2024 Multicultural Children’s Book Day.*

Author Deedee Cummings and illustrator Charlene Mosley have teamed up again for another book. This time I had the pleasure of reading Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess – A Little Magic.

The main character, Kayla, is based on Cummings real daughter who is a talented singer and broadway actress. Additionally, this book is part of the Kayla series.

I loved that Cummings moved readers to envision what it might mean to be a princess or have princess-like attributes in modern-day. I loved the illustrations of Kayla’s big and beautiful textured hair. I appreciated that having princess-like qualities is not only about looks. I also liked that the conflict was not rooted in trauma. Many times when you have a Black female lead, the character is trying to overcome huge odds and comes from a fractured family.

Instead, Kayla is supported by her mom and dad. She has friends, and she has big dreams. Those dreams are the root of the story’s conflict. Kayla’s mom believes she knows what Kayla’s dreams are but her dreams do not align with Kayla’s dream for her life.

This story show how parents and children can navigate these kind of situations.

This book’s dimensions are 9 inches x 6 inches, so I thought this book would be divided into chapters. It wasn’t. As a former librarian, I argue this book is a merge of a picture book and a 1st/2nd grade chapter book. However, it doesn’t fit neatly into either category.

To align more with a picture book, I would have liked the book dimensions to be different and the plot more streamlined without as many subplots. Specifically, I would have eliminated Tommie’s backstory. Tommie is Kayla’s friend who became the first female on her college team. If this were more of a chapter book, I would keep the 9×6 dimensions, add chapter divisions, and flesh out more of the story’s main plot and subplots. For example, Tommie disappeared and is not mentioned at the end of the book. Also, Kayla shared an event about her grandmother. It would have been nice to hear the grandmother mentioned at the end when Kayla and her mom came to terms with her decision.

Also, there were quite a few time jumps that could be confusing for kids. During the book, Kayla is in high school, college, and post college. Also, we even get a flashback to when Kayla’s grandmother was in high school. I would have preferred only college and post college and to have those time points developed a bit more.

Despite those considerations, Kayla’s dream is a dream that other Black girls may have. I think it is important to not only have representation but diversity within that representation. Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess – A Little Magic does just that.

Rating 3.5/5

Recommended Grades	1st & 2nd
Recommended Ages	6-8

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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2024 (1/25/24) is in its 11^th year! Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen founded this non-profit children’s literacy initiative; they are two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural diverse books and authors on the market while also working to get those books into the hands of young readers and educators.

Read Your World’s mission is to raise awareness of the need to include kids’ books celebrating diversity in homes and school bookshelves. Read about our Mission and history HERE.

Read Your World celebrates Multicultural Children’s Book Day and is honored to be Supported by these Medallion and Ruby 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: Publisher Spotlight, Language Lizard Bilingual Books in 50+ Languages, Lerner Publishing Group

🏅 Gold Sponsors:  Barefoot Books, Astra Books for Young Readers

🏅 Silver Sponsors: Red Comet Press, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Lee and Low Books, Cardinal Rule Press

🏅 Bronze Sponsors: CK Malone, Tonya Duncan Ellis, Anita Crawford Clark, Star Bright Books, Blue Dot Kids Press, Brunella Costagliola, Red Fin, Fabled Films 

Ruby Sponsor: Crayola 

Poster Artist:  Rebecca Burgess 

Classroom Kit Poster: Barefoot Books 

MCBD 2024 is honored to be Supported by these Author Sponsors!

Authors: Gwen Jackson, Josh Funk, Eugenia Chu, Sivan Hong, Marta Magellan, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Angela H. Dale, Maritza M Mejia, Authors J.C. Kato and J.C.², Charnaie Gordon,  Alva Sachs, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Lisa Chong, Diana Huang, Martha Seif Simpson, DARIA (WORLD MUSIC WITH DARIA) Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou, Gea Meijering, Stephanie M. Wildman, Tracey Kyle, Afsaneh Moradian, Kim C. Lee, Rochelle Melander, Beth Ruffin, Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Alina Chau, Michael Genhart, Sally J. Pla, Ajuan Mance, Kimberly Marcus, Lindsey Rowe Parker

MCBD 2024 is Honored to be Supported by our CoHosts and Global CoHosts!

MCBD 2023 is Honored to be Supported by our Partner Organizations! 

Check out MCBD’s Multicultural Books for Kids Pinterest Board!

📌 FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

• MCBD 2024 Poster
• Mental Health Support for Stressful Times Classroom Kit
• Diversity Book Lists & Activities for Teachers and Parents
• Homeschool Diverse Kidlit Booklist & Activity Kit
• FREE Teacher Classroom Activism and Activists Kit
• FREE Teacher Classroom Empathy Kit
• FREE Teacher Classroom Kindness Kit
• FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit
• FREE Teacher Classroom Poverty Kit
• Gallery of Our Free Posters
• FREE Diversity Book for Classrooms Program

📌 Register for the MCBD Read Your World Virtual Party

Join us on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at 9 pm EST celebrating more than 10 years of  Multicultural Children’s Book Day Read Your World Virtual Party! Register here. 

This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas.

We will be giving away a 10-Book Bundle during the virtual party plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. **

Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, and connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians.