Multicultural Children's Book Day – Catherine's Pascha

Catherine's Pascha: A Celebration of Easter in the Orthodox Church 

Written by Charlotte Riggle

Illustrated by R. J. Hughes

Mom's Review

Catherine's Pascha is hard to review because there are so many things I like about it. It is absolutely worth reading if you have any interest in an Easter story What. So. Ever.  Orthodox Christian children will identify with Catherine, Elizabeth, and Peter, and others will gain an understanding of the most holy day for Orthodox Christians. 

The book begins with Catherine and her younger brother napping before attending church at midnight (Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday). While Peter sleeps through the entire liturgy, Catherine and her best friend Elizabeth are determined to stay awake. Spoiler: they don't manage to do so. Readers can see much of the sequence of the liturgy. At the end, Catherine and Elizabeth are excited to join the feast in the church hall; they have eaten no animal products during Lent and are excited for hot dogs, fried chicken, and dessert.

As we read, T and I talked a lot about the similarities and differences between Orthodox and Catholic Christians; T recognized several similarities, but we were both surprised by how the congregation celebrated Easter at midnight. He is now dead set on attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve (I'm crossing my fingers that he forgets in the next 12 months). Aside from the look at a different religious celebration, we enjoyed reading about such a happy and determined character. T really identified with Catherine – he, too, is determined to stay up late. Furthermore, after reading The Saint Nicholas Day Snow last year, where Elizabeth was the main character and Catherine was a supporting character, we were excited to read the companion book about Catherine.  In Snow, Elizabeth uses a wheelchair. In Catherine's Pascha, she is depicted with crutches and a wheelchair.  

One more thing...

Something really cool is the layout of Catherine's Pascha: Each page features a different Orthodox church from around the world in the background; the story (text and illustrations) is in an inset box that covers a two-page spread.  

Son's Review

(Age:4)

[My favorite part was] Mass in the middle of the night because I like staying up late. I knew it was Easter because of the bunnies and the eggs. They say, "Christ is risen." That's on Easter. I changed my favorite part because I never knew there was a church on Antarctica. That's my favorite part. 

[It's good to read] especially on Easter and Christmas because it is a mix of Easter and Christmas because you go to Mass at night on Christmas. [Readers] should know that it's about people going to Mass in the middle of the night, which clearly I like.

Multicultural Children's Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 (1/31/20) is in its 7th year! This non-profit children’s literacy 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 book into the hands of young readers and educators.

Seven years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues.

MCBD 2020 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board

Super Platinum
Make A Way Media/ Deirdre “DeeDee” Cummings,

Platinum
Language Lizard, Pack-N-Go Girls,

Gold
Audrey Press, Lerner Publishing Group, KidLit TV, ABDO BOOKS : A Family of Educational Publishers, PragmaticMom & Sumo Jo, Candlewick Press,

Silver
Author Charlotte Riggle, Capstone Publishing, Guba Publishing, Melissa Munro Boyd & B is for Breathe,

Bronze
Author Carole P. Roman, Snowflake Stories/Jill Barletti, Vivian Kirkfield & Making Their Voices Heard. Barnes Brothers Books, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, Barefoot Books Talegari Tales

Author Sponsor Link Cloud
Jerry Craft, A.R. Bey and Adventures in Boogieland, Eugina Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Kenneth Braswell & Fathers Incorporated, Maritza M. Mejia & Luz del mes_Mejia, Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Josh Funk and HOW TO CODE A ROLLERCOASTER, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Lauren Ranalli, The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! By Dr. Sharon Chappell, Phe Lang and Me On The Page, Afsaneh Moradian and Jamie is Jamie, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, TUMBLE CREEK PRESS, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Gwen Jackson, Angeliki Pedersen & The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 by Mia Wenjen, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher (Founders of Inner Flower Child Books), Ann Morris & Do It Again!/¡Otra Vez!, Janet Balletta and Mermaids on a Mission to Save the Ocean, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo & Bruna Bailando por el Mundo\ Dancing Around the World, Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Teresa Robeson & The Queen of Physics, Nadishka Aloysius and Roo The Little Red TukTuk, Girlfriends Book Club Baltimore & Stories by the Girlfriends Book Club, Finding My Way Books, Diana Huang & Intrepids, Five Enchanted Mermaids, Elizabeth Godley and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle, Anna Olswanger and Greenhorn, Danielle Wallace & My Big Brother Troy, Jocelyn Francisco and Little Yellow Jeepney, Mariana Llanos & Kutu, the Tiny Inca Princess/La Ñusta Diminuta, Sara Arnold & The Big Buna Bash, Roddie Simmons & Race 2 Rio, DuEwa Frazier & Alice’s Musical Debut, Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series  Green Kids Club, Inc.

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, Afsaneh Moradian, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Bethany Edward & Biracial Bookworms, Michelle Goetzl & Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Educators Spin on it, Shauna Hibbitts-creator of eNannylink, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joel Leonidas & Descendant of Poseidon Reads {Philippines}, Imagination Soup, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Serge Smagarinsky {Australia}, Shoumi Sen, Jennifer Brunk & Spanish Playground, Katie Meadows and Youth Lit Reviews

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

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Note: A review copy of this book was provided for this event. Catherine's Pascha was provided by author Charlotte Riggle.