Multicultural Children's Book Day – Waylen Wants to Jam

Waylen Wants to Jam: A True Story Promoting Inclusion and Self-Determination

Written by Jo Meserve Mach and Vera Lynne Stroup-Rentier

Photography by Mary Birdsell

Mom's Review: 

Waylen, an autistic young man, shares his passion for percussion with readers. 

In this first-person narrative, readers accompany 7-year-old Waylen to a music lesson where he practices drumming; he hits the drum in time with the teacher, tries a stick toss, and is reprimanded with the class for inattention as they all prepare for the drum concert. Waylen Wants to Jam culminates with the drum concert and Waylen affirming, "I love playing the drums. This is where I belong."

Waylen's autism is not obvious to readers – you only know he is autistic if you read the back cover and then access further biographical information on the website for this book series. The point of this book is clear from both title and content: promotion of disabled kids being accepted by other kids. By meeting Waylen without knowing his disability, young readers can easily identify with him and focus on the person, not the disability. 

I recommend Waylen Wants to Jam to three ends: 

1. helping young children become more comfortable and accepting of those with disabilities

2. supporting emerging readers 

3. introducing a particular instrument (drums) to a young audience 

A note about T's reading and this book...

Short sentences, a predominance of high-frequency words, and a large font are ideal for emerging readers. We are just entering the world of EZ readers, about which I have mixed feelings. This book, however, offers the ease of EZ readers while also offering a true story about T's contemporary and demonstrating that autism isn't a person's defining characteristic. This makes a difference in our family: T prefers real people to fictional characters and is happy to read a few high-frequency words. 

Son's Review

(Age: 4)

I like it. It's about Waylen who wants to jam and he plays the drum. If he came here, we'd make lots of noise. I like the end where they get to play in the concert because they got to do what they were working towards. Daddy should read it. He would like it because it's about music, and he likes to put music on.

Extra:

Waylen Wants to Jam  is part of a series. Each book features a child who has a disability without focusing on that disability. Here is the website for the series: https://www.findingmywaybooks.com/  You can access the catalog of other books, classroom resources, and interviews with the titular children.

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

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers

Our New FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit http://ow.ly/kcbZ30p3QWz

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators

Free Understanding Developmental & Physical Challenges Classroom Kit

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Note: A review copy of this book was provided for this event. Waylen Wants to Jam was provided by author and publisher Jo Mach.