Multicultural Children's Book Day: Double Dare Review and a Giveaway!

About a month ago, had heard about January 27th as being dedicated as Multicultural Children's Book Day. Looked into what was being done for this special day and found out that some awesome bloggers organized and had planned to highlight various children's books and children's authors for the day.

Contacted the organizers to see what was going to take place, and then, we were invited to participate.
We received a great book written by a very talented writer, Kelie Charles, called Double Dare.
Double Dare is the first in a series based on wonderfully inspiring multi-cultural teen girls who are part of an entire product line by Double Dutch Dolls.

Kelie really has a knack for writing stories that young children will be able to relate to.
What is great is that many children will identify with the book and its characters. In addition, children from various backgrounds will get to learn more about the world and its people through this great fictional tale of teen twins. 
There are three titles currently available in this series: 
Book 1: Double Dare
Book 2: Double Trouble
Book 3: Double Time
Hopefully, this delightful book series will continue to expand, as the characters and story lines will certainly appeal to many children.
In addition to the books, Double Dutch Dolls sells beautiful dolls, t-shirts, doll brushes, and metal school lockers.
Double Dare (Book 1) features twins, Zaria and Kaila Bradley. The two girls are collectively known as Double Dutch Dolls. One of the sisters is known primarily for her tastes in fashion and beauty while the other is known primarily for her academic talent and athletic prowess. Zaria and Kaila decide to do a classic switch-a-roo and the two decide to trade places. The story line is set in middle school. The girls have a rival named Trinity. Trinity tends to mock the girls and is a bit of a bully with her words.
Many children deal with the issue of bullying not only by actions, but by words. Thankfully, the story goes beyond that and things work out for the twins.
A few things: the book is listed as for ages 8 and up. While the actual reading level is not specifically given,  the recommendation seems to be spot-on. This chapter book does not contain pictures as some other books intended for ages 8 and up do. But the illustrations on the cover and back jacket, as well as the images of the various characters on the website, will surely be well received by this book's audience.

The Double Dutch Dolls website also ties in a Kids Club section.
 The Kids Club contains a comic strop, information pertaining to the dolls, a coloring book, puzzles, and an overview of Double Dare.
What I could picture is that children who start to read this book series would want to participate in doing these Kids Club Activities, as well as extensions, such as an online book club.
Many schools are now participating in Skype Classroom, and many homeschools are participating in Skype as well. Could see an entire club dedicated to Skyping about Double Dutch Dolls!

If your school or homeschool does decide to set up a book club dedicated to reading and experiencing Double Dutch Dolls, suggest that you contact Double Dutch Dolls directly to see if they would please send you the great Powerpoint that gives an excellent overview of their entire company, products, and mission.
If you wish to seek grant money to get a book club up and running, the Powerpoint would be excellent to share with potential donors. The Powerpoint would also be a great way to start the club to share with children who wish to be club participants, as well as with fellow parents and teachers.
One of the Extension Activities that you may wish to try is the one we did here at Sunrise Learning Lab. Following reading the book, Double Dare, our students had the chance to read the Comic that appears online in the Kids Club section. They were then asked to each create a comic strip that relates to their experiences with their families. Every child got the chance to create a comic strip that is about them! Fun but also interesting to see what they included in their comic strips!
To do this extension activity, it would be best to have the book, Double Dare, first. You and your group of children could read the book independently or as a read-aloud. Then, your group could head on over to the Kids Club page to read the online comic strip featuring the Double Dutch Dolls.
Following reading the online comic strip, you could then give each child in your group some paper and some markers or colored pencils. Explain to the child that their comic must have a bit of a storyline. Many but not all comics are funny, so they should think of something that they have personally experienced that would make for a great comic strip. Some children may need help with drawing various boxes for each section of their comic strip. You could also choose to have your group of children create a comic strip on the various tech items in your room, such as a laptop or and iPad. But using traditional paper and art materials works great and does not require any technology...there are many ways to accomplish creating a personal comic strip. When the children have completed their comic strips, they could share with their group and then, perhaps if your school or homeschool sets up a Double Dutch Dolls Club or if your group participates in Skype or Skype Classroom, you could then have the children share their comics with each other.

When I was a child, I was given a beautiful doll every year for Christmas from my beloved aunt and uncle.
They sent me the most amazing dolls!
One of the Double Dutch Dolls would have been something that I would have loved to have gotten as a Christmas doll. Can only imagine the thrill of the child who is blessed with receiving one of these gorgeous dolls and an accompanying book as a gift!

Would you like to win a copy of Double Dare?
Because we believe in paying it forward, we would like to send a winner our copy of Double Dare so that your family will get to treasure it too!  If you would like to win, please visit the Double Dutch Dolls website and then, come back and share in the comments section what you liked the most about the website: one of the dolls, the Kids Club activities, etc...

Will do a drawing on Friday and will mail this lovely book, Double Dare, out to the winner!
You may enter from now, Tuesday, January 27, 2015 until Friday, January 30, 2015. You must be entered by 12 noon Eastern time on Friday, January 30, 2015, in order to be entered.
Will post the winner's name on Friday,  hopefully by 1 pm Eastern. 
*No purchase is necessary to participate.
*I am not receiving any compensation for doing this giveaway, other than the fact that this great book was sent to us and we were blessed with the chance to read it.
*Thanks to Kelie for writing such a neat book that many children will love to read!

This review is linked up with various blog posts about Multicultural Children's Book Day.

Hope that you will check out the other great posts about other great multicultural children's books!

Big Yay!!! for multiculturalism and diversity!!! 
This post will be added to my Pinterest Board, Diversity.

Hope that you will pop over to check my board as well as the various blog posts about Multicultural Children's Book Day.