Welcome to our Biracial Bookworms reading community!

Before we begin, who am I?

I am an educator and a global traveler who is here to inspire and encourage you and your family to read. We will be giving you high quality and diverse resources and literature for you to read along with us. My goal is to empower and arm families and teachers with the tools to give children the world through reading, traveling, and learning languages!

My first experience with teaching children to read began in a 1st grade classroom in California. Like many of you, I was forced to figure out how I was going to inspire young children to want to open books and devour not just the words, but discover the world through the pages. I began totally overwhelmed at the responsibility of teaching children to read, and felt like I had more questions than answers for parents.

The same was true when I started having my own children. In the picture below, I was 9.5 months pregnant and could not even smile in this amazing picture of my husband all dressed up riding a camel around the Egyptian pyramids. I love this picture now even seeing the fear on my face at the thought of becoming a parent any minute. 

Why Biracial Bookworms?

I currently have two daughters. While I was teaching in international schools overseas, we lived and traveled in many different countries. Most of our experiences were extremely positive, but interracial families were not always accepted. When my oldest daughter started school, she too started experiencing ignorance and racism in her pre-school classes and in the communities where we lived. I decided to take action and create something positive out of these negative interactions.

I am committed to doing everything in my power to create a world where my girls’ mixed ethnicity is celebrated. My ultimate goal is to ensure my girls, as well as all children, know they can conquer anything. I have built my business platform with my own girls as my inspiration.

At Biracial Bookworms, my aim is to teach children HOW to read, but also WHAT to read.  This means I will give you books and resources to celebrate all genders, ethnicities, cultures, languages, etc. I would love for you to watch your little ones learn to read with books about refugees, social justice, and food customs from around the world. Ultimately, I want your family to have access to books that are culturally responsive, multicultural, and multiracial.

I firmly believe through reading these kinds of books, having culturally rich travels/experiences, and learning multiple languages, children to become globally minded individuals. They will grow up with compassion and tolerance as their super powers. With quality and engaging literature, you will create reading magic for the little bookworms in your home and in your schools each and every day!  

If my family is not multi-racial, is this blog and community for me?

The best part of this community is education. Teaching young kids about tolerance to those they will encounter for the rest of their lives is crucial. We accomplish this through reading.  I hope by using my family’s experiences, we can learn together. We want to navigate hard topics through discussions about multicultural books, resources, holidays, etc. 

We love to find people who care deeply about children becoming globally minded and strong individuals. Books have the power to bring people together who are otherwise so different. We want to thank you for being a part of our community. Your presence is a gift to me and every other person here.

(picture found here)

Biography

Bethany Edwards earned her B.A. in Liberal Studies Elementary Education, a Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential. She also has her M.A. in Reading and Literacy. She is currently working on her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Management. Bethany has been a professional educator for the past 11 years. Her background includes design and development of educational programs, along with literacy and curriculum development. Her background includes teaching in grades K-8, Curriculum Coordinator, Literacy Coach, Mentor Teacher, and Reading Specialist. She has taught in California, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Ukraine, Latvia, and Mauritania.

Global Experience

While earning her credentials, she gained experience in educational programs at the Boys and Girls Club as the Education Director. She also worked with multicultural kids from all over the world as a coach and mentor at WellSpring Egypt. Her diverse background facilitated expertise in teaching kids of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.   In her classroom teaching, she has also worked as a mentor teacher for new teachers and teacher assistants.  She has worked as a literacy coach for the Primary Years Program (PYP) and Elementary programs. In West Africa, she worked as the Curriculum coordinator for K-12.

Collaboration

While working in International Schools, she collaborated on many projects with U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officers.  Through Bethany’s community involvement, she has lectured at many universities around the world with the American Corners and USAID organizations.  She has taught workshops and seminars to at-risk youth/young adults in crisis prevention. Her experiences with social development use education and sports. She led professional development and training for local and international teachers in Egypt, Latvia and Mauritania.

Currently, Bethany is working as an educational consultant and writing children’s literature about biracial children meeting strong women in history. She has been featured on Moms Rising as a multicultural and multilingual writer. She and her husband, Anthony, and their daughters live in the Washington D.C. area.

Contact Bethany for book reviews or collaboration: Bethany@biracialbookworms.com or use the form below.

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