Bookish Beauty

Today is Multicultural Children’s Book Day!

There are book celebrations all over the internet today, and I will tell you more about that in a bit, 

but first, I get to share a book review of this beauty:

MY GRANDMA AND ME - by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated by Lindsey Yankey, (Candlewick Press, 2019) 

MY GRANDMA AND ME is a gorgeous picture book about an Iranian girl and her grandmother. It’s about connection with loved ones, specifically a girl and her grandmother. 

“When  I was growing up in Iran, my grandma lived with us. I followed her everywhere. When she swept, I swept. When she cooked, I cooked. When she prayed, I prayed like her too. “

Mina Javaherbin’s text is rhythmic and lovely. 

The mixed media illustrations by Lindsey Yankey are luminous with intricate patterns and palette. 

I love this window into the life of a Muslim woman and her granddaughter, 

and am warmed by the compassion, generosity, and love-in-action that the grandmother lives. 

At a deeper level this is about humanity and interfaith friendships.
There are two grandmother friends in this story who are of different faiths. Together they make blankets for people who are in need. Together, they share food and community.
And every night, each grandmother prays to the God she worships for her friend to go to heaven. 

And that’s what struck me most about MY GRANDMA AND ME. 

That underneath all of our cultures and faiths,  

at the heart we are mostly the same.

Woven of skin and bones, 

full of dreams and strivings,  

circled by friends and family, 

and each adorned with unique passions and perspectives

that put all together, make up a pretty stunning tapestry.

Love has a way of weaving us together, and I think MY GRANDMA AND ME shows this beautifully.

MY GRANDMA AND ME is about a grandmother modeling her way of life to her granddaughter, 

and it’s about humanity. 

About us. All of us.

And it reminds me in a gentle and powerful way that if we look deeper at each other, 

there is so much to love.

If you haven't yet, I hope you get to discover this book and love it, too.



And here's an exciting thing: because today is MULTCULTURAL CHILDREN'S BOOK DAY, you can find heaps of "Read Your World" book reviews, teacher resources, classroom empathy kits, and other activities on the Multicultural Children's Book Day website.

If you do Twitter, there is a #READYOURWORLD book party tonight at 9 p.m. ET in which you can win books and discover more multicultural books to love. Find that party by searching the #READYOURWORLD hashtag.
   

Thank you to Candlewick Press for giving me this book to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020.  

MY GRANDMA AND ME

by Mina Javahherbin, illustrated by Lindsey Yankey, 

published by Candlewick Press. 2019. 

ISBN-10/ISBN-13: 0763694940 / 9780763694944

Book Club for Two

I love my small one.

She sparkles. 
She is bursting with ideas.

When she wants something, she tries to make it for herself:
Cell phone. Laptop. Stilts.


This girl is going places.
And she loves to read!

But she's been struggling in math.
Her teachers decided the best way to help
is to pull her out of Book Club for extra math help.

I know she needs it.
I know it's a good thing, but, oh, the sting!

Friends, have you ever been there?  

Here's our silver lining.

Over the winter break, Birdy picked up her sisters' Wells and Wong book by Robin Stevens
and started reading.

She didn't put it down! She kept telling me,

"Mama, I really like this book." 

"Mama, I love this book!"

So I had an idea.
We're making our own Mom-Daughter Mystery Book Club.
Just us.
And siblings, if they want to.

I bought a stack of Wells and Wong books.

I stocked her with a notebook and sticky notes and question prompts.

Now we can infer and predict and monitor for meaning,

or we can just cuddle up in our pajamas
and read.

Here's to making our own silver linings.

Have you ever done a Parent-Kid Book Club? 

I'd love suggestions!

Our first BOOK CLUB list:

{by Robin Stevens, American editions, illustrated by Elizabeth Baddely}

Murder is Bad Manners

Poison is Not Polite

First Class Murder

Jolly Foul Play

Mistletoe and Murder

Bea and Jules, Day 24:

Bea and Jules have been bringing home a little bit of Christmas every day. 

But will it work? 

Bea put light jars at every window so her mom could see them on her way home. She hung up all the stick elves.  And there was the music concert. And clove oranges! And cookies!

But what if it’s not enough?

But it turns out, it is.

“YOU are the present, Bea! Every time I come home, it’s Christmas. All your making - every thing you touch, all the merry magic - that just adds twinkle. But I already have my Christmas right here.”

Books!

 

The Legend of the Poinsettia - Tomie dePaola

The Wish Tree - Kyo McClear, Chris Turnham

Bear's First Christmas - Robert Kinerk, Jim La Marche

How Six Found Christmas - Trina Schart Hyman

Christmas Tapestry - Patricia Polacco

Who is Coming to Our House? - Joseph Slate, Ashley Wolff

The Little Drummer Boy - Ezra Jack Keats

The Nativity - ill. by Julie Vivas

Bea and Jules, Day 13

Oranges

Today Jules is making presents - pomanders with oranges and cloves. 

She watched her gran make them, and now it's Jules' turn! 

Won't Gran be surprised?  

Books:

An Orange for Frankie - Patricia Polacco

Bea and Jules, Day 7 - Night Tree

Day 7: Night Tree.

Well! 

Jules may have planned for the animals to wake up and talk on Christmas 
Eve, but the animals didn’t know they were supposed to wait.  

Maybe they already had something to talk about.

          “Psst! Spread the word! Feast at the Night Tree!”

The treats Jules and Charlie made are already gone. 

Nibbled up. 

Vanished.

            “At least they had a party!” Jules sighs.  

That’s okay. There is still plenty to do to bring Christmas to everyone else. 

Books ! 

THE FRIENDLY BEASTS - Tomie DePaola
THE NIGHT TREE - Eve Bunting
OWL MOON - Jane Yolen, John Schoenherr

Happy dance!

Sometimes dreams draw close enough to touch.

This is mine. 

Making books. 

I think I've whispered that dream to you, my friends. 

Maybe a few times. 

Over the past two years, I've been working as a paraeducator at an elementary school

while feverishly pursuing illustration and writing in all the extra corners, 

loving on my wildebeests,

and sometimes catching up on dishes.

I've put in late nights and early mornings, 

repeatedly fallen asleep 

with pencil in hand, 

and enjoyed a tumult of emotions 

while scrabbling between jobs and family, 

art and laundry. 

 And here it is. 

This wisp-ish dream has come close enough to touch. 

To folks who don't know me, it might seem like it all happened in a flash. 

Like I said, 

"Guess what? I want to make books!" 

"I got an agent!"

"I am going to have a book!"

But you know. 

It's been years. 

Fruitful in so many ways. 

Fruitful in some really hard things! 

And fruitful in thankfulness

and learning to savor the small beauties in life. 

Fruitful in trying to spread love like seeds. 

Fruitful in hunting for the sacred in the dirt.  

In being thankful for each day 

my family and I get to be healthy and alive. 

But still, years. 

It has been so long 

I started to think my dream would stay wishy, 

and that would have been okay, too.

But here it is! It's real!

I'm reveling in this strange and unfamiliar thrill

of having my bright dream come near. 

I am going to be a picture book author and illustrator. 

 I have so many thanks to all of you who have helped me reach for the stars.

Thanks to my teachers, my friends, my crew of writers and illustrators, my family.

And thank you to Molly O'Neill and Root Literary for believing in me. 

To Maria Modugno at Random House for believing in this story. 

Here's to dreams, my friends!

Spring Break!

 

Wings. 

Breezes.

Book heaps. 

 Signs of Spring Break.

Bliss.

Happy Spring, my friends!

Here's to finding our wings

in every wind and weather. 

My books this week:

Big Cat, Little Cat - Elisha Cooper

The Stray Dog - Marc Simont

Happy In Our Skin - Frann Manushkin, Lauren Tobia

The Journey - Francesca Sanna

Colette's Lost Pet - Isabelle Arsenault

Girl with a Brave Heart - Rita Jahanforuz, Vali Mintzi

Orange Pear Apple Bear - Emily Gravett

Deep in the Forest - Brinton Turkle

Sam and Jump - Jennifer K. Mann

Red Wagon - Renata Liwska

Flashlight - Lizi Boyd

The Sea Serpent and Me - Dashka Slater, Catia Chien

Doll Bones - Holly Black

Switch- Ingrid Law

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Dear Genius: the Letters of Ursula Nordstrom - by Ursula Nordstrom & Leonard S. Marcus