Women in History: A Great Time to Read Biographies

Pam Munoz Ryan is a wonderful writer. Her novels are absolutely engaging, historical and an absolute pleasure to read. She is also a prolific biographer. If you want to celebrate women this month- celebrate the author, PMR and her body of work that celebrates women and life!

Another fun set of Biographies are those that are written as anthologies. Amelia to Zora

is a favorite as well as People Who Tell The Truth. Both feature amazing people who have helped to change and shape the world.

Reading these books hopefully will lead to more questions and more books. Hopefully also they will help spark you and your loved ones to think and reflect about your own lives and community you live in!

Host a Literary Party: Start a Book Club with Friends and Family

What is a Literary Party? A LP is one that involves the written and/or spoken word. It is a gathering of friends to enjoy each other and share texts with one another. It is to be awe and fall in love with words!

One Literary Party that you can throw with your friends and family is a Book Club Party. You can get together with families and friends who have

kids who enjoy to read similar books. Choose a book, read it with your kids and then meet at some one's house. Bring a collection of snacks, pick parts of the book to read aloud and choose some ideas to share with friends.

A nice mixture of kids and adults helps everyone see the beauty and power of books. Maybe the discussion lasts 30 minutes, maybe only 10minutes. Then celebrate the read by eating and mingling.

For babies, you may decide to each bring a board book to the party! You can spend the time reading all the different books with your babies! Let them roam and crawl and explore different favorite books! This could be a way for everyone to share the wide variety of texts that are out there.

Invite your friends and their families! Snack, read, talk and enjoy!

In Honor of Women's History Month

Celebrate Women Who Tell the Truth- Celebrate people who tell the truth! Here is a great collection of little biographies and quotes from famous people in history and today who made and are making a difference in the world.

Start an inquiry at home around some of the people. Find out all about their life's work!

I Love Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson is, hands down, my favorite children book illustrator. In fact, the illustrations alone persuade me to open a text and read the print inside! I love the way he captures the details of people, truly bringing out their distinct beauty. My nephew has Please Baby Please and Please Puppy Please! Two wonderful picture books by Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee for babies and toddlers. Please Baby Please was Auntie ME’s niece’s first book that she could ‘read’ on her own. The kids in those books are so captivating.

I bought, He's Got the Whole World In His Hands for my god son on his first communion! When I was younger it was one of my favorite songs to sing! That little boy in the book I swear is the spitting image of my god son. We all had so much fun singing and reading and admiring the pictures in that book together!

AB and I over the years enjoyed: Thunder Rose, Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life, Dancing in the Wings and Brothers of the Knight! All wonderful picture books with great authors like Jerdine Nolen and Debbie Allen. Yes, Debbie Allen from the original movie and tv show, Fame.

He also illustrates for biographies such as, Mama Miti (another biography about Wangari Maathai), Testing the Ice (The story of Jackie Robinson), and Coretta Scott (Ntozake Shange's poem of civil rights leader).

His work is vast and filled with variety. His images help to tell the story and enjoy the content that we are learning. If you don’t own or haven’t read and fallen in love with one of his picture books- go immediately to your local bookstore, library or search online! His art is absolutely to die for and inspires us to enjoy the details of life!

Birthday Gift Update

This winter, my sister, nephew, and I took a 2 hour road trip to Ottawa to visit with friends. My nephew asked for music. He is usually pretty particular about what he likes and wants. Ever since he was a little baby he has enjoyed the music of Johnny Cash (influence from Nana).

One day as he was listening to the play list on his mama's itouch. He heard a steam engine sound off in the background of a song- whoooooooo- and soon started the song, Casey Jones. He was in love.

As we headed out of town, my nephew called from the back seat, "Casey Jones! Casey Jones! Play it loud!" Luckily my sister understood and found the song and played it. When it finished he shouted, "More, please!" This went on for 2 hours- until we pulled into the driveway of our friend's house.

Well I was online browsing books and I found, "I Dream of Trains" by Angela Johnson (one of my favorite authors). That's right, it's the story about ...Casey Jones. I had to get it for him. I had to feed his passion.

I also found the story of Sonia Sotomayor, Sonia Sotomayor A Judge Grows In The Bronx, By Jonah Winter. Judge Sotomayor is the newly appointed US Supreme Justice.

I also found Pele, King of Soccer by Monica Brown. My nephew is a big fan of soccer. His baby sitter (a big soccer player herself) began to teach him how to play last spring. Spring is on its way. It will soon be time to get out of the pool and onto the field!

All his gifts still fit inside his "Surfer Backpack"! There is still a little room left. Mmmmmm... I have side pockets to fill as well.

Enjoy the biographies! Happy reading to you!

Reading Alongside Our Kids

I have been in many book clubs. Book clubs have always been a place for me to discover new authors and content, bond with friends, and push me as a reader. One afternoon as AB and I were browsing in a book shop we came across Wicked. AB said to me, "Oh, I really want to see that Broadway Show!" I told her that I did as well! I suggested to AB that we get two copies of it- one for her and one for me- and that we should read it, talk about it and then go see the show together. She was game! And so began our book club.

When M and A invited me to the beach last spring, I had to bring something. I didn't want to show up empty handed. For the the adults I brought wine. For the kids I brought books for us to read and share together. I brought the picture book- Listen to The Wind for M. Listen to the Wind is the story of how Greg Mortensen was rescued in the mountains of Pakistan and nursed to health. He returned to the village that saved him, to help build a school! M is the kind of person who loves books about saving the world and helping others. For her birthday this year she asked everyone to bring food rather than presents. She was then able to take all the food her friends and family collected to her local food bank. So, I knew that this book choice would grab her attention. I had read Three Cups of Tea first. How wonderful that there is a version for younger kids to read and talk about a topic and issue in the world together!

I did the same with Wangri Maathai. When she won the Peace Prize I decided I wanted to get to know her better as well as her lifelong work in Kenya. I read Through The Greenbelt Movement and Unbowed: A memoir. Planting the Trees of Kenya and Wangari's Trees of Peace are two beautiful books published for kids. What a great dialog that this can create about reading and the world!

For my god son's 8th birthday I gave him: From Akira to Zoltan. I wanted to introduce him to the world of biographies and people who have made a difference in the world! What a great way to continue building the idea of strong male role models! This set off an inquiry about people and history! He continued to look for other biographies- He got inspired to read a couple of biographies about Gandhi and Barack Obama! I followed along! I found for myself The Essential Guide to Gandhi. I also had read Obama's first autobiography Dreams From My Father, but still needed to read, The Audacity of Hope. So the two of us read biographies- side by side!

Create a book club with the kids in your life and find ways to connect your reading life to theirs! You will find that not only will you peak their interest in a topic- but they will inspire you to read more deeply as well!

Celebrating the Life of Martin Luther King Jr

Today is a day that we remember the life and dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. We remember his legacy and his lessons to try and become better citizens in this world. Some people read his speeches with their kids (or excerpts).

I Had A Dream

Drum Major Instinct

Some families listen all together to his speeches read on an audio version. Discussing his life and his actions as a family help kids not only make sense of the past but also that of the present.

Audio Version of Drum Major Instinct

A beautiful biography picture, Martin's Big Words, is a lovely book to read with your kids at home that helps to tell the story of his life. A Sweet Smell of Roses is another beautiful story of kids taking a stand. You may even decide to read other biographies of people who made and are making a difference in the world. Akira to Zoltan or Amelia to Zora. Two winners.

Reading/listening to his speeches or finding a biography to read- gives your family a connection with this important holiday.

I hope you spend the day peaceful, helping others- together.