Celebrate Every Family

Books help to shape how you see yourself and others in the world. To many of us, reading books about kids and people from diverse backgrounds is important. We both want to create positive self images and to understand and grow positive images of others. Reading about families that look and sound like yours, help you to see yourself in the world. Reading about families that are different then your own, helps you to understand others in your communities!

My friends, in California, who adopted twin three year olds and who have a beautiful 2 year old girl, asked me about the library I am creating for my nephew. They wanted to know mostly about his books that celebrate a diversity of ethnicities and families. They wanted some good titles of books that feature kids of color.

My sister and I have tried to find books that not only celebrate diversity within a family- but that also celebrates diversity of what "makes up" a family!

For my nephew’s library I have collected a few books that help to highlight these things about our family values. I got him, Families by Susan Kuklin. This book is a series of photo essays of kids and their families at home. The kids are from diverse backgrounds and blended families.

Another favorite of my nephew is the book, Black is Brown is Tan, a poetry book by Arnold Adoff. Arnold is poet extraordinaire. He is married to Virginia Hamilton, another famous YA novelist. This poem is a celebration of their family. My nephew can listen to this book 3 times in a row! He has loved it ever since he was little.

We also have, What a Family by Rachel Isadora. My nephew likes to read this book and then we open up our photo albums of our family. We read them side by side and talk about everyone in our family.

More More More Said the Baby, by Vera B Williams, is another favorite of my nephew. He runs the house as if he is little guy and little pumpkin! He references the book often in his play and loves to be chased!

My nephew, ever since he was a baby, has loved loved Shades of Black! It is not a story, rather a list and beautiful set of photos of kids. He loves listening to the lyrical language and reading about kids! This was one of the first books he memorized!

Who’s Toes Are Those and Who’s Knees Are These, were two books he read repeatedly in daycare. We decided he needed them at home too! Brown Angels is one of my favorite poems, (made into a picture book), by Walter Dean Meyers.

Two of my nephew’s favorite picture books, that feature illustrations of kids of color are Looking For a Moose and Subway Anatasia Suen. When our friends had their baby, we got my nephew and their son, I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother, by Selina Alko.

Look for books that reflect your family’s heritage, family structure and values! Look for books that introduce your kids to other backgrounds, family structures and values! Open your lives to celebrating families of all kinds and you will open the world to your kids!

A List of More Books to Look Up and Add to Your Library!

Perfect For a Toddler

The day I left for Montreal, to go to my nephew’s birthday weekend extravaganza, I was talking with my friend- Auntie KB- about all the ways we were going to celebrate his birthday. “What an aunt you are! I need some suggestions for my 2 year old nephew!” Did I have some suggestions for her!

My nephew absolutely fell in love the Van Fleet Books. Dogs was his favorite but he had, Cats, Tails, Alphabet and The Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings! They have been a big hit with my nephew ever since he was a baby.

We also loved to capitalize on his love for the ABC's by getting many ABC books! One that we all especially love is, Creature ABC. Not only did it help to develop his letter recognition, phonemic awareness, but it also contributed to his knowledge of animal vocabulary.

There is this adorable interactive series called, Little Drivers. Both my nephew and Baby C have loved these books to death! Literally! They feature kids, of different ethnicity, driving the different kinds of vehicles. You can actually "put the driver" into the truck or airplane as you read! Different books feature different themes such as: emergency vehicles or transportation in cities.

Finally my last suggestions for toddlers is my nephew's latest favorite, Lost and Found by Olivers Jeffers. My friend, The Rocky Mountain Mama, introduced me to this series. Her two boys LOVE this author and have enjoy reading his different books. This has been my nephew's latest "go to" book to read on his own.

Hope this helps the gift giving and reading process! Happy reading to you all!

The Birthday Extravangaza

So you are wondering- how was the 3 year old's birthday? So much fun! It truly is amazing to see how my nephew has grown in just three short years. You hear all these statistics about intelligence and talking and the amount of words that some kids have by the time they enter kindergarten. Well, I can safely say, my nephew is in the 30,000,000 words category. Language is just exploding all around him!

On his birthday morning, we took him to the Imax movie at the science center in the old city of Montreal. There was film about the Space Station. My nephew sat through the whole film. Days later I could see what information stuck with him!

First of all, the count down and loud take off with the fire was the first thing he told his BFF, Toddler T, in daycare!

Then, as all the other kids were trying to put on their snowsuits (yes, it snows in March in Montreal), my nephew and Toddler T are laying in the middle of the hall on their bellies. "Don't lay down in the hall. Please sit up," called one of the teachers, en Francais. My nephew replied, "I'm not laying down. I am floating in space. I am an astronaut."

Then at home, when I got to babysit him one evening, my nephew gathered up a few things in his new "surfer's backpack" that Big Girl C and Baby E gave him for his birthday. "What are you going to do with the backpack," I asked. "It's not a backpack. It's my pack for space. I am putting on my suit to go walking and fixing our station. I need a few things." He gathered up his cell phone, so he could call his mama, he gathered up some blocks (that he said were apricots), and his little notebook I brought him with a pen. "What is your notebook for?" I inquired. "It's for you know... actually I need to make a list." He proceeded to make a list and then "called for help". "I need some equipment. Yeh and I need lots of things." He carefully made his list and then stuffed it into the pack!

What fun we had!

When it was time to go to bed, something that my nephew tries to avoid at all cost, he decided we would read! "Find a few books!" I told him. Well... he did. He brought over a stack of about 20 books. He turned to me and said, "Titi, first read all of these! Then I will do my doe-doe. (sleep in french)." I looked at the stack. I looked at nephew. I had to smile. What a clever boy! We snuggled up and read till he fell asleep. I Dream of Trains and Corduroy each got a couple of reads!

Enjoy your family! Enjoy the read.

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!

Telling and Recording Stories

When Little Boy J was just a toddler, I remember Mentor Mommy S telling him stories about when he was a little baby. She told him stories over and over again. LBJ had his favorites that he would request to hear retold again. There was the story about the time he was at Cousin M's house, or the time Grandma L came over and rubbed his back till he fell asleep. They were told with elaborate detail. LBJ could even "chime" in as his mom told the story. He could add in what was going to happen next. It was as if she was reading him a beautiful picture book- except this story had no written text. Family stories, what a wonderful way to celebrate your lives together. Tell and retell your favorite family moments! Make them into a big beautiful tale.

Well, I wanted to do the same for my nephew. I dreamed of doing the same with him. I didn't know quite when to start. So I started at birth! Telling him and singing to him, our family stories together.

I remember when my nephew told his first story. I couldn't believe it! We were at his home, reading 100 animals. He was, maybe, 16 months. We were naming all the animals he knew. When we came upon the worm, my nephew stopped and looked at me and pointed to the worm again. He said to me, "Worm! Worm!" I looked back at him and said, "Yes, that is a worm." He repeated with a serious look (like I had not understood him), "Worm! Worm!" he exclaimed to me. I wasn't sure about the fascination, so I looked at him and said again, "Yes, that is a worm."

He quickly held out his hand as if he was giving something to me, "Titi. Titi. Worm. Worm. Me. Ehhhhhh! Ehhhhh! Worm. Worm. Titi. Me. Ehhhhh! No!"

A family story was born! It was the story about the time I took my nephew to the park and we found a worm.

It was wet, because it just had rained. We were digging in the sand together and all of a sudden, I found a worm! I picked it up and called my nephew over to see it! I held it in my hand and said, "Do you want to hold the worm?" My nephew crinkled up his eyes and nose and turned his head away and said, "Ewwwwwwwwwwww". He was nervous. He didn't want to hold it. I tried to show him how gentle it was and maybe he would like to touch it. I held my hand out close to him and he turned away in shyness. I slipped the worm back into the earth and the two of us said good bye to the worm.

This became one of our favorite family stories. We retold it many times. On family vacations, I picked out moments, like being startled by the loud cruise ship just below Nana's and Papa's apartment, seeing the pelican on our walk with Nana along the river, taking the train at Bush Gardens and Titi being scared of the Rhino, or taking the trolley and getting to ring the bell. We told and retold these stories. My nephew has his own family favorites. I decided to make him a book with 10 of our favorite stories from our vacation in Florida that we retold a million times. I drew pictures, took photographs from the trip and put them into a Moleskin sketch notebook. I did this for 3 family vacations we all took together. This way he can at anytime, read our stories!

When I go up and visit him now, sometimes he wants me to tell the "Train Story" or "The First Time He Ate a Popsicle Story"and sometimes we read his "Memory Books"! Now he can join in and tell them.

' "Don't be nervous, " Nana said!'

It is truly adorable. What is even more impressive now is his storytelling capability of ones that we have never told. He can spin a story and captivate you, using dialog and feelings throughout his story! I like to think that Titi had some influence!

Tell your family and friends stories! Tell and retell them over and over again like a beautiful piece of literature! You may even decide to capture your favorite ones in writing!

Get Ready For Your Trip

Auntie ME, Uncle B, and Baby C, just got back from Paris! Once a year they travel as family to France. Auntie ME has work, and Uncle B and Baby C just play all day!


Before their trip, though, Baby C had been reading up for his third trip across the Atlantic. He had a couple of non-fiction books like, Amazing Buildings that he read with his mom and dad. He also had a couple of fiction books like, Adele and Simon. Guess where they visit? Paris! Reading each of these books, made a nice little text set for Baby C! Learning and remembering all about different places and things that he would see once again on their trip. Both types of books, fiction and non fiction, provide a rich experience. He can as well, retell and read both types of books to you!

What a nice way to get ready for travel- wherever you go- whether it be another country or city- the zoo or a museum.

Study up! Read up! Get yourselves already to explore. When you come home, you'll be able to talk and remember some beautiful family memories.

Give Your Stories as a Gift: Happy Birthday Sis!

Photo By Daniel Galan

Before I left Canada, I bought my sister an early birthday gift: Snow pants and a bathing suit.

(Oh, the irony of Canada in the wintertime!)

Today is her actual birthday and I am here in NYC- far away. I sent her this year a letter filled with 10 beautiful memories of the "Three of Us" together all year! I sent it in a beautiful card (and included a little $$ to encourage her to have a nice brunch out or evening to herself!)

For my friends' birthdays lately I have been giving them 3 nights (with unlimited hours) of babysitting! How priceless right? In some cities that is a mega $ gift! For me, it is a pleasure to get to hang out with some of favorite kids, like Baby C and Little Boy J and Sister L.

Moms and Dads need to be celebrated too! You all work so hard! Happy Birthday Sis!

Show Your Love to Others

Make your own valentine's day cards. Send a quote from a favorite Children's Book to your friends- of any age! Make Valentine Day cards to your friends and families with your little and big ones! Ask them to pick out moments in books that show love!

Happy Valentine's Day. Happy Reading Day. I hope this day is filled and fills you with love.

"We're safe," said Stellaluna. Then she sighed. "I wish you could see in the dark, too."

"We wish you could land on your feet," Flitter replied. Pip and Flap nodded.

They perched in silence for a long time.

"How can we be so different and feel so much alike?" mused Flitter.

"And how can we feel so different and so much alike?" wondered Pip.

"I think this is quite a mystery," Flap chirped.

"I agree," said Stellauna. "But we're friends, And that's a fact."

Stellaluna By Janell Cannon

Whatever It Takes To Help You To Read!

Little Boy J, from birth loved to be read to! He loved to snuggle on the couch in the living room or in his big red reading chair in his room. He loved just listening to words pour over him. Both MMS and Mentor Dad R, dramatized reading for him. Their voices adn gestures and facial expressions, kept LBJ entertained and engaged. Who wouldn't love to crawl up next to a book with them?

When LBJ started to understand what words and letters and sounds were, we all tried to get him to read everything and anything. But LBJ just wanted to listen to books. Reading was hard. It was work. To him, reading was when someone else read to you, creating a movie in your mind to listen to and watch. When he tried to read, the whole image of reading and experience changed.

MMS and MDR of course thought and thought about what to do! MMS tried every book out to see what he was interested in and could read. Turned out there were these low level comic books. Li

ttle Boy J ate them up! He started reading them and it was hard to get him to stop. MMS will admit it was hard to let him into those books, books with endless superheros, not necessarily deep passionate messages. For LBJ though, this was another entry point into his reading life. It will not be a definitive one.

Last night, B and were at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn for a reading. B was looking for some comic books to share with young readers in school, from Toon Books. When we asked, the woman in the store told us all about how Art Spiegleman and his wife, Francoise Mouly are behind the project.

Art Spiegleman who wrote Maus (which I read in an history class in college) and his wife, Francoise Mouly, the art director of the New Yorker, found the same to be true in their home. Their kids learned to read through comics. The two of them have gotten behind Toon Books, such as: Stinky, Benny and Penny, and Luke. They want to help publish low level comic books.

These books help to bring in other readers to our Grand Literary Family!

Enjoy the Read!

Post other graphic books that you have found that kids love, here!

Treasured and Loved Books: Great Gifts for Kids to Give Each Other

When my nephew was born I drove up to Canada with two big

bags of books.

On the road trip north, I stopped off at my god son's and AB's house.
We started to look through their bookshelves and baskets.

My god son, 6 at the time said,

"I have a lot of baby books!

Maybe I should give some of these to the new baby?"

What a great idea!

AB went through her shelves as well,

to see what books she didn't want
any longer and which ones she just loved to reread a million

times.

AB gave some of her books to her brother,

she made a bag for her cousin,
and a bag for school. She thought she could

give some of her books to
her past teachers.

She decided which ones would be good for which grades!

My god son did the same.

He made bags for the new baby (my nephew)
and ones that he wanted to give his teacher from last year.

P and A were thrilled! Spring cleaning and gift giving!

How thoughtful! We packed up the bags in the garage and

loaded the car.

Before I headed out- the three of us headed to the bookstore

to begin to fill our shelves again with new books!

Everyone felt refreshed and loved by books!

What a great idea, for kids to feel the sense of giving to others.
Giving things that once brought them joy!

My friend Sara and her family, each summer,

go to South Africa to work with teachers and

kids on building literacy.

Sara and her friend, this past weekend, had a party.

They asked all of their friends to bring books
that they wanted to donate to the school

where Sara and her family work.
For all of us unable to attend the party,

Sara sent us a link to an organization to buy books

from South African authors.

With every book that you purchase,

they donate that same book to the school.

What a great idea. Build your international library at home,
while helping schools in South Africa to build their libraries.

Just another way to help give the gift of books and

reach your arms out to include others into your own

Literary Family.

Happy early spring cleaning, gift giving and most of all

READING.

The Power of Siblings: Remembering Salinger

Growing up, I never considered myself a big reader. In fact, I read VERY little on my own, let alone in school. There were three books in Middle/High School that I remember reading- because of the sole fact that my sister told me to. I read- The Night by Elie Wiesel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and The Catcher in the Rye. I actually read the whole book and not just the back cover like I usually did for classroom assignments. Probably the strong narrative voice hooked me in and I was finally able to connect and see what the reading experience could be like. I am sure though that without the recommendation from my sister, I might never had picked up these powerful books and finished them. I always looked up to my sister and I wanted to be half of the reader and thinker that she was (and still is today). The right book and the right person giving me the book let me see what reading could be.

JD Salinger passed away today, but his books will live on.
Think about the books for you that helped you to understand what reading is or that got you "hooked" on reading. Then pass those on to the younger people in your life!

Look at your literary family. Get them talking to each other- you never know what will help unleash the wild world of reading to another!

Who Are We?

Dear Member of your own Literary Family,

We are friends and relatives of children at every age! We probably have a love of both the spoken and written word. As we shower the children in our lives with love, who can help but drop pieces of literature, songs, and passion about the world into the hearts and minds of those around us.

Think about who makes up your Literary Family- your own children, nephews/nieces, grandchildren, students, babies and kids of your closet friends? You have the power to help this young person develop into a wise, wordy, intellectual from such a young age. Teach them through different literary genres how to love the world, love themselves and build loving relationships with others!

Weekly, I will try to give you different ways to connect to these kids to help build your own literary family! A family that loves to learn, loves to read, and loves to be with eachother!

Sending you literary joy!