Peaceful & Proud Inside: Muslim Families in KidLit
With the headlines screaming “Muslim Extremists” and “Muslim Terrorists” in wake of attacks in Paris, it is good time to feed your children a good diet of books featuring Muslim families from around the world and from our very own neighborhoods. After 9/11, many looked to the bookshelves in the United States and found them bereft of stories about Muslim children and families. Children’s book authors, illustrators and publishers sought to quickly fill the gap in our literature. We still have so far to go, but there are now so many wonderful stories—including the...
Read MoreThe 2014 Curious City Besties
What book will be a child’s “bestie”? What 2014 book will be your child’s favorite companion? Everyone in the book review press is lining up to declare the Best Children’s Books of 2014. They are, indeed, astounding reads all. If you are buying books for children, though, the best route is to approach a bookseller or librarian and describe your young reader by personality and (if you know) by their favorite books. Those booksellers and librarians are magic at making book matches. Let them give you a unique idea for a book gift. If you’re buying gifts...
Read MoreRead the Vote
Is the coursework for “Civics” going the way of “Home Ec”? Regardless of whether your kids are taught about the election in school, think about how you teach it. Voting is the role of each citizen and talking about the vote is the role of each parent. There are tips on having this important conversation in the article Go Vote, and Take Your Kids With You” from Washington Post (11/3/14). Learning by living is exactly what election day is about. We talk a lot in our family about making the world a better place, and tomorrow morning is one example of that. —Amy...
Read MoreTrolls, Grumpy Gators and Unassigned Reading
A chill is in the air and the summer days of lounging with a chapter book in hand appear to be over for the year…WAIT not so fast! You can incorporate elective reading in your day-to-day DESPITE homework, soccer, and this and that. Create a habit of 20 minutes a day when the WHOLE family is reading something they WANT to read. No judgement, no reading levels, just ADVENTURE… Here are some recommendations from Curious City’s radio appearance on Green Mountain Mornings available as a podcast here … ________________________________________________________________...
Read More20,000 Librarians Walk Into Vegas…
20,000 Librarians walk into a Vegas casino… It sounds like the set up to a bad joke. Even my Ethiopian American cab driver got the joke. Dropping me off at the Convention Center for the week-long ALA Annual Convention, he said, “Here it is party, party all day and all night. But you women are quiet and thinking. How can you be here? It is almost funny.” 20,000 librarians, publishers, and other book professionals walk into a Las Vegas casino bombarded with cigarette smoke, slot machine clangs, loud music, and scantily-clad women. With the dawning realization that this casino has...
Read MoreCurious City on the Brown Bookshelf
Honored to be invited by author/illustrator Don Tate to write about “Making Your Own Market” for The Brown Bookshelf, a website “designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.” “For me, children’s book marketing on the Brown Bookshelf or off has never been about social media, press, coverage, or other perils of “self-promotion.” For me, marketing has always been about storytelling and discovery. The best marketing finds ways to: retell a story beyond the framework of the book engage readers deeper in the story...
Read More