I think the Holy Grail of Halloween picture books is the classic, Room on a Broom, which combines so many delightful elements into a Halloween-themed book: counting, friendship, humor, and a search for missing objects. Room on a Broom by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler These Halloween picture books have some of these elements. What…
December 3, 2019 I have nothing but good memories of your mom. I was new to LA in the mid-1950’s and started working for the Air Force on Maple Street and met Rose there; we worked in different departments but on the same floor. I remember having many Friday-after-work Mexican dinners at El Cholo. We…
Our recent trip to Kauai was filled with outdoor activities like the beach, fishing, and hiking to beautiful spots, but I was glad of a few teachable moments for my kids to learn about Native Hawaiian culture. Interestingly, this Native Hawaiian was charged with commercial vending for these presentations. “A Native Hawaiian charged with…
It’s so easy to get free diversity children’s books through Multicultural Children’s Book Day. You don’t have to be a blogger to review multicultural children’s books for our MCBD 2020 online event. You just need to have a love of diversity in children’s literature and be willing to share on your social media platforms such…
I recently joined a new diversity committee for New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (NESCBWI). The other members of the committee are: Jeanette Bradley, Lisa Stringfellow, Janet Costa Bates, Amitha Knight, Autumn Allen, and Valerie Bolling. One of the first tasks our committee accomplished was create a mission statement: The mission of…
Big Catch On the beach, it’s like a festival/ but in the sea, they will hold funerals/ for the tens of thousands dead. Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko (1903-1930) I’ve been thinking a lot about Buddhist rituals now that my mom is at the end of life. The Buddhist services that I have attended have…
One of our favorite things to do in Kauai on a family vacation was to go to the local farmer’s markets. There was one every day except Sunday throughout the island. We especially liked trying the exotic fruit. A few were strange — like a sweet potato that you don’t have to cook — but…