The word "parent" is not just a noun. It's also a verb.
“We All Celebrate” by Chitra Soundar offers an educational journey through various global festivities, structured according to the seasons. Each section of the book introduces readers to diverse cultural, national, and religious celebrations, providing insights into traditions like the varied ways of celebrating spring in Samoa and Sweden or winter holidays in different cultures.
Cara Florance, biochemist, has given us a cool collection of 25+ experiments you can do at home that are fairly straight-forward and will provide effects sure to capture even the most skeptical imagination: everything from a color changing tea to a homemade compass!
Berta, compartmentalizes all of her feelings in four separate boxes: yellow, red, blue and green. If she gets “too sad” she opens up the blue box and fills it with tears. Too happy? No problem. Opens up the yellow box and fills it up with springing jumps. Once she’s done expressing herself, she closes the boxes tightly.
Max and Ely are two little boys working hard to get the moon to stay in place. They send a rocket up to try to lasso it, they even try to scold it into submission. Each night the moon comes and goes, bringing closer the day that Ely must leave for the hospital.
In these uncertain times, this book felt so grounding to me. The book is probably more suited towards the 3-8 year old crowd, but the words and illustrations were soothing enough and a great reminder to anyone, regardless of age that living in the moment, breathing, feeling, and finding your calm is not only a faint possibility, but within all of our grasp in one way or another.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a picture book paint such an honest and straightforward treatment of a mental disorder in a parent, and I can imagine what a relief it would provide for young readers to see that parts of their story are shared with others.
With a charming cast of characters like flamboyant and gorgeous dance phenom Alec, cruel dance teacher Millicent Moore, singer/songwriter Fletch, mean girls Natasha and Jade, and terrifying martinet Cecile Duke, the plot moves along in a way that is comforting if a little predictable. Fans of Singin’ in the Rain will know exactly where the story is going, but they will enjoy getting there tremendously.
As the youngest daughter of a Cuban family living in Miami, Lila Reyes has everything she could possibly want. She has spent her life learning to make all of the recipes her grandmother taught her while working at their family bakery, La Paloma. Cooking and baking are Lila’s heart and soul; they are the passions that drive her dreams and fuel her goals. The recipes her grandmother taught her go far beyond the kitchen where she spends so much of her time; they are the very beat of her heart.
There are people who carry a pocket US Constitution in their, you know, pocket. This book is not for those people. In my experience, the folks with the slim black copy of the Constitution in their jacket pocket tend to take the document as an unchanging lodestar, practically perfect in every way. I suspect they wouldn’t like this marvelous book aimed at middle grade Con Law scholars , because the authors present a more sophisticated, nuanced, and dare I say, correct view of the matter, one that shows us where the Framers got the Constitution right, and where they just got it written. And you know what? It’s a serious page turner.