When Ruth Forman’s daughter came home from pre-K saying she didn’t like her curly hair, the author wrote an ode to loving your hair that became the board book Curls.
With sturdy pages perfect for small hands to grab and turn, Curls highlights the ways that Black girls can find the fun in living with curly hair, including braiding, beading, up and soft or shining big. Either way the most important thing for each of the four friends highlighted is to enjoy life and playing with each other while loving who they are.
Illustrations by Geneva Bowers are bright and energetic, helping to tell the story of curly hair and friendships along with the few words. Curls is a fun book for mothers to read with their daughters, and a great way to get across the concept of self-love.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
My name is John Shay and I live in Seattle, Washington. I am the author of a new children’s picture book titled, Panda Demick.
I became a grandfather on March 13, 2020, two days after that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. That stark juxtaposition of familial joy and global health threat got me thinking about my grandson’s life and the world that he will be inheriting. It inspired to write Panda Demick to give caretakers a way to explain the pandemic to children in an uplifting, life-affirming manner.
Author John Shay
In brief, the story is about a Panda, named Demick, who is just like any other panda except that he has the unique ability to talk to other animals, humans, and even itsy-bitsy viruses. His ability to communicate with the Coronavirus provides him with the knowledge he needs to help his friends and those in need.
From the very beginning, I knew that the story of Panda Demick needed to be bigger than the Coronavirus. It needed to offer insight into how a tiny part of nature emerged and how its arrival was a reflection of ongoing environmental imbalance.
That larger context for the story is tied directly to my early career as an Earth scientist. I hold degrees in both chemistry and geophysics. My first jobs out of college were working for The Greenhouse Gas Project and the Deep Sea Drilling Project at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. It was while working at Scripps that I met my wife, Joan, who holds a doctorate degree in oceanography. As a result of those early jobs and my marriage, I have had a front row seat to the hard-fact science behind climate change and its impact on ecosystems worldwide for over 40 years.
Beautifully illustrated by my good friend Jenny Zandona, the book shows the environmental imbalance that preceded the arrival of the Coronavirus through the eyes of Demick. Demick is saddened when his animal friends tell him about the environmental struggles facing the animal kingdom. Within that struggle, the coronavirus emerges and tells Demick what needs to done to keep all of his friends safe.
While following Demick’s lead, daily life is forced to slow down and families pull together to help each other. The story illustrates how the pandemic is forcing us to rediscover what’s truly important. It provides context for what children are actually experiencing and how good things can come from difficult times and that new beginnings are possible.
The book is very much a collaborative effort that was greatly aided by input from my wife, son, and daughter. In order to accelerate the availability of the book, Jenny and I, co-founded Itsy Bitsy Publishing and elected to self-publish the book. Panda Demick was released on election day, roughly 7 months after the idea first came to me while helping my son move home from Golden, Colorado, where he had been attending Colorado School of Mines.
Writing a children’s book about an ongoing global health crisis was not easy. While the daily tragedy brought about by the pandemic remains very real, the urgent need to provide caretakers a way to talk to children about it is also very real. I believe, now more than ever, that art and literature can have a profoundly positive impact on a child’s life.
The book was written in loving memory of those lost worldwide to COVID-19. To help drive that message home, one of the illustrations contains an empty pair of white nurse shoes as a tribute to the doctors and nurses lost to the pandemic. Their unwavering courage and sacrifice will always be part of the COVID-19 story. Feedback from healthcare workers around the nation has been very positive and heartwarming.
My wife, Joan Oltman-Shay, remains active in the sciences as president of an Earth science thinktank in Redmond, Washinton. My daughter Dana is a contract manager, overseeing critical Earth science research. My son David completed his mechanical engineering degree during the pandemic and is now working for an early-stage company building farming robots in Seattle, Washington.
You can learn more about the book by visiting the Panda Demick website at www.pandademick.com. Signed and inscribed copies of the book are available on the Panda Demick shop on Etsy. Signed copies include a postcard that readers can mail in to gift a free copy of the book to a healthcare hero or community organization.
Layla dreads starting 8th grade, another year, she assumes, of mediocre grades and the feeling of just getting by. Life at home has difficult moments too: her dad’s been gone since she was a baby, her mother juggles single-parenting with night-shift work at the hospital, and her older brother spends a lot of time gaming. But 8th grade is destined to be a time of big changes for Layla, a time when she will be challenged in her school and home life in ways she never could have imagined.
My Name Is Layla by Reyna Marder Gentin delves into several important issues faced by many teens and pre-teens: learning disabilities (both diagnosed and undiagnosed), friendship, honesty, integrity, economic stress, divorced parents, and more. Layla keeps a lot to herself, and she makes quite a few mistakes, but with the guidance of a helpful teacher and the love and friendship of those closest to her, she finds a way forward.
I recommend My Name Is Layla for readers aged 9 to 12. Read on for more information about the author.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Reyna Marder Gentin lives with her husband and children in Westchester County, New York. Reyna’s first novel, Unreasonable Doubts, a romantic legal thriller inspired by her work as a public defender, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for debut fiction. Reyna studies at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and her short stories and personal essays have been published widely online and in print. Find out more at reynamardengentin.com.
Here, the author answers a few questions:
What inspired you to write My Name is Layla?
I’ve taken numerous writing classes at Sarah Lawrence College, and in each one I have been inspired to write in a different genre. In 2017, I took a workshop on writing for children and I wrote My Name Is Layla during the course of that workshop. I was excited to experiment with writing for a different age group and to develop a voice that would speak powerfully to kids.
What advice do you have for children with learning disabilities?
I think the most important advice is not to give up on yourself; many children will have challenges, either mild or severe, over the course of their school years. And many of the learning issues can be improved, but it’s critical to remain positive and demand the attention that you need from those in a position to help. In my book, Layla learns to trust her teacher, Mr. McCarthy, and lets him help her achieve more. She also relies on her family and friends so that she’s not alone.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Don’t be afraid to try! I went into writing after a long career in the law. I didn’t have any preconceived notions of what I wanted to write, and I had no knowledge of the process of writing a novel or of publishing and promoting one. But what I did have was discipline, a supportive family and writing community, and the desire to tell a story to the world.
High school and college students today have a lot to juggle as they work to succeed in school and set the tone for success in life. With so many demands on their time, it may be difficult for them to figure out how to efficiently and effectively get the most important things done in a timely manner. That’s where Eat That Frog! For Students: 22 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Excel in School can help.
Eat that Frog! starts with a note from author Brian Tracy about why he wrote the book, how he came up with his advice (hint: culled from years of trial and error to learn what techniques are most effective), and information on how to best access the suggestions. Each chapter is precise and easy to digest and ends with a summary of the most important points.
I won’t give away exactly how Tracy defines the frog to be eaten, or even what he describes as eating the ugliest frog, but I will say that his methods are practical and easy to put into practice in a way that can significantly impact young adults if they are serious about taking the advice. The tips and ideas are also useful for parents, who may want to read it along with their teen and then apply the suggestions to their own work and personal lives.
Eat That Frog! can be a guide to a more productive life in general, which can lead to achieving more of what anyone, teen or adult, wants to achieve. I recommend it for ages 14 and up.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Lafitte De Muze is a smaller-than-usual Belgian Warmblood show horse, rejected by potential owners because of his short stature. Ella is a lonely girl separated from her parents who longs for a friend. When the two meet, magical things happen for them both.
Big Wishes for Little Feat, written by Cheryl Olsten, is a children’s picture book beautifully illustrated by Paolo D’Altan. Depictions of Little Feat, as the horse came to be known, and Ella have a dreamy quality, particularly in the parts of the story focusing on constellations in the night sky. The story itself is part reality/part fantasy, and it’s focus on wishing for dreams to come true makes it a great bedtime read.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Lan Cao came to the U.S. when she was 13, a refugee from Vietnam when U.S. troops were leaving. Throughout the years she has struggled to adapt to American culture. At times she has embraced the Vietnamese culture of her early years and of her extended family, at other times she has rejected it. Her struggle carried into her parenting, as she raised a daughter also caught between two worlds.
The mother-daughter memoir, Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao, tells the story of how these two came to define their own identities. The mom, Lan Cao, provides most of the narrative, and her accounts provide interesting insights into her life in Saigon and her early years as a refugee. Harlan is still a teen, and her stories relate more of the universal challenges between mothers and daughters as they connect and clash on a variety of issues.
Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao
The accounts feel honest, often raw with emotion, and reveal vulnerabilities with candor. The memoir provides an interesting insight into a time in history as well as the current reverberations from that not-so-long-ago era. For teen and adult mothers and daughters, Family in Six Tones can provide a good jumping-off place for discussions about their own relationships.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
At 11, Jayla is mostly happy with her big extended family and her life at school. But she misses her best friend who moved away, and she worries about her mom’s health. When she sees a video of people jumping Double Dutch and finds out her mom used to be a champion at the activity, she sees a possible answer to all her concerns.
Jayla Jumps In by Joy Jones is a fun story about a girl who’s active and friendly, but also just a little bit lonely. When she jumps Double Dutch, she feels confident, strong, and joyful. And she notices that other people seem to feel the same way when they jump. Over the course of several months, Jayla relies on Double Dutch to help her make new friends, spend more time with her mom, and discover new things about people important to her.
This energetic story will have readers wanting to learn Double Dutch and convince people they know to try it, too. I recommend Jayla Jumps In for readers aged 9 to 12.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Zippy Chippy was a racehorse descended from other famous racehorses. But one thing set him apart from any other thoroughbred destined to run around the tracks: he lost every race he ran in. You may wonder why a horse like that would be of interest, but author Artie Bennett turns this losing story into a winning children’s picture book with lessons about perseverance and participating in a sport because of the love of doing it, win or lose.
If the reaction in my household is any indication, parents and children both will fall in love with The True Story of Zippy Chippy: The Little Horse That Couldn’t. Zippy Chippy had a cantankerous personality, sometimes standing still at the starter gate, sometimes stopping in the middle of the track, sometimes grabbing hats off people’s heads and chewing them. But his owner Felix kept racing him, and pretty soon Zippy Chippy became famous for his losses and his antics.
This line from the book sums up the positive message to take away: “It takes guts to compete—win, lose, or draw. And it takes courage to dream. Zippy showed us that you can lose and lose and lose and still be a winner.” An author’s note at the end tells Zippy’s whole story.
This is a feel-good book with illustrations by Dave Szalay that will make you laugh and smile and a story that will have you cheering along the way.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
