Playday 2018 celebrates the importance of play in children’s lives By Simran Divatia Some of my fondest memories come from running around with my friends as a child, imagining wild adventures, solving incredible mysteries and saving the world, and all in time to get home for tea! I have a vivid recollection of being 9 years old, marveling at how a big tree by the river seemed to have grown perfectly to hold onto as we…
The importance of children seeing themselves represented in books Buy Bijan and Manije By Simran Divatia When I was a child, it was incredibly rare to see an image in a book that reminded me of myself. All the princesses in my picture books looked a lot like each other, but not a lot like me. The ones I did see barely got a word in, and were never the focus of the story. In Bijan…
Buy A Rainbow in My Pocket Read an amazing review of A Rainbow in My Pocket by Patricia Nozell Continuing the celebration of poetry for National Poetry Month, I’m so happy to feature a poetic picture book that was published April 2016 in English and that I received from the publisher when I visited London last month. Poem in Your Pocket Day is coming up on April 26th (as I was reminded when I visited the poets.org website and…
Happy International Women’s Day! By Meghan Sullivan Happy International Women’s Day! Last week I heard a story from a family friend which made me so angry. She said that when her child was taken to hospital and she went along with the child’s dad all the questions were directed to her. When the dad tried to talk to the doctor he was ignored, and the doctor continued to focus on the mum. This story shows…
Are you prepared for valentine’s day? Yes forget roses and chocolate! Why? Roses wilt, and chocolates get eaten; the most lasting book you can give this valentine’s day is a book, or three! Love fills all our books. From the carefully crafted illustrations which are works of love, to the words of inspiration and hope which fill our books. These books are for everyone, so why not give the gift of a beautiful artwork, a…