Thankful for Diversity in my Life
Counting my blessings and shamelessly self promoting!Check out this video discussion about books for children about refugees featuring Four Feet Two Sandals and My Name is Sangoel.http://eerdlings.com/2015/11/19/coffee-break-confidential-refugee-revelations/Coffee Break Confidential: Refugee RevelationsPosted by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. on November 19, 2015 in Coffee Break Confidential, Eerdfolk | 1 CommentCoffeeBreakConfidential And the interview with yours truly.Happy Thanksgiving!
Where is Beatrice Now?
Sometimes our dreams change. Beatrice did go to college but she did not train to be a nurse.At Utali College she majored in Hotel Hospitality.Now she works in the Hotel industry in Nairobi.She is also continuing her education.Here is Beatrice now.What a lovely hard working young woman! Courageous and determined.And here is what Wendy Stone the photographer who illustrated Beatrice's Dream has to say about the journey:Beatrice's Dream: I first met Beatrice in 2006 when she was 13 yearsold living in Kibera slum. I met a well known children's book writer,Karen Williams, when [...]
Greenwich Reads Together: I was there with Sangoel!
Once at an author visit promoting one of my books, a grandmother said to me, " My granddaughter is nothing like the girl in your book. Why would I buy your book?" I was speechless then but I have had time to think. Look around your child's or grandchild's classroom. It is probably the case that the child on at least one side of her is not of the same race or socioeconomic class or same color as she is. They may not speak the same first language. Why read? For entertainment, [...]
Meet Wendy Stone: Photographer for Beatrice’s Dream
Photo PresentationWENDY STONE, PHOTOJOURNALISTPHOTOJOURNALISM IN AFRICA: 1988-2015Nov. 4th, Wednesday, 6 pmThe Metropolitan Opera GuildThe Rose Building165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam, 6th floorFree for members of PWP, $10.00 for non- members to pay at the door Wendy's remarkable, compelling photographs of Children in Africa captured my imagination and led to our collaboration that turned into the book Beatrice's Dream.If you are anywhere in the NY Metropolitan area on November 4, 2015, this presentation is a must.Wish I could be there!Read more about Wendy:Photojournalist, Wendy Stone, has been working in Africa coveringinternational aid [...]
Diversity Inspires and Heals
These responses to Four Feet Two Sandals were drawn by 2nd graders in an ESL class.Newcomers to an American school, they are from the Chin State of Burma. Their English is limited but they understand what it means to share and care. They relate to the characters and the story told in this picture book even though it is not a story of Burma.Four Feet Two Sandals is about two refugee girls from Afghanistan in a refugee camp in Pakistan.Refugee children around the world can relate to loss of country, home, family. [...]
Moon connections and the Peace Corps
This is the view of the beginning of the "Blood Moon" super lunar eclipse on Sunday over our back fence.We live on the Navajo Reservation in Chinle Arizona. Clear skies, unobstructed horizon.Our youngest son Jonathan is in Paraguay with the Peace Corps. He happened to be on What's App. We shot him a photo, which reminded him about the eclipse.He went outside to watch the sky and see the moon disappear into a pink haze. Two different worlds, same moon. We watched virtually together.I clicked photos frustrated that I could never capture the [...]