Tag: Diana Farid

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Three books for your next lapsit

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

These three books are adorable and perfect for a cuddly lapsit. Some fun fingerplay and song suggestions follow at the end.

Already All the Love, by Diana Farid/Illustrated by Shar Tuiasoa, (Dec. 2024, Little Bee Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9781499815658

Ages Birth-3

We already know that Diana Farid excels at writing in verse; lose yourself in her latest work, a board book that celebrates the love between parent and child. A parent holds their child, imagining what their futures may hold, only to be brought back to the present by the wonder of their baby: “You are already the bloom, the glimmer, and the rise… You are the full moon, a constellation, a shooting star that heard my wish.” Mother holds baby as the two witness the world around them while she also dreams of what wonders may come. Earth-toned illustration has brilliant moments of color that create playful landscapes that include a friendly-faced sun and moon, round, vibrant flowers, and pulsing music. Mother’s body becomes the land: we see her arms in the grass that embraces the two; her body is as strong as a mountain range as she bends over her child; she defines a place in the universe as she gestures toward the cosmos. Farid uses economy of language to make the verse spare and deeplly felt. A beautiful book that parents and caregivers will reach for time and again. Recommended for board book collections.

Readalike: We Sang You Home by Richard VanCamp

 

 

Follow Your Heart, by Emma Dodd, (Dec. 2024, Templar), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536234930

Ages 2-5

Emma Dodd’s books provide some of the coziest readalouds. Dodd’s omniscient narrator stands in for parents and caregivers who want their littles to follow their hearts and find joy while wondering where their decisions will take them: “Will you follow the crowd / and join in the fun, / leaping and laughing / as you play in the sun? / Will you be by yourself / and go it alone, / taking some time / to explore on your own?” As a dolphin parent and child swim through foil-enhanced waters, they encounter rough waters and warm sunlight; the parent dolphin also assuages any fears by letting them know they can always stay by their side if the world feels too big for them. It’s a story about letting go and seeing baby take first steps; letting go and seeing your bigger kid ride their first two wheeler; letting go and seeing your children growing up, while always letting them know you’re there for them. A very sweet addition to storytime collections; children will enjoy Dodd’s animal parent and baby dolphin, and the foil enhancements on spreads and the cover add interest.

 

I See Me! A Guess How Much I Love You Mirror Book, by Sam McBratney/Illustrated by Anita Jeram, (Jan. 2025, Candlewick Press), $8.99, ISBN: 9781536203882

Ages Birth-3

Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare go exploring in this short and sweet Guess How Much I Love You story. Little Nutbrown Hare spies a butterfly; Big Nutbrown Hare discovers a bird in a nest. They head to the pond, where Big Nutbrown Hare encourages Little Nutbrown Hare to look in the pond. What does he see? A mirror at the end of the book lets readers, along with Little Nutbrown Hare, exclaim, “I can see… ME!” A sweet addition to the original Guess How Much I Love You story and a delightful introduction for younger readers.

 

 

I’m a big fan of Jbrary when it comes to lapsits. These two Canadian librarians have videos, written out song lyrics, and fingerplay walkthroughs that got me through my first couple of years of children’s librarianship. I still pull their website up when I’m about to do a lapsit – they’re just that good.

A Hippopotamus Got on a City Bus is one of my favorite silly rhymes at storytime; the Jbrarians turn it into an adorable lapsit.

Eyes, Nose, Cheeky Cheeky Chin is too much fun for toddlers and great for babies, if you don’t feel comfortable bouncing.

I like to incorporate some classic nursery rhymes in my lapsits. Row, Row, Row Your Boat is a great one; parents can hold their littles in their lap and “row” around them or with them, rocking the little one on their thighs:

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream,

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream!

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream,

If you see a crocodile,

Don’t forget to scream-EEK! (you can cuddle your little one here)

Then, it’s time for “spider fingers”, and that’s the time to get ready for Itsy Bitsy Spider. Parents can do spider fingers on baby’s belly, or have toddlers do spider fingers along with them. Caitie’s Classroom has a fun walkthrough.

From “spider fingers” to “twinkle fingers”, it’s time for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I have parents and kids open and close their hands, like stars twinkling, through the song:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky, (here, I have the families make diamonds with their thumbs and index fingers)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, (back to twinkle fingers)

How I wonder what you are.

I’d love to hear some of your favorites!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

The Light of Home: Home isn’t always a place

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Light of Home: A story of family, creativity, and belonging, by Diana Farid/Illustrated by Hoda Hadadi, (Sept. 2024, Orchard Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9781338890617

Ages 4-8

Nur is a child who loves her home by the sea where she plays, enjoys time with her family, and fills her room with her artwork. Life drastically changes overnight when the family must leave right away; Hadadi illustrates the urgency of a family fleeing with the clothes on their backs, Nur grabbing a single painting off of her wall as her mother grabs her hand. On the next page, men bearing shovels and stick ransack the rooms and destroy what they can reach. Told in verse, Farid’s story of a family fleeing one home and moving to another is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Her exquisite verse finds the beauty in pain; as Nur and her family find places to live, she remembers the sigts, smells, and textures of home: “Sometimes, / [the horizon] breathes tangerine orange and sour cherry clouds, / like the sunsets she used to watch from a picnic blanket”. As the family gets used to living in a new city, in a building unfamiliar and loud, Nur uses her painting, desperately torn from the wall on the night of their departure, as the inspiration to create once again, this time of the “glittery path she loves / even if it’s far away”. Hadadi’s paper collage brings texture that make the memories tangible to readers, using vibrant colors and evocative images. The growing body of work on the refugee/immigrant/migrant experience is incredible and such an important part of collections. Don’t miss this one. Display and read with other stories, including Nicola Davies’s The Day War Came, Yuyi Morales’s Dreamers, Hollis Kurman’s Counting Kindness, and Hannah Moushabeck’s Homeland.

 

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

Wave: A girl rides life’s ebbs and flows

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Wave, by Diana Farid/Illustrated by Kris Goto, (March 2022, Cameron Kids), $18.99, ISBN: 9781951836580

Ages 10-14

Ava is a 13-year-old Persian-American girl who loves to surf, hang out with her friends, and read poetry by Rumi. She’s about to graduate eighth grade and looks forward to the summer until her mother, a prominent doctor, signs her up to volunteer at the hospital, in hopes that Ava will be inspired to follow a career in medicine. Frustrated by her distant father and her mother’s expectations, Ava’s world begins to fall apart when Phoenix’s – her best friend – cancer returns. Ava processes her feelings and emotions through the music of the ’80s, and the story, told by Ava in the first person through free verse, is a heart-breaking, resonant, gorgeous story. Blackwork illustrations throughout present Wave as a peek into Ava’s journal, making the experience of reading it personal. Ava experiences racism, grief and loss, anxiety, and frustration and communicates it all through spare, lyrical verse; readers will see themselves and their friends in her words. Set in the mid-1980s, music and mixtapes are wonderful touchstones, particularly through the music and mixtapes; references to the 1970s Iranian cultural revolution provide historical context and make Ava, her mother, and her extended family fully realized characters.  Ask your readers to create their own Spotify playlists that they’d share with a friend or family member. Ava’s and Phoenix’s mixtapes are included in the back matter, as are endnotes, information about Rumi, and lyrics. A gorgeous book.

Have a copy of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis available to booktalk to readers interested in learning more about the Iranian revolution and its impact on the women of Iran. Visit author Diana Farid’s webpage for more information about her books, her poetry, and essays.