When I became a Mom, I found that my love and passion for books and reading with my children grew. They loved books as babies and continue to love the time we read together now too. Watching the kids form ideas and develop stories and role play around the books we read continually fascinates me and brings so much joy.
Why books? Why literacy? Here's why.
When I worked a corporate job, I had the chance to travel a lot, meet clients from so many industries and generally become fascinated with so many different businesses. One of my clients was a coal seam gas company whose business had exploded. They had found resources, built a business that went from 4 founding members to a team of 500 within 2 years! It was an exciting project and I was involved in writing a strategy for them for learning and development. What does this have to do with literacy? A lot actually. What I found astounded me. Here we were in one of the most developed countries in the world and the spread of education ranged from PhD graduates all the way to workers who were illiterate. Some people could NOT read the safety documents. It was the first time I truly understood the significance of literacy for every child everywhere.
As I mentioned in my post about what's coming up this year, I am so excited to share this new series on the blog where I'll be sharing books that we love, from my kids (and me!) to yours.
I hope you find some inspiration to pick up a book and sit down with your little one and explore the story's imaginative world together.
In launching this column, I wanted to share a brand new book written by the incredibly talented Agnes from my favourite creative kids site hello, Wonderful and beautifully illustrated by Yuliya Gwylim. The book is called My Color is Rainbow and is a story about love and acceptance. The story follows 'little white arch' as he takes a journey to discover his true colours. As he ventures through the pages, he discovers that life really is about all of the different experiences and emotions that we encounter.
Doesn't the book look so cute on our new playroom shelves? When I read the book with the kids, we talked about the different emotions that played out through the book and what made them feel these emotions. Below is a collection of the things that represent what the kids decided make them feel calm (art, nature, being outside, family, and music).
There have been some incredible projects made over the past week or two to tie in with the launch of this book, including this Rainbow Magic Trick and this Rainbow Paper Ball Garland as well as many others that you can find on the hello, Wonderful Instagram page.
My Color is Rainbow can be purchased through Amazon.com or through Plaeful.