How is your children’s summer reading going?
When my kids were growing up, it was always tricky to get them to read during the summer. Especially since most summers were spent in Puerto Rico, surrounded by family and with 8 grandkids running around my parents’ house daily, it was not easy to get them to sit down for a reading routine. Mostly because we didn’t have as many wonderful titles as there are today, over twenty-five years ago. Still, my siblings and I knew the importance of reading and we tried to instill the love of books in our children.
Last week, I had the opportunity to interview two women raising bilingual children that are passionate about sharing diverse books with children. Lori Baralt, Ph.D. in sociology, and founder of @little.justice.readers, and Dia Mixon, Spanish teacher and founder of @elmundomixonbooks.
I invite you to watch our IGTV!
Little.justice.readers was founded by Lori as a space to share diverse children’s books. Books that would help parents teach children about not easy to talk about topics with children like social justice, disabilities, emotions, racism, and body safety. “My goal is to offer parents a list of books that would help them with those hard conversations early on rather than waiting until the child is older.”
Dia Mixon wanted to make sure her half Colombian, half Black son would have at least one book to identify with. Her award-winning book, One Whole Me, was written to encourage bicultural children to embrace both cultures within. “It teaches children to love their whole selves, no matter what!”
Diverse Books List For Your Family and Local Library
(Ages 0 to beginner readers to 10 years old.)
- One Whole Me by Dia Mixon – @elmundomixonbooks
- Bodies are Cool by Tyler Feder
- We move Together by Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, and Eduardo Trejos
- Yefferson, Actually/En realidad Yefferson by Katherine Trejo, @lillibros
- Series Yo Leo by Melissa Garcia- @libros_yoleo
- La Flor Rebelde by Ariatna G. Claudio y Almaris Alonso-Claudio, Ph.D. @thoughtsandwonderllc
- I have a secret/Tengo un secreto by Maritere R. Bellas @latinaboomermom
- ¡Soy Unica! by Jennifer Vassel, translated by Maritere R. Bellas @iamunique
- The Secret Door by Minda Gomez @martinezkidsadventures
- Kid Del Toro by Chogrin, Lil’Libros.
- Happy Yogis by Sandy Zanella @happy.yogis.book
Books in English, Spanish, French
The Frenglish Boy, The Mexiglish Girl by Natalia Simmons @Bilingobooks
Books in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and 14 other languages:
Happy Within/Feliz por dentro by Marisa Taylor @Lingobabies
For more about Lori Baralt follow her on Instagram @little.justice.readers
For more about Dia Mixon follow her on Instagram @elmundomixonbooks:
Thank you, Lori and Dia!
