Mama Let's Read

Life has been immensely full and so very busy. Did anyone else feel like May was 1,000 days long?! I have big plans for getting back to this passion project of mine. I’m eagerly anticipating having more childcare (aka more time for me) soon and my youngest going off to preschool in the fall. As I look ahead, I know I’ll get back to this (and so many other) projects soon. Needed a reminder so I ordered this awesome custom thermos cup from ! Can’t wait to drink my chai tea in this bright and beautiful cup. ❤️

Community please help support an amazing Bay Area Social Justice Montessori School, by grabbing some delicious food from (Rockridge Oakland location only) tomorrow (3/21) from 4 to 8:30 pm.

Belly, a WOC owned biz, has generously agreed to donate a share of their proceeds to Pear Tree. So please order up and mention Pear Tree at checkout.

The last few days of lunches for my kids:

Slide 1: sunflower butter and cherry preserves on gluten free bread, apples, grapes, freeze dried strawberries, and carrots

Slide 2: homemade taco shells with baked corn tortillas, shredded cheese, butter lettuce for make your own tacos. (Taco meat not pictured in a thermos.) Plus apples, grapes, freeze dried strawberries, and carrots.

Slide 3: Snack size with hard boiled eggs with some ranch salt from , entertainment crackers, blackberries, and apples

Slide 4: charcuterie box with low sodium salami, smoked cheddar, crackers, apples, blackberries, and a gluten free eclair

Slide 5: gluten free biscuit, lentil carrot soup (not pictured, gluten free eclair, apple, blackberries, apples, grapes, and carrots

Slide 6: repeat of slide 4 with chocolate protein balls

🌈 I’m so excited to share this inspiring board book by Bay Area author, Temi Adamolekun. As you can see from my pictures, my 2 year old loves Your Special Voice and insisted on being my model. I gifted her the book for Christmas and she loves looking at the bright pictures. Recently she has even started repeating each sentence after I read it to her and it is seriously so sweet.

✨ Your Special Voice is all about inspiring kids to make a difference using their own unique voice. The text is simple and empowering, clearly written with love. The illustrations by Keisha Okafor are vibrant and colorful. My favorite thing about this book is that it has mass appeal! All three of my kids (6, 4, and 2 yo) love reading this book!

🌈 If you are in the Bay, please join me at Natural Resources on Feb. 4th as Temi does a FREE author reading and book signing.

✨ Please join me, as author Temi Adamolekun reads her new book “Your Special Voice” to families, followed by a Q+A with the author on Feb. 4th. Temi will be available to sign books before and after the reading! This event is Co-hosted with Natural Resources, an amazing SF nonprofit that serves expecting and new families of all income levels through education, empowerment, and community.

✨ Stay on the lookout as I will share more about this empowering board book that inspires young readers to use their own special voice to make a difference in the world!

✨ Link in bio to reserve your FREE tickets and order your book copy.

My oldest child absolutely loves making art. It brings me great joy to see her passion for making art, jewelry, and other crafts. An appreciation for art was instilled in me by my mother. While I do not consider myself an artist, I deeply admire and respect creators of art. So it will come as no surprise that our family loves Radiant Child, by author and illustrator Javaka Steptoe.

👑 In Radiant Child, Steptoe tells the story of young artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. As a young boy, he developed a passionate love for art. His Puerto Rican mother also felt passionately about art and reminded Basquiat to look for it wherever he went. He gathered inspiration from all around him, turning his dreams and thoughts into drawings and collages.

🎨 This picture book is filled with rich facts about the famous Jean-Michel Basquiat. My kids were inspired by his courage to step outside of the box and explore a new world of art, one that didn’t follow the “rules.” And my oldest enthusiastically echoes young Basquiat’s declarations of becoming a famous artist. ​​This is a genuine story with a diverse perspective and vibrant pictures to reflect and amplify the text.

☠️ I was unaware that Basquiat’s accident as a child had such a great influence on his artwork. The book details that his mother’s gift of an anatomy book inspired much of his work, using skulls and skeletons in much of his work. The compelling story is paired with incredible original illustrations inspired by Basquiat’s art. As you look closely at each page, you will see wooden panels which the author and illustrator Javaka Steptoe used as his canvas. The vibrant colors, layered illustrations and intricate details will draw you into this award-winning, nonfiction biography.

👑 I also appreciate the back matter on both the author illustrator Steptoe and on Jean-Michel Basquiat himself. My kids love seeing Basquiat’s artwork and I’m planning to gift them with a print for their room.

💛 Link in bio to my Bookshop.

I don’t usually share books without BIPOC characters, but I had to make an exception for this book. My oldest received her first Covid vaccine last week and we couldn’t be more excited. A friend recommended, Baby Medical School: Vaccines by Cara and Jon Florance to us. We read this a few times a day as we prepped my oldest about getting her first Covid-19 vaccine.

I appreciate how this book scientifically breaks down how vaccines work in a kid friendly way. My oldest loved learning the names of the viruses pictured in the book and I showed her the structure of Covid too. My 3 year old decidedly said that Covid looks like a hedgehog because of the spike glycoproteins. 😃

Not only were we able to use this book to talk about vaccines, we also talked more about the transmission of viruses and the importance of wearing masks indoors to decrease the spread of those germs.

My oldest is elated that she’ll be fully vaccinated before the holidays and at the prospect of having some indoor playdates in some not so distant future. 🤞🏽🤞🏽 Since we have two young kids that can’t get vaccinated yet, we’ll still be extra conservative until they can get vaccinated too. AND we feel a huge weight of relief knowing that we are one step closer to an end of this pandemic.

A big shout out to the authors for making this awesome book! Cara Florance is a biochemist specializing in catalytic RNA and mom of 3. Jon Florance served in the US Army Infantry and Special Forces before choosing to pursue his MD at Harvard Medical School and father of 3.

I’m looking forward to checking out the rest of the books in the baby medical school series.

Hi friends 👋🏽 it has been a long while. I’m still here and reading ALL the books, but life has been too hectic the last few months to find the time to share book reviews. Something about 3 kids 5 and under, pandemic life, long term dog sitting, my big kids starting kindergarten and preschool, and…all the other life things. BUT I’m finally ready to get back into it this passion project.

If you know me personally, you might know that I’m a perfectionist working on letting go of being perfect. 😬 I’m a work in progress. I often don’t post because I don’t have the time to make sure my post is perfect, and honestly that is pretty exhausting. Anyone else have this challenge?

I had a chance to chat with today about this project and it reminded me of how important this work is to me. So I am committing to getting out of my own way and posting more. Sending a big thank you to those of you that reached out and made sure I was alive and well. ❤️

More book reviews coming SOON.