Happy Fall, All!

I am taking a quick second (while my kids are away in their learning pod and I have a moment to think!) to write to you all with three Rs! (kinda!) I’ll start with the…

REQUEST. You know about The Rabbit hOle, right? Promise me that if you haven’t already acquainted yourself with this phenomenal project, you will do so right now! Promise? Here’s the link! The Rabbit hOle has a big Ole fundraising campaign under way right now and because I am such a BIG fan, I want to help them gather the funds to bring The World’s First Explor-a-Storium to life. Will you help me help The Rabbit hOle? It will be an investment in imagination for YEARS to come! DONATE - and see a picture of me with the Stinky Cheese Man - HERE. Please donate before October 31! (Also - would you like to see what Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson think of their book Last Stop on Market Street coming to life as an interactive exhibit at the Rabbit hOle? CLICK here!)

Next the RECOMMENDATION. But first a confession. Let me tell you about my big parenting fail (one of several I’m sure). Our kids are 8 and 10 and Sergio and I have NOT taught them nearly enough Spanish. Sergio is fluent. I am … I don’t know, conversational? But somehow life has distracted us. Well, back when I did my podcast I interviewed Vanessa Nielson of Sol Book Box and several weeks ago she announced openings in her Bilinguify! class. She also pointed out how raising bilingual children means raising kids who have the ability to help people. This really spoke to me. I remembered the time in college when I interpreted (very roughly, albeit!) for a woman working at the coffee shop I was studying at that day; she was desperate to convey something critical to her boss. She spoke no English and he spoke no Spanish. I intervened. It was a little thing. But it helped that person on that day. So when I read about the Bilinguify! class, I showed it to Sergio and we decided to sign up right away. The last day of the 3-week course is today and I feel energized and excited. We’ve already begun implementing what we’ve learned and the girls are energized and excited, too! Julia’s the one that reminds us each night at dinner to speak Spanish. If you have a passion for raising bilingual kids and are not quite sure how to make it happen, please follow Vanessa on IG and sign up for Bilinguify! the next time she offers it! ALSO - this goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway - BILINGUAL PICTURE BOOKS are a GREAT way to practice language learning with your kids. Just the other day, we read a book about Latin American food and Clara read the ENTIRE page about arroz y frijoles in Spanish. ¡Muy bien, Clara!

Lastly a bit of WRITING. (That has nothing to do with kidlit.) Every fall at Hallmark there is an event called “Coffeehouse” that showcases the personal writing of the folks in our creative community. And every year for the last 9 years or so I have read at Coffeehouse. This year - because it was all virtual - my piece was recorded right here in my favorite room in my house. I wrote about how I haven’t been leaving my house much - how I’ve experienced the events of the last 8 months. How I’m coping. If you’re interested to hear it and have ten minutes, click HERE. Or you can read it by clicking HERE. The piece is called Expand and Contract.

My best to all of you as we plod along during these unprecedented times. May you find the things you need, help others get what they need, and maybe, just maybe, make a little time to read.