La Cañada Elementary students, staff
say librarian Bahrami’s love of books and reading spoke volumes
There, children recalled Bahrami’s love of literature, of cats and of
reading to kids. “Best librarian ever. Legends never die,” one student wrote in
purple marker. “You were the best librarian I ever had,” read another, while a
third proclaimed, “Reading is my superpower!”
02
Ten New Self-Care Books to Read This
Spring
Tuck into these engrossing self-care reads this spring
Getty
If your annual spring clean means tossing out and sprucing up your mind
and body in addition to cabinets and closets, some inspiring self-care
titles might help keep the emotional and spiritual decluttering going all
season long. From longevity to energy medicine to a meditation on interior
design and daily mantras, here are my top ten picks for inspirational
reads that will help spruce up your self-care routine.
The Six Keys by Jillian Michaels, Oct, 2018
Written as a fully comprehensive guide to living life with an eye on
longevity, Jillian Michaels combines different strategies for attaining
longevity that she says have only previously been written about as stand-alone
books, never all together. She combines recommendations for nutrition, mind and
body, environment and fitness solutions to ensure that we can feel good much
longer than we thought possible.
Energy Medicine by Jill Blakeway, April, 2019
Board-certified acupuncturist and herbalist Jill Blakeway’s new book is
a deep dive into the healing powers of energy medicine modalities such as
acupuncture, reiki, qigong and others. She writes both for those already
on the spiritual wellness bandwagon, as well as the more skeptical: she covers
her own experience as a veteran practitioner in addition to how
conventional Western medicine has began incorporating energy medicine practices
to solve complicated health challenges. Blakeway’s personal telling of the
healing powers of Eastern-borne medicines is filled with data and clinically
backed research, an inspiring read for those wanting to learn more about
alternative therapies.
Living with a Green Heart by Gay Browne, March,
2019
Written by the founder of Greenopia, Living With a Green Heart covers
the many ways in which we can live in a more conscious, less environmentally
impactful way. Browne combines data-backed solutions such as lessening
meat consumption and lessening reliance on plastic, with ones that are a bit
more woo woo like applying EMF-repellent stickers to smart phones. If you’re
inspired to explore the ways in which you can treat the planet and your body a
little better, this little book will give you a comprehensive way to get
started.
Stress Less, Accomplish More by Emily Fletcher,
February, 2019
Emily Fletcher is taking pop-meditation to a new level of accessibility
for meditation novices with her new book. Her signature Ziva methodology
combines mindfulness, meditation and manifestation (what she refers to as the
three Ms) - essentially a supercharged version of what you might find in
common meditation apps. Her new book covers the many benefits of meditation
before diving into a practical how-to application of her technique.
The Big Book of Less: Finding Joy in Living
Lighter by Irene Smit and Astrid Van Der Hulst, April 2019
Written in response to what seems to be universal anxiety
around our ‘grow at all costs’ culture, the founders of Flow magazine
have released a book about the beauty and benefits of living with less. This
doesn’t just mean less clutter - though there is a miniature book-within-a-book
about co-founder Astrid van der Hulst's 52-week declutter. It also covers how
we can savor life more with worrying less, taking in less information,
controlling less, doing less, judging less, and of course, living with less
‘stuff’. Pull-out posters, workbooks, notebooks and other goodies make it a
playful but inspiring book gift to give.
The Pocket Guru by Dr. Siri Sat Nam, May 2019
A compendium of 108 daily, bite-sized mantra meditations linked to
help readers work through specific challenges makes The Pocket Guru a
handy book to keep in your meditation room or yoga bag for a morning practice,
or to toss into your backpack for an easy anxiety release on the train
home after a stressful day. Dr. Sat Nam encourages readers to take on one
particular meditation and revisit it every day for 40 day to change a
habit before moving on to the next. Topics range from confidence to faith,
happiness and regret and fear to success.
The Mood Book by Amy Leigh Mercree, March, 2019
Organized into sections organized by mood, this anthology of
self-care practices ranges from essential oil treatments for anxiety or romance
to bathtub cocktails for inducing zen, to workouts and guided meditation to
help inspire confidence. Beautifully packaged in a rainbow gradient cover, this
collection of ways to feel good is an easy-to-flip-through source for
practical, metaphysical inspiration that aim to solve contemporary
challenges.
The Lonny Home by Sean Santiago and the editors of
Lonny Magazine, May 2019
In addition to its expected appeal as a stunning coffee table book full
of full-bleed millennial design inspiration, The Lonny Home is a sort of
workshop in a book. Between pages of professionally decorated interiors are
instructions on how to let things go, when to treat yourself to a trend, how to
create functional storage and more. Chapters are broken up into Meditation on
Your Space, Letting It Go, Seeking Your Inspiration and other categories that
feel equal parts self-care and home design.
Every Monday Matters by Matthew Emerzian, January,
2019
Every Monday Matters is a not-for-profit organization that helps
students and corporate organizations focus on sustained personal and social
change, and all proceeds from this book are donated to support their K-12
curriculum. Each chapter within is built on one week of ways to look within and
live your best life, with homework to get up and do so. In contrast to
many of the other introspective books on this list, Emerzian’s is entirely
focused on actions to take to improve your life and the lives of those around
you in the present.
Good Reasons for Bad Feelings by Randolph M. Nesse,
MD, February 2019
If your idea of self-care skews less spiritual and more scientific,
Nesse’s new book on why humans are so vulnerable to a variety of mental
disorders is a must. In this new work, he covers both why some people get sick,
as well as why natural selection left us all so vulnerable to developing mental
illness. Topics covered include changes in our environment impact us, how
anxiety and low mood sometimes help our genes and how social anxiety is nearly
universal.
03
Kids and parents plead for diversity
in children's books. 8 great titles that deliver
"Mary Wears What She Wants" and Merci Suarez Changes
Gears" are two tales that reflect diversity in children's
books. (Photo: Harper Collins/Candlewick Press)
Children see themselves in music artists and in movies like
"Black Panther."
But when they can't find themselves in children's
books, that's a problem.
Scholastic's biennial Kids & Family Reading report released
this week found that nearly half of kids ages 9-17 (45 percent) and
parents with kids ages 6-17 (52 percent) want more books with diversity.
It's no wonder.
Not enough diversity
There aren't enough diverse children's books on the shelves, according
to the Cooperative Children's Book Center, which updated its data
on representation this month.
Just 11 percent of of children's books published in the U.S. in
2018 featured Africans or African-Americans, 7 percent
featured Hispanic and 8 percent featured Asian characters. About 3,300
children's books published last year.
Andrea Davis Pinkney, Scholastic's executive editor and author
of "A Poem for Peter" said in the report that a lack of diversity
fails to expand a child's love of reading or sense of self.
"But when a young reader finds a story that positively reflects his
or her own story — or presents the stories of people not like themselves —
that child becomes encouraged to read more," Pinkney said.
"This has a direct impact on how kids view their place in the world, and
helps them develop empathy and open-mindedness. Tomorrow’s leaders need to see
themselves in books."
Black and Hispanic families had even stronger views on wanting more
diverse stories. Seventy-five percent of black parents, 64 percent of Hispanic
parents and 55 percent of Asian/multiple and other races with kids ages
9-17 want books they can read to their children or kids can choose books
themselves with diverse storylines, characters or settings.
Demand is on the rise
The demand for more diverse books are on the rise, according to a survey
by Scholastic. (Photo: Getty Images)
The survey found that parents were more likely to want more
diverse book characters in 2018 (29 percent) than in 2016 (21
percent).
Children ages 12-17 wanting greater diversity in characters, settings
and storylines also grew from 13 percent in 2016 to 18 percent in 2018,
according to the survey.
The Scholastic report surveyed 2,758 parents and children, plus one
child age 6-17 from the same house.
8 diverse, multicultural books to
read
Here are eight great books that you can read to your child, read
together or recommend your child read.
"Crown: An Ode to the Fresh
Cut"
"Crown," a salute to raw self-assured humanity of black boys
and how they see themselves when they approve of what they see in the
mirror. (Photo: Agate Publishing)
Author Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James, find it
on Amazon
Recommended ages: 3-8.
This Newberry honor book shows how a dab of shaving cream and a princely
robe draped around the shoulders transforms black boys into royalty at the
barber shop. They leave believing they look good and good things are
coming their way.
"Mary Wears What She
Wants"
"Mary Wears What She Wants" was inspired by Mary Edwards
Walker, a 19th-century doctor who was continually arrested for wearing
pants. (Photo: Harper Collins)
Author and illustrator Keith Negley, find it on Amazon
Recommended ages: 4-8
Long before anyone even heard of gender stereotypes, Dr. Mary
Edwards Walker decided she would wear whatever she wanted and she wanted to
wear pants. She lived in the 19th century and that just wasn't done. This is
the story of Mary who decided to do the same thing and challenges young readers
to think for themselves.
"The Day You Begin"
Author Jacqueline Woodson comforts young children who feel out of place
in this lyrical tale. (Photo: Penguin Books)
Author Jacqueline Woodson, illustrator Rafael López, find it on
Amazon
Recommended ages: 5-8
Everyone feels different sometimes either by the way they look or talk
or where they're from. Jacqueline Woodson pairs her lyrical prose with Rafael
López's dreamy swirls of jeweled illustrations to let young children
know that by sharing their stories they can learn that no one is quite like them,
but maybe in some small way just a little like them.
"The First Rule of Punk"
Oops! Malu accidentally upsets the middle-school queen bee on the first
day of school. (Photo: Penguin Books)
Author Celia C. Pérez, find it on Amazon
Recommended ages: 9-12
Malú's punk rock look does not go over well on the first day of school,
especially with her college-professor mother. The 12-year-old, however, sticks
with the first rule of punk rock: Be yourself. She soon finds her group of
friends, forms a band and edits a magazine.
"I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Makes Her Mark"
Get to know the Notorious RBG, Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, in this picture book that looks at her famous dissents. (Photo:
Simon & Schuster)
Author Debbie Levy, Illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley, find it on
Amazon
Recommended ages: 6-9
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has spent her time on the
court disagreeing. Find out about her most important decisions as the dissenter
in this picture book.
"Refugee"
"Refugee" is about three young people separated by oceans and
time but all looking for refuge. (Photo: Scholastic Press)
Author Alan Gratz, find it on Amazon
Recommended ages: 9-12
This "New York Times" bestseller tells the story
of a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, a Cuban girl in 1994,
and a Syrian boy in 2015. All of them are forced to leave their homes and
endure unimaginable hardships as they seek refuge until their stories tie
together in the end.
"Blended"
"Blended" features 11-year-old Isabella, whose father is black
and mother is white. (Photo: Simon & Schuster)
Author Sharon M. Draper, find it on Amazon
Recommended ages: 8-12
Izzy struggles to adjust between the two homes of her father, who is
black, and her mother, who is white. Pulled between two worlds, this
middle-schooler doesn't just feel divided, she feels ripped apart as people
wonder about her "exotic" appearance. Then the worst thing ever
happens: A cell phone is mistaken for a gun.
"Merci Suarez Changes
Gears"
Merci Suarez has all the angst of starting sixth grade but things get
even crazier when her beloved grandpa starts acting weird. (Photo:
Candlewick Press)
Author Meg Medina, find it on Amazon
Recommended ages: 9-12
Merci is a scholarship student at a private Florida school and
things are already tough and strange for this 12-year-old. Her beloved grandpa,
Lolo, is usually her refuge. But he's acting weird, too. He's forgetting things
and acting angry and the family is telling her nothing. This author of this
2019 Newberry winner looks at a family struggling with Alzheimer's through the
heroine's eyes not with happy ending, but with strength and hope.
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