Educations Matters: Diverse Children s Book Reviews
My oldest, Zoe Lee, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and studied Industrial Design, won a National Science Foundation grant for graduate school. She will be starting her Master s Program at MIT this fall. This fellowship will also fund her PhD. We are so excited for her to begin this new... The post My Oldest Won a National Science Foundation Grant for Grad School!…
Thank you for inviting me to the Westchester Children s Book Festival! I had a wonderful time. It is always a good time to sit next to Phaea Crede. We met many years ago at a Barefoot Books event where her wildly popular picture book, Jet the Cat (is not a cat!), is now being translated... The post I had a great time at the Westchester Children s Book Festival at Camp Mohawk appeared first on…
Thank you to House of Heroes for sponsoring this post. If you are anything like me, you have tried every trick in the book to make screen time feel less like the default setting of your evenings. Activity kits that lose their novelty by Thursday. Board games that work brilliantly for two sessions and then... The post How My Kids Stopped Asking for Screens — And Started Asking for the Next…
Thank you for including Barbed Wire Between Us in this list of 9 Outstanding Poetry Collections for Young Readers and Teens from School Library Journal! 2026 Stars So Far Home Page These lyrical titles include homages to Langston Hughes and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as a collection of pet poems. Our... The post 9 Outstanding Poetry Collections for Young Readers and Teens from School…
No more Hiroshimas. My mother s side of the family is from Hiroshima Every August, people around the world honor the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a world where the risk of nuclear catastrophe is rising, it’s more important than ever to remember and share these stories. Eighty-one years after the... The post No More Hiroshimas or Nagasakis: Passing on the Stories of…
In the upcoming July issue of School Library Journal, Postcards from Malcom X has received a very nice review! School libraries need true stories of the enduring importance of cross-cultural alliances and community organizing. Gr 3-7–This book introduces middle school readers to the life and activism of Yuri Kochiyama, highlighting her meaningful correspondence and powerful... The post School…
My publisher, Audrey Press, closed down last year, so the rights to my two books, How to Coach Girls and The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship, reverted back. Slowly but surely, all the copies of How to Coach Girls that I owned were sold through my website. (I still have a bunch of The Elusive Full... The post How To Coach Girls books are back in print! appeared first on Pragmatic Mom .
Are you ready to think about Back to School? I have resources and ideas to stop summer slide. As I look back on the summer learning that I did with my three children, a few things stand out that, now in hindsight, have greatly impacted my kids learning experiences. The first is doing math supplementation... The post August Resources for Back To School appeared first on Pragmatic Mom .
We have 72 bundles of children s books at our Read Your World website. Everything is on sale for Back-to-School! Go directly to our store or click here to see the 72 bundles. Use code VGA5J7DQ at checkout. Sale ends August 31! Thank you for supporting nonprofit Read Your World. We promote literacy through diverse books for children. To examine... The post Read Your World Book Bundle Sale: Save…
My middle daughter, PickyKidPix, became terrified of sharks after indulging in too many Shark Week TV shows. It s easy to get a skewed impression of sharks so let s use children s books to learn about sharks before Shark Week begins on July 17th! Let s start Shark Week off with some facts about sharks, shed by the first... The post 23 Shark Week Books and Videos for Kids appeared first on…
My deepest thanks to everyone who reviewed The Traveling Taco! Thank you so much!! If I missed anyone, please leave a comment and I ll add you! Educators Spin on It: Exploring Food History and Culture with The Traveling Taco Erin Dealey: Happy delicious Book Birthday wishes to THE TRAVELING TACO + 8 Qs... The post Thank You to Everyone who featured THE TRAVELING TACO! appeared first on Pragmatic…
My author copies for Postcards From Malcolm X arrived! Here s my unboxing video: Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Human Rights Activist by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Keith Henry Brown A moving portrait of Yuri Kochiyama―an ordinary woman who became an extraordinary activist―and her bond with Malcolm X When Japanese American activist... The post Postcards from Malcolm X…
It was fortuitous to meet Wade Ishikawa and his friend Will at the Hanapepe Salt Pond. I was just hoping to get some photos, not realizing that the salt ponds are only operational during the summer. Not only did Wade go over the harvesting process, clarifying some fine points that my research for Food for... The post Learning about the Hanapepe Salt Pond from Wade and Will appeared first on…
When we took a family trip to the West Coast to visit art colleges for my oldest child, we stayed near Fisherman s Wharf. There, at the Boudin Bakery, I saw an exhibit about inventions that come out of San Francisco. I noticed that the fortune cookie was one of them. I didn t think about this... The post Visiting the places in FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE + GIVEAWAY! appeared first on Pragmatic…
Thank you to Erin Akamine for featuring me on Discover Nikkei: Mia Wenjen is an accomplished children’s book author, a mother of three, an avid blogger known as Pragmatic Mom, and co-creator of Read Your World, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating diversity in books. Yet perhaps her most successful and ongoing achievement is feeding her voracious appetite... The post Thank You to Discover Nikkei…
This was such a lovely picture book storytime to honor mothers and mental health! Lisa Varchol Perron read from her newest picture book, Kite Day: The Ups and Downs of Mental Health, and Monica Acker read her picture book, Brave Like Mom. Both books honor a mother s love through difficult times. Lisa is a psychotherapist... The post Lisa Varchol Perron and Monica Aker Storytime at Whitelam Books…