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I'm Patrick Adams. And I'm Caroline Lashier. And this is Librarians of Little's, a podcast

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where we go over some books for young learners pre-K, Kinder first grade. And we give some

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tips and tricks for how to work with our youngest learners in the library setting. This week,

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we are introducing some books from African American authors and illustrators since we

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are recording in February. It's Black History Month. And we have so many amazing African

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American authors and illustrators that provide some amazing literature that we can celebrate

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at any age. Our first book today is the book You Matter. It is written and illustrated

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by Christian Robinson. It's published by Anthenim Books for Young Readers. It was published

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in 2020. The author and illustrator of this book is Christian Robinson. And he received

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a Coretta Scott King Illustrator honor and called to honor for Last Stop on Market Street,

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which also won the Newberry Award. It won the 2014 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award

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for Reign, authored by Linda Ashman, and was awarded the Coretta Scott King Illustrator

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honor for Josephine in 2015 and has appeared on multiple Bank Street children book committee

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lists. And Christian Robinson was born in Los Angeles. He grew up in a one bedroom apartment

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with his brother, two cousins, aunt, and grandmother. Drawing was a way for him to be creative

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and make a space for himself. He was able to graduate from the California Institute

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of the Arts and went on to work for both Sesame Workshop and Pixar Animation. He's worked

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in conjunction with Target to create the Christian Robinson for Target collection released in

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2021, which includes over 70 items for babies and kids. Some of his other books include

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Josephine, which was written by Patricia Ruby Powell, Harlem's Little Blackbird by

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Renee Watson, The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts, Last Stop on Market

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Street by Matt DeLapenia, Leo, A Ghost Story by Mack Barnett, School's First Dave School

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by Adam Rex, Just in Case You Want to Fly by Julie Fugliano, Nina by Tracy N. Todd,

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and another, which is written and illustrated by Christian Robinson.

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So this is a really sweet book. You Matter is a book that teaches that everyone is important

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and connected no matter the apparent differences. The book looks at different perspectives and

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evokes respect and empathy for others. I really enjoyed this story. I think it's a simple

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text, but it has a really powerful message. He uses his unique art style to make some

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really engaging illustrations for the students to pay attention to. He's got this cool way

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of zooming in or zooming out to show different perspectives. And he's just got this really

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heartwarming message that no matter what happens, no matter what you do, you matter, and we

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need to kind of keep that message alive.

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Yeah, I really loved this one. Actually, I know we're not at the rating part yet, but

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I'm going to go ahead and rate it a five out of five. It was just really heartwarming and

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it was simplistic enough for kids to really understand it all, but then there were certain

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parts that kind of matching with the text, with the illustration, it goes a little bit

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deeper with like, there was one part that says, even if you're really gassy, you matter.

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And it's kind of, for adults, it's kind of meant to be funny because you're gassy, of

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course, but the illustration on that page was a picture of the sun. So it's like you

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could go deeper and have that conversation about like, well, the sun is a big ball of

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gas. Did you know that? And like, and have those kinds of conversations with the kids

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as well.

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When I was researching this book in particular, I found a really great YouTube reading by

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PBS Kids. They produced it in 2020. And it's Christian Robinson initially like introducing

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the book and telling readers why he wanted to write this book. And it was just, if there

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was any message that he could impart on every reader in the world, it would be that you

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matter. And that was a really important message for him to share with everybody. And it was

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in 2020 when he was sharing that. So I thought that was especially impactful. But after his

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reading, he also has a very short interview. And it's like the whole entire video is less

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than 10 minutes long. So even younger readers who can't sit for a terribly long amount of

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time could still sit and listen and kind of hear him tell the story and kind of explain

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why he has some of the pictures, the way he has them. He can share his message on everybody,

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how why everybody matters. And then you can kind of hear some of his inspiration. So that

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was a really cool one. And I did put that in the notes at the bottom of you want to

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check that out too. Awesome. So yeah, we'll include that link in our show notes. So when

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people go to look at the podcast, that'll be a link that they can go through and follow.

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That's awesome. Because yeah, this is just it's such a nice book with a good message

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that just everybody can just use that pad on the back to that, you know, that, hey,

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it's okay, you're important, we're happy that you're here kind of message. You know, everybody

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has a bad day. And so this kind of is just that positive message that anyone can appreciate.

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I think that his artwork is just so cool, the way he's able to kind of combine the collage

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and painting style that he has, all of his books kind of have that similar style where

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there's like a lot of angles and a lot of a lot of color that he uses. And so it's bright

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and engaging. And even for such a minimal amount of text, the students will be engaged

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by looking at all the things that are happening in the pictures. And then like you said, being

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able to use some of those prompts that he uses to kind of go deeper and have a stronger

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conversation with the kids. I think this is an excellent story. So yes, I would also give

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this a five out of five bookmarks. I think this is an excellent read aloud. I think it's

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a great story for readers that are just starting to read. I think that this is something that

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would be beneficial in anybody's library classroom, school library, personal library, all of the

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above. I agree. Really solid choice. Love this one. And then for our maker space tie-in,

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I thought that it would be kind of cool to have the students kind of try and test out

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that art style that Christian Robinson has by having the students make a collage. So

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having things like magazine clippings, construction paper, glue, and I would either do personally

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with pre-k. What I found is that if you have some of those plastic soap dishes, if you

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put a glue, if you put a sponge in there and then pour a little bit of glue onto that

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sponge, if you take the pieces of paper that the students want to glue and they place it

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on the sponge, you don't get glue everywhere. They can just place it on the sponge. It'll

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transfer just enough glue onto the paper for it to stick to something else. And then you

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don't have wet glue everywhere. And I find that if they use glue sticks, it still ends

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up everywhere because they use too much. So that's my tip or trick for you. That's an

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easy way to do glue. But having that, some cut out pictures, having just some pieces

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of magazines that they can kind of tear themselves, or if you trust them enough to use some safety

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scissors, maybe attempt that, that might push that over the edge for me, though. I think

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letting them tear would probably be the best choice. But have them make a collage of something

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that is important to them, something that they care about, something that matters to

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them. So it could be a person, it could be a possession, it could be a place, something

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that matters to them. And they can also then go in with colored pencils or crayons or markers

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and add to their collage in that way and kind of mimic his art style a little bit. And I

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think that, like I said, if you can manage the mess with the glue, you'll probably end

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up with some paper clippings and stuff like that on the floor and stuff, but that's nothing

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that a vacuum doesn't pick up. So it would be too terribly messy. But I think the kids

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would enjoy being able to have that artistic outlet and kind of try and mimic his style

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a little.

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I love that idea. And I have never heard that trick about the glue with the sponge and all

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that. I'm going to try that. I'm very excited. Thank you.

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I don't know where I heard it, but I tried it out and it really works well and it saves

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so much headache and mess. So definitely worth a try.

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I think I have the perfect sponges for it too. I'm very excited now.

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Because if you find, you can find those little, the plastic soap dishes that kind of like

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have a lid that close. So you just, most sponges will fit right in there. And so then just put

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a little glue in it and it's good to go.

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I love that. Good call.

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And I agree about the scissors as well. That's really, and a good prerequisite skill for

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using scissors is tearing paper anyway, because you can't use your whole hand or theoretically

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shouldn't use your whole hand. Because if you use your whole hand, you're going to tear

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like crumble up the whole paper and you can't use it for art. So like use, that's a good

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way to teach kids to use just their pointer finger and their thumb to pinch and tear.

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Scissors are good, really good prerequisite skills using that pincer grasp. So good call

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there and not necessarily using scissors. I mean, you guys know your kids best if they're

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ready for it and they've been taught that go for it, but it's a difficult skill to teach

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in the library.

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And it might be one of those things where it depends on the time of year that you introduce

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this activity. Like if you're doing it at the beginning of the school year, definitely

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not. But if you're closer to May, maybe if you think that they're ready, that might be

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a possibility.

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But worst case, just let them tear paper into strips and use it that way. And that would

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work perfectly fine too.

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True story. Yeah.

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All right. So today for our library of littles management tip, we're going to be talking

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about using visuals in the library. A lot of our younger learners that are like five

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years old or younger or students with developmental delays have difficulty with auditory processing.

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A lot of the time with our goal with, you know, sitting and attending to stories is really

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to have the kids sit, not touching anybody quiet mouth and all the things. And that's

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kind of a lot of commands. And it's a lot of auditory processing for them to have to

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deal with.

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And so really it's a pretty big thought process of all the things that they have to do. So

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a lot of the time, if you can just show them a picture of a kid sitting with their hands

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in their lap in a quiet mouth, then giving them that visual is an easier way to kind

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of help them understand what you want for them. If they don't understand the words that

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you're saying, if they're they're learning English as a second language, maybe this is

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a really good tip for them too, because they may not understand what you're saying. A lot

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of our pre-K students, especially in Texas since ESL is a qualifier in Texas, a lot of

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our kids may not know English yet. So by showing them a picture of what you want them to do,

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it kind of helps them get set up for success. A lot of our assistants in our school have

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something called a command ring and it has like, it's just a small binder ring that has

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like a one inch by one inch has one inch by one inch cards on it. There's like maybe 10

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cards in the whole thing. And it's a picture of like a kid sitting quietly, a kid just

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sitting in a chair, a kid working at a desk, or a kid listening to a story and things like

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that. So it's just like common commands that you might give a student, but it's just the

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visual so you can just show the students what you're wanting them to do so that you won't

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be partly saving your voice. But also it's just an easier way because there's a lot of

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times where our kids will understand the visual before they understand the auditory. So absolutely,

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I know that these work wonderfully to especially if you're having to, you know, if we have

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a student that's being defiant also, you can kind of just continue to show them, Nope,

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this is what we're looking for. Please do this kind of thing. And that always helps

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also. And then yeah, like a lot of the kids, like you said, they're young, they either

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developmentally can't understand or there's a language barrier there or anything like

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that. And so using these visuals to help them understand so that they can be successful

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is really important because we, we can't fault them if they don't understand what we're

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asking them to do. And sometimes we can, it can be really frustrating when they're not

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doing what we're wanting. But again, it's, it's not their fault if they truly don't comprehend

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or don't understand what we're asking of them. So that visual to give them another way to

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support them and show them what we're looking for so they can be successful can be a game

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changer. Absolutely. And those key rings with the cards is just so nice because you most

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of them have like most of those aids or teachers have them right on their, their badge or on

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their belt so they can just pull them out immediately and kind of just show them what

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they need so that the students have an idea of what we're actually asking them to do.

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So our second book that we're going to be talking about today is called My Daddy is

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a Cowboy. It is the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner for 2025. It was published for

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Abrams Books for Young Readers on June 11th, 2024. The author is Stephanie Seals and the

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illustrator is C. G. Esperanza. The author is Stephanie Seals. She was born in California

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to Panamanian immigrants. She is a storyteller and a children's book expert. My Daddy is

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a Cowboy is her debut picture book and has won numerous awards as a former teacher. She

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loves to do author visits for schools and there's a Google form on her site to request

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more information about an author visit. Other books, none yet because this is her debut

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book, but she has said that she will continue writing diverse books that promote equality

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and is interested in branching out into young adult fiction. Our illustrator is Charles

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George Esperanza. He was born the second of six kids in the South Bronx. He went to the

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Fashion Institute of Technology and graduated in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in illustration.

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He is an author, illustrator and an artist and he continues to live in the South Bronx

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drawing inspiration from the city for his art. His other books include Red, Yellow,

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Blue and a dash of white two and Boogie Boogie y'all and with both of those he is both the

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author and illustrator. In this book, a young girl and her father wake up before dawn for

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some special time together. They go through the sleeping city to the ranch where her father

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works. Together they ride horses as the rest of the world slowly wakes up. I really enjoyed

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this book and the illustrations in it. The illustrations were beautiful. They really,

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when I was reading about CG and Esperanza, I read a lot about how the Bronx inspires

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his art and you can really tell in this book there's a lot of it that like a lot of the

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pages are very bright and vivid, but not like overwhelmingly so like the background and a

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lot of the pages will be like you'll have a bright red background and then just a single

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picture of like the girl and her father. So it's like bright. It's got some bright neon

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colors and it kind of has like a graffiti style art. So it's like it's bright and it's

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engaging but I personally get overwhelmed sometimes with illustrations which I think

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is why I harp on it so much when we're talking about these books and this one's not too overwhelming

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for me. So I think it's a really great, I could see why it got the Caldecott honor as

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I was reading it and I really liked the imagery when hearing some of the words that the author

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used in this book. It was, it really flows like poetry. It's rather beautiful and I

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really liked that it was a book about a girl and her father and it really focuses on family

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connections. The author is Panamanian and when you're reading the book like it refers

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to her, the little girl talks about her abuelita. So I love that it kind of has that diversity

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in there. I think I even read that this one was maybe the first book, maybe I could be

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wrong and I shouldn't be saying this out loud where I'm not certain of it, but I'm pretty

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sure that this one is the first book, children's book like this published with a Panamanian

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main character. It's either the first one or one of the first ones, but it's just highlighting

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like a different culture. Yeah, I really liked that it was since it was talking about the

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girl's family a lot that's very relatable for little kids. So yeah, it was rather beautiful.

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I really enjoyed the story. Yes, this was an amazing story. The art in it was fantastic.

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I love the color and the way it's used. The art style was just kind of breathtaking. I

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really enjoyed it. And then the fact that the story was about a father and daughter kind

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of finding that time in the busy world to take the time just to be together and enjoy

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their company and to be able to enjoy kind of nature by interacting with the horses and

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just kind of enjoying life together, just the two of them as their special time together.

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It was really beautiful. And I hadn't read it before you suggested it, but this is going

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to be one of my go to books because this is it's a it's a wonderful story and then to

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couple the story with the art. It's just amazing. I think I might rate this one maybe a 4.5

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out of five. Okay. I think that's I think that's fair. Is there what's the reason behind taking

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off the the half point? I think it's a fair I think it's fair. I have an idea why I would

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take off the half point. What is your reason for taking off the half point? I think while

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I enjoyed the flowery language in it, I think it might be a little bit too much for our

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younger readers. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing all the time. And there's a lot

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of the time where I do read books that are where I know the language is a little bit

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too complex for my students. But I also know that if it's a story that I enjoy enough,

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if I'm having a good time reading it, they're going to be more engaged just because I'm

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having a good time. So this is a book that I would pick to read more, I think, because

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I really like the story. And I think it's a very touching story. Love the family connections

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that are being made. And I do think that kids can relate to it. But I think with some of

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that language, I think it's it is a little bit too too much, especially for our younger

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learners. And honestly, that's what I was thinking also, there's some of the vocabulary

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in it, if you want them to understand it a little better, you might need to preteach

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or just as you come across the words kind of explain the meaning so that they they get

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the full meaning of it. But yeah, I think I think it's an excellent story with wonderful

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illustrations. I think a four point five is a is a reasonable rating for sure. Yeah. So

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for our makerspace activity, you could build a ranch. There were several times in the book

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that the girl refers back to the ranch and that's where all the horses live and such.

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So for this one, we said you could really have any kind of preferred block or any block

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that you have at your library. So Legos, Magnetiles, wood blocks or Kiva Planks or whatever

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you've got on hand. And those farm animal counters that every school seems to have a

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million of. But you could just use the blocks to build a ranch for all the different farm

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animals and you can kind of tell the kids that yes, there was only horses in this particular

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story. But really, it could be any of these farm animals that could live on this ranch.

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So yeah, yeah. And I mean, so many of these kids love to to build and like farm animals

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are always something that they're loving to play with. So I think this is a great idea

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that would definitely be an engaging build for the students and get kind of giving them

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a purpose like do we want the cows and the horses in the same portion of the ranch? Should

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we build a fence to separate them? How much space are we going to give them? You can kind

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of extend it for some of those kids that might need that extra. But then you can have the

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kids that just just build a big circle and kind of put all the animals inside too. And

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it's fun either way, right?

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Thank you all for joining us today on this episode of librarians of littles. We hope

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you found some fresh ideas for inspiring young readers. Please be sure to subscribe and connect

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with us on social media. We hope you'll join us again next week. Happy reading.

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Thank you for listening to this episode of librarians of littles. We hope that you enjoyed

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it. Check back each Wednesday for a new episode.

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Librarians of littles is a podcast produced and hosted by Patrick Adams and Caroline Ligier.

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Editor Patrick Adams. Our theme song is performed by JD Adams. You can follow us on Instagram

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at librariansoflittles. You can follow us on blue sky at littleslibrary.bsky.social.

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And you can send us your emails at librarianoflittlespod at gmail.com.

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I'm not good at just talking. I don't know. I don't feel like I'm very well spoken.

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Talking is hard, isn't it?