1/24/18- Multicultural Children's Book Day

So, one of the cool things about being a part of the Kid Lit (Children's Literature) community is that occasionally I get free books.  Sometimes I win the books, sometimes I swap books with fellow authors, and then sometimes I get books to review as part of raising awareness for an awesome cause.  One such awesome cause is Multicultural Children's Book Day, which will be January 27 this year. 

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2018 (1/27/18) is in its 5^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Their mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.  

As a female engineer, supporting diversity in my profession is close to my heart and supporting diversity in children's book is an extension of that.  It's why I'm excited to be participating in MCBD and to have received books from Real MVP Kids that feature children from all kinds of cultural backgrounds.  The books in the Real MVP Kids catalog are the perfect books for reading on MCBD with your children.

About the books:

I received 5 books from Real MVP Kids to review for MCBD: Celebrate! Our Difference, Celebrate! The Way I'm Made, Celebrate! Bedtime, Celebrate! Mommies and Daddies, and Celebrate! Grandmas and Grandpas.  

Celebrate! Our Differences guides children in becoming friends with others who are different than themselves, realizing that “we’re more alike than different” while celebrating those things which make an individual unique.  Celebrate! The Way I’m Made helps children appreciate their own unique qualities, from physical traits to skills and strengths, affirming that they are good.  

Celebrate! Bedtime walks through a comforting bedtime routine while teaching gratefulness, obedience and calming strategies and features each of the MVP Kids families saying “goodnight” in their heritage language.  Celebrate! Mommies and Daddies strengthens parent-child bonds as children describe the ways their parent(s) love and care for them.  The MVP Kids families express “I love you” in their heritage languages.   In Celebrate! Grandmas and Grandpas, grandparents help children apply proverbs and cultural wise sayings to everyday situations, teaching young people to value elders and encouraging grandparents to strengthen their bonds with the younger generation.

Here's a link to MVP Kids and the books: https://realmvpkids.com/series/celebrate/

Review of books: 
All five books are great to read with toddlers (and babies and older kids too!).  Jack, my toddler, enjoyed reading them with me, but his favorite book (of the series) seemed to be Celebrate! The Way I’m Made.  He liked the rhyme of that book the best and enjoyed pointing out the different body parts when I'd read them (eyes! hair! hands!).  He also really liked the illustration of the kids and balloons on the cover, always asking for the balloons book.

Of course what I liked about the series was a little different from what my toddler preferred.  The themes in each book are familiar, like body positive in Celebrate! The Way I’m Made, and comforting, like the love of parents in  Celebrate! Mommies and Daddies, making the stories good to share with young children.  But what make these books stand out from other books that  have similar themes is the cast of children-- every illustration in the books has children of different colors, genders, ethnicity, and shapes and sizes.  A child should be able to self-identify with at least one character in the series, which is important to me as a female engineer and mother.   The illustrations are colorful and pleasant, invoking the celebration in each book.  There is also "Helpful Teaching Tips" at the end of each book that will help parents/guardians and educators in navigating difficult subjects, like low self-esteem (related to the body positive theme in Celebrate! The Way I’m Made).  

Using the Goodreads, Amazon, B+N, etc. 5 star review format, I give these books 4 out of 5 stars.  These books will not only be the perfect read for MCBD, but for any time you want to talk about diversity, love, positive body image, multicultural awareness, and so on.  Happy reading everyone! 

Now for some FREE stuff!

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party!
http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

And now a thank you to sponsors!

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild

PLATINUM:Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors

Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo,  Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles,  Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen,  Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and  MFL Publishing  Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham  Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

1/12/18- Exercising When You Feel Like Shark

Yesterday I had a headache from about 4 am until 10 pm.  2 Advil and 2 Tylenol helped me power through work.  Bobby was able to pick up Jack from preschool, and they grabbed dinner. And while I laid, cuddling with Jack on the couch last night, I thought about how I should walk the dogs.  How I should get exercise.  And then I thought, why don't I allow myself just to rest tonight?  The answer is guilt.

I see my friends sharing on social media all the exercise they are getting, some of them with autoimmune diseases like me (props to them), and I feel guilty that all I want is rest.  I feel guilty when the doctor suggests that my health (and joints) will be better if I get a little exercise.  I feel guilty that Jack wants me to play and dance with him, but all I can do is watch him from the couch.  I feel guilty that dogs love taking their walks, but I tell them tomorrow.

#WhatSickLooksLike

But it's silly to feel guilty about exercise when you're sick.  If I had a cold or the flu, people would tell me to rest, and most likely I would. So if I have a headache, because of inflammation from the RA, then I should rest.  Rest is just as important as exercise when you have RA or other autoimmune diseases, so I should honor when my body is telling me to rest.

And the times I feel moderate to excellent, I will capitalize on that and exercise. The exercise might only be folding the laundry, dancing with Jack, or walking the dogs because  I'm not going to push myself and then inadvertently cause inflammation.  I want to find the right balance of exercise, so that I'm not resting all the time.  I do enjoy walking the dogs or playing with Jack.

The balance between exercise and rest is delicate when living with RA, and I don't want to feel guilty for those days when I need rest.  I want stop feeling guilty about what my body (and mind) needs.  If I need, or want, to rest, then I should rest.  I should not be worrying about exercising when I feel like shark (and I think neither should you).  Join me on the couch and say no to exercising when you feel like shark.

1/2/18- New Year's Resolutions

2017 was a pretty good year for me.  I released a book, traveled twice to Disneyland, wrote about awesome engineers for STEMedia, enjoyed my work some days, and spent blissful time with my friends and family.  Although the past 2 weeks have been a bit busy and emotionally draining (there were some good times and some not good times this Christmas), 2017 was a good year for me on a personal level. I know some bat shark stuff happened in the US this year, shark you Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, but for me, I enjoyed 2017.

I believe 2018 will also be a good year (for me), and I'm not setting New Year's resolutions.  That's right no resolutions.  I have some writing goals and some personal goals, but if they don't happen this year, I'll get them done in 2019.  I've seen too often my parent friends stress out and feel time poor with all that is on their and their child's plates.  I've talked with my chronically ill friends about how some days the only energy you have is to eat and watch TV.  So this year I've decided to not sweat about my goals. Because goals are nice to have but are not a need to have.  

What are these goals that are nice to have but not a need to have?  I'll tell you:

1) Write every week-- If for some reason I don't write for one of the weeks, no big deal, I can do it some other time. Since my income to pay for food, shelter, etc doesn't come from writing, I've got the flexibility of when I write.  It's nice to write, but it's not a need. Gasp!  I'm sure other writers are horrified at this idea, but I don't want writing to be a chore. I want to write because I want to do it.  Writing started to feel mandatory at the end of 2017, and I want writing to stay fun and continue to make me feel happy. 

2) Submit queries to agents and publishers-- If for some reason I don't query an agent for the whole year, there will be agents to query in 2019.  A list of agents to query seems to be a pretty steady fact in the writing business, and as much as I'd love an agent sooner rather than later, I know that it takes time.  And if part of the reason it takes time is because of me, then so be it.

3) Take a vacation-- I'm like 99.9999999999999999999% sure that will happen this year, but it might not be some fancy vacation at a nice resort on a tropical island.  It might just be in the next city over at a Holiday Inn Express/Best Western/Comfort Inn/etc.  I don't really care where it, as long as it is time off from work and somewhat relaxing.   

That's it.  Those are my goals.  They're pretty achievable.  I asked a friend if she had any New Year's Resolutions, and she had a pretty good answer: sleep more and eat more.  Those are also very achievable goals.  So that's what I'm going to encourage us all to do this year-- set the bar low because you'll feel great when you easily trip over your goals.  In seriousness, I want to encourage you to set goals or resolutions, or whatever you want to call them, that you know you actually achieve.  Goals that you won't sweat about. Even if it's just eating more. 

Happy New Year's and best wishes! 

12/22/17- The First Kiss

December 22, 2017 marks the 12th anniversary of my first date, and consequentially, my first kiss with my husband Bobby!  For our wedding website (that we made in 2008!), we both wrote down our first kiss from our own perspective.  I'm so happy to still have the information from our website and happy that I get to share the story with you all.  Hopefully it's not too sickeningly sweet, but the right amount of sweet.  Happy 12th anniversary first date to my handsome husband!

*Bobby's Side*
On our first date, I had spent a lot of effort being a real gentleman. I opened her car door when I picked her up, when we got to the restaurant, and finally, when we left the restaurant.
The final activity we did at Zoo Lights was ride the carousel together. I was very happy to find a guy who'd look like a fool to ride the carousel with me. I mean we were in our mid-20s riding a carousel full of kids. Not too many guys would do that. I knew then that I wanted to end the night on a kiss good bye.

As we headed back to the car after a great time wandering through the zoo and talking, I didn't open her door. She jokingly reminded me and I rushed to open her door, apologizing the whole way. It seems she had thought about this and as I turned to her with the door open, she leaned in and kissed me.

Now I know the first kiss is a private moment, but there was something different about that kiss. It was different than any other first kiss I had. Of course, maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic, but it was...wow.

*Suzie's Side*

He had been opening the car door for me all night, even though I joked that I was a modern girl and could do it myself, but he had set that standard, so I fully expected him to open the car door one last time when we left the zoo. I mean, perfect opportunity for a kiss, right? He opens the door, I lean in and thank him with a kiss. Of course this one time, he decided to act on my critique of his macho, chivalry. We held hands all the way from the parking lot to the cars, so I thought he was in the same mentality as me, and this would be the big first kiss. As he headed for his own door (the driver's side), not even attempting to open mine, I cleared my throat, and then asked if he was going to open the door or not? I swear he actually ran all the way from drive side to the passenger side. He opened the door, and yeah, I leaned in to kiss him (as the white elephant had taught me, I couldn't expect him to kiss me). It was definitely a kiss I wouldn't forget. Wow is right.

12/18/17- Holiday Science Experiment: Make Your Own Snow

When you live in a warm weather place like Phoenix, you rarely receive snowfall (it has happened though). So if you don't get snow, then why not make some?  That's exactly what Jack, Bobby, our friend Colton, and some neighborhood kids did this weekend. It will make for a fun winter break and holiday science experiment.  And it's super easy to do!

YOU WILL NEED:

3 cups of baking soda
1/2 cup of hair conditioner (suggest white in color so that it looks like snow)
glitter (optional)
large plastic container or large pan
"snow" tools: beads, toothpicks, cookie cutters or Play-Doh tools, ribbon and googling eyes for snow people


INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour baking soda into container.
2. Pour conditioner into container.
3. Stir together with a spoon (or your hands).  Snow should be like sand.
4. Let the play begin!

I will give you a word of caution: your child(ren) may want to make snowballs and then throw said snowball at you.  The good news is that this snow cleans up easily.  So I suggest wearing play clothes (or if you live in Phoenix, bathing suites to hose down the "snow" covered kids, haha) and doing the snow outside (just like real snow, haha).

Jack, Colton, and the neighborhood kids enjoyed the snow-- long after we ran out of baking soda and conditioner, they kept asking for more snowballs.  It makes me so happy when Jack and friends enjoy one of my science experiments. Parenting, and engineering, win! 😀

And for those who have children older than 3, you can explain how mixing the baking soda and conditioner together creates an exothermic reaction, which is the same type of reaction in the formation of real snow (exothermic is a chemical reaction that releases energy in the form of heat or light). And if you want an endothermic reaction, like the reaction that melting snow is, then pour some vinegar on top of your fake snow.  Below is a video to help your children learn more about exothermic and endothermic reactions.  Happy Snow-lidays! ⛄

12/10/17- Every Once in a While, I Like My Job (Part 2)

Not that long ago, I talked about how much I enjoyed attending and presenting at a conference. That I actually liked my job.  Not more than a week later I found myself again enjoying my job.  But this time it was my writing job (which I like 98% of the time anyway, so no surprise there).

I was selling copies of my book at the Tempe Book Festival.  I needed some help; someone to accept payment while I signed books.  This setup is optimal for any author working a festival, fair or any other place where you're selling directly to patrons. I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow engineer Sara (hi Sara, thanks again for your help!).  We've done multiple science fairs together, and she's great at getting kids and adults interested in our (science and engineering) booth.

Since the Tempe Book Festival was outside, and you have to bring your own gear, I decided that a tent canopy, in addition to the standard table and chairs, was a good idea for a festival in the Valley of the Sun.  It's a rather large canopy, so Bobby volunteered to help Sara and I set it up. Set up was faster with 3 people, but only 2 people need to work a table/booth at a book festival.  Having Bobby there for set up also meant that Jack would be there.

Jack is at the age where I have no idea if he'll be sitting still while watching Mickey Mouse, running all over the festival grounds, or begging us to go home.  To my pleasant surprise, he was really into the book festival, yay!  While we set up, he played an ABC game on a tablet.  And when we finished set up, he took Mommy around to all the booths, then Sara around to all the booths, and finally Daddy around to all the booths.

Next, he sat at my booth, telling people about Annie Aardvark, handing out candy to other kids (it was more of a mandate: "you don't want that, you want Starburst"), and also enjoying some of this candy himself.  He stayed the entire 6 hours of the festival and seemed to enjoy all 6 hours.  He was a little tired after we packed it in and feel asleep on the ride home.

Jack visiting an author's book at the Tempe Book Festival

On a parenting note, remember when I said I had no idea how Jack would act?  When I'm not sure how he'll act someplace new, I hesitate (big time) on bringing him with me.  I don't think I'm alone on that hesitation--running a book festival booth goes a little smoother if there's not a cranky toddler sitting at it.  Shark, doing anything without a toddler present usually goes smoother.

However looking back, I think about how Jack and I might have both missed out on this experience had I let that hesitation rule my decision. It was awesome for me to have him be a part of my work--for him to see me work.  It's that thought, of him seeing me work and being a part of my work, that has changed my mindset. I definitely plan to bring him to more events like this (like when Sara and I volunteer for another science fair). It's just making sure to have a contingency plan, like having daddy or a friend on hand to help out, since I am an engineer after all (got to worse case it, ya know?).

As I hinted in the paragraph above, it meant the world to me that I got to share my work (my writing work) with my son.  And that he liked it!  I'm convinced that he thinks I don't work, as all of my work, both engineering and writing, is performed on my laptop. I'm pretty sure Jack thinks the laptop is a toy, and toys equal play, not work (although play in a sense is work for kids, just don't tell them that).  Therefore, mommy plays, not works, on the laptop (okay, sometimes work feels like play to me, which circles back to every once in a while, I like my job).

As a female engineer (and writer) who wants to raise a feminist son, it's very important to me that Jack not only understands that I work, but that he sees me do it.  Sharing the book festival with him, not only is a precious memory, but a demonstration of my ideals to my child.  So yeah, every once in a while, I like my job. Might I say, I even love it?  Na, let's not get too carried away!  😃

Hey friends and family-- what do you like about your job?  Let me know in the comments.  I guess you can also tell me what you don't like about your job, although hoping to have some positive comments too. 😃

11/21/17- Counting My Blessings

Last year a friend started a #GratitudeProject around the holidays, and she brought back the project for this year. The idea of the project is that a "purposeful study of gratitude, thankfulness, and mindfulness has many benefits, not the least of which is, it makes you a happier person!" So for 14 days, my friends leads a group of us in practicing gratitude, thankfulness, and mindfulness.  

Each day has a new exercise, and today's exercise was to count your blessings.  Here's the description of the exercise: 

Count your blessings.  Pick a time today and consider sustaining this every week where you sit down and write about your blessings-- reflection on what went right or what you are grateful for.  Sometimes it helps to pick a number-- such as three to five things-- that you will identify each week.  How many will you identify today? As you write, be specific and think about the sensations you felt when something good happened to you.

I thought since I have a weekly blog post to do, Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I want to participate in today's #GratitudeProject, why not make my blog post about counting my blessings? I am not sure that I'll think of every blessing I have, but here are the blessings that are always in my mind and heart:

1) My son (love you Jack Jack!)
2) My husband (💓)
3) My friends (😊)
4) My extended family (shout out to my nephews Brady, Austin, Connor, and Parker and godson Colton!)
5) My pets
6) My education
7) My house (a roof over my head)
8) My eyesight (I may have RA, but so far, I haven't had to wear glasses)
9) Being born in the US
10) Science and the wonderment of scientific discovery
11) All the different options available for food and the ability to afford all the different options (can't eat gluten, no problem here in the States!)
12) Washing machines and dish washers (so thankful to not have to walk down to the river and do it all by hand)
13) Books
14) Shoes (not sure my delicate feet could handle walking around barefoot on the hot Phoenix sidewalks)
15) Writing
16) Funny GIFs and Memes (sometimes the Internet is shark, but sometimes it makes me laugh and brings cheer)
17) Starbucks and husband always "refilling" the Starbucks card
18) My car/having reliable transportation
19) A job that helps saves lives in some small part
20) Netflix

What are your blessings? Can you count at least a handful of blessings? Please feel free to share in the comments, and I hope most of your blessings will be gathered around you at your Thanksgiving fest. Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, gobble, gobble!