See what we're reading, what we're donating, & what we're doing throughout the community this month
A look back at November:
Did anyone else blink and miss November? This past month has been one of the best! From filling our free libraries with books by Indigenous & Puerto Rican authors to tasting chai with our school partners, we stayed busy. We want to say a special thank you to all of you who donated books off of our Nov Wishlists. Each book was donated into our free libraries in our diverse, rural communities. And guess what? They went QUICK. This is great!!! It means that diverse books are finding their way into homes, libraries, & classrooms and this showcases a true need throughout our communities for books that are representative of the communities they serve.
Our book clubs: This month we took our MOSS Kids Book Club to five locations!! We discussed family traditions while praising young Meena for deciding to take a stand and make a new tradition within her family. Kids crafted their own dining room tables to make them big enough to included everyone they love, tried chai tea using all of their senses, and took home plenty of printable activities to continue their learning. Check out our blog post to grab those printables!
Lunch Bunch: We’ve joined a local elementary school to participate in their Lunch Bunch program — every two weeks, we meet at lunchtime with a group of four third-grade students to read aloud, craft, and encourage a love of books. We just finished reading Marya Khan and the Spectacular Fall Festival by Saadia Faruqi, and the kids gave it ∞/5 stars! Take a sneak peek here to see what book we're reading in December!
A bookish weekend: We took a weekend off to head to YALLfest in Charleston, SC to celebrate young adult authors and their beautiful stories. While attending, we were granted the opportunity to interview two authors and advocates -- Jen Ferguson and Maggie Tokeda-Hall. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog posts surrounding those interviews and highlighting the immense work these two are doing for our teens through their stories and their advocacy. YALLfest was an incredible experience. Meeting and talking with authors about the importance of their books and how making sure our local communities have free access is vital to children's literacy rates in our area.
A birthday giveaway: We took a trip to the mountains to celebrate our co-founder Kara's birthday. While we were there, we went to the local bookstore Highland Books to support local in Western NC and bought a few of Kara's favorite books to give away on our socials as a way to show how much we appreciate our online community's ongoing support. A local Title 1 school teacher won our giveaway.
What we're reading:
Our December MOSS Kids Book Club pick is An Anishinaabe Christmas, written by Wab Kinew and illustrated by Erin Hill. This beautifully illustrated picture book is a heartwarming story that blends Indigenous cultural traditions with the spirit of the holiday season, highlighting the importance of family, community, and connection to the land. We can’t wait to share more about An Anishinaabe Christmas, and the craft we’ve come up with to go along with it, in next week’s blog post. Check out this supplemental book list to pair with our December MOSS Kids Book Club pick to celebrate and educate about holiday traditions from around the world.
All year we have been preaching the importance of diversifying your bookshelves. Don’t forget that it’s just as important to do so during the holiday season. One of the best gifts you can give a child this season is, you guessed it, a book. Teach your children the importance of reading about different cultures, different backgrounds, & different perspectives. These books are our favorites depicting Santa, Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa. Remember that when looking for books to read to your children, YOU (the adult), should be choosing books with BIPOC characters, by BIPOC authors. Choosing books to celebrate and educate. Challenging the now normative stereotypes. Challenging your own learned internal bias. And make it a goal going into the new year that you continue to diversify your shelves at home. That you’ll request your library purchase diverse and inclusive books. That you’ll raise up the voices of marginalized peoples. That you’ll lead by example for your kid. You’ll lead with kindness, with acceptance, with understanding. Let’s acknowledge our part in this societal mess & do something about it. For us, for our kids. *steps off soapbox*
The Winter Solstice is almost here! The snow, while not falling in eastern North Carolina any time soon, may be drifting down in your neighborhoods. Take this time to slow down, grab a hot cocoa and a cozy blanket to step into a wintery wonderland. These wintery reads offer a rich array of stories that celebrate different cultural traditions, perspectives, and experiences of the season. From snowy adventures to seasonal rituals, these books reflect the unique ways children around the world embrace winter, fostering empathy and broadening young readers' understanding of the world through inclusive and engaging narratives.
It’s that time of year — the second annual MKB Awards!! We will be bringing you our favorite books published this year. You all know how much we read, how much we’ve donated, & how many books we plan to add to our future bookmobile library. We’ll be choosing some of our favorite board books, picture books, emerging reader books, middle grade, & young adult. We know that in the grand scheme of things, our mock award doesn’t truly matter. We don’t have a huge following, most of the books we’ve purchased ourselves or thanks to YOU and your support. But we wanted to showcase our favorite books of 2024 all by diverse authors who statistically do not get the promotion/inclusion on big named lists. These books matter. These voices matter. These are the books that should be on all library shelves. In classrooms. In homes. So if you are gifting children in your life books this season, please consider one of these. MKB Awards 2024 announcing soon. Check out last year's winners here.
More booklists in December: We’re in the process of making our lists for Human Rights Day and our recommendations for Jólabókaflóðið, the Christmas Book Flood. Keep an eye out for these lists, which will be featured throughout the month.
What we're donating:
This month we’re filling up our free libraries with brand new titles to celebrate and educate on holiday traditions around the world, the cold, blustery winter months, and Human Rights Day. We are extremely grateful for all donations from the community. Even the smallest contributions help us get new books into rural communities where affordable access to diverse books is scarce. Heading into December, we could use your help in increasing our selection of books honoring cultural celebrations and traditions. Check out our wishlists & consider donating today. Help us create a better society by raising kind, empathetic, accepting, & understanding kids.
What we're doing throughout the community:
Fundraising Opportunity: This month, Read with us Rocky Mount book club (hosted by our cofounder Kara) is reading Evil Eye by Etaf Rum. Etaf generously donated paperback copies of her book for MOSS Kids to sell to raise money for our ongoing literacy initiatives. If you would like to purchase a signed & personalized copy, email us at hello@mosskidsbooks.com or DM us on Instagram. All proceeds go to MOSS Kids, BIG THANKS to Etaf Rum for her donation.
Book Clubs: We’re continuing to bring MOSS Kids Book Club to five of our seven partner locations -- four elementary schools across two counties and the Wilson County Public Library. Larema Coffee House & Drag Story Hour at Boxyard RTP are paused for the holidays. This month, we're learning about the meaning of home through an Indigenous Christmas tradition.
Picture Books on Tap, our adult picture book club: Come out to Larema Beverage Company at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11, to connect with your inner child and your local community through stories, crafts, and great food and drinks! Check out our monthly calendar for a complete list of events.
Lunch Bunch: We’re planning to start a new book Sadiq and the Festival of Cultures by Siman Nuurali this month. We cannot wait to start this chapter book celebrating cultures from around the world. We’ve love spending time with these students and providing a safe space for them to learn and grow as readers. Each child will be gifted a copy of the book.
Planning & planning & planning: This month, we are looking to 2025 and seeing what more we can do to better serve our youth throughout our communities. We're adding more MOSS Kids Book Club locations. We're adding more free bookish events & fundraisers. We really want that bookmobile!!
What's coming next:
MKB Awards: Stay tuned for the MOSS Kids Book Awards coming this month to celebrate our most donated, absolute favorite books released in 2024. Events: We are still eagerly anticipating the installation of two new free libraries in Sharpsburg, North Carolina. They are looking beautiful with fresh new paint — just waiting on an installation date as we are discussing where these libraries would serve the community best. We can’t wait to stock these fresh libraries with brand new diverse books for the kids of Sharpsburg to take home. We're hoping to host a ribbon-cutting event to officially launch these soon. Booklists in January: We'll be starting off the year new fresh with upcoming holiday reads for Three Kings Day and Lunar New Year. We'll be sharing books about MLK day, environmental education, and our favorite books celebrating the Harlem Renaissance. Don't forget to follow along with us on our socials to see what we're doing every week.
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