How to use this Page

On July 5th, I had the honor of visiting Tacoma, Washington to kick off summer reading with First Book and the United States Coast Guard’s Handshake Tour! As you may know, First Book is the signature charity of the Coast Guard and for the next few weeks First Book will be hosting private reading parties aboard the USCG Tall Ship Eagle to generate new books for children in need. How does it work? Everyone that tours the Eagle will be invited to shake hands with a Coastie on board - each handshake will provide a new book for a child in need.

Although the day started out rainy (I know surprise, surprise) the sun soon came out and we were greeted by a group of smiling 1st and 2nd grade children from the nearby Bordeaux School. The kids and adults alike were thrilled to tour the 295-foot vessel and each child walked away from the day with three beautiful new books!

This weekend First Book and the USCG are heading to San Francisco for the next stop of the tour – July 24 through July 28 - so if you’re in the Bay area, come down to tour the Eagle and help bring new books to children who need them! If you are not able to make it in person, you can still help by virtually shaking a Coastie’s hand at www.firstbook.org/uscg.

This weekend an “earth-shaking” literature event is taking place: Reading the World X, a conference dedicated to multicultural literature education, held in San Francisco, CA at USF. I say earth-shaking because my lovely neighboring city of San Francisco, is rumbling with the footsteps of attendees from all over CA and other states, who have gathered together to celebrate, educate and share with one another—a wealth of voices in multicultural literature. Guest speakers include: Ashley Bryan, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alma Flor Ada, Leslie Tryon, Laurence Yep, Sarah Ellis, Peter Sís, Rita Williams Garcia, Jack Zipes and Doris Orgel.

I’m honored to participate as a presenter my first year at this event. Today, I’m putting on a workshop titled From Hawaiian Talk Story to Printed Page. I’ll be leaving shortly and will update this post with stories, updates and hopefully, pictures. Stay tuned…

The above image is from the picture book, Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sís, which graced this year’s Reading the World X posters and promotional materials.