Formed in 1926 by Abe Saperstein, The Harlem Globetrotters are legendary worldwide and famous for their one-of-a-kind family entertainment. Throughout their history, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 122 countries and territories on six continents, often breaking down cultural and societal barriers.
This weekend we’re taking our kids to have their first-ever basketball experience with the Harlem Globetrotters. I couldn’t be more excited to go since it will be our family’s first Harlem Globetrotters basketball game. I’ve always wanted to go witness their one-of-a-kind basketball artistry live in person and now we have the opportunity to go.
I’m ready to see all of the dribbling, the dunking, and the comedy that will be on full display. It is sure to be a family-fun experience for us all and I love that we’re going to a game during Black History Month. What better time to go and support and all Black basketball team! Not only will it be exciting, but also a learning experience to teach the kids about the tremendous impact the Harlem Globetrotters have had on the world both on and off the court.
Does your family also want to pay homage by seeing this one-of-a-kind family entertainment experience live?
I received this book for free from Candlewick in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Inside the cozy house, a baby has arrived! The world is eager to meet the newcomer, but there will be time enough for that later. Right now, the family is on its babymoon: cocooning, connecting, learning, and muddling through each new concern. While the term “babymoon” is often used to refer to a parents’ getaway before the birth of a child, it was originally coined by midwives to describe days like these: at home with a newborn, with the world held at bay and the wonder of a new family constellation unfolding. Paired with warm and winsome illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal, Hayley Barrett’s lyrical ode to these tender first days will resonate with new families everywhere.
Have you ever been on a babymoon? Do you even know what a babymoon is?
ba·by·moon
/ˈbābēˌmo͞on noun
a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before (or after) their baby is born.
The term Babymoon was first coined in a 1996 book, The Year After Childbirth, by childbirth educator Sheila Kitzinger.
Essentially, a babymoon is sort of like a honeymoon, only it happens after you confirm that you are pregnant and expecting a baby, and before (or after) the baby arrives.
My husband and I didn’t go on a babymoon before or after having either of our children. Why? Because I had no idea this was even a THING! Now that I know the definition of what a babymoon is and especially after reading this beautiful book, it ALMOST makes me want to go and make another baby! Seriously though, as far as I’m concerned, my baby making days are over, but thanks to Babymoon I can live vicariously through these gorgeous illustrations and imagine what a babymoon might be like.
In this rhyming book, readers meet a sweet family (a biracial family of color) who decide to go on a secluded babymoon with their newborn baby. The baby is gender neutral which was a purposeful decision. I love that the family chose to take their babymoon AFTER baby arrived along with their pet cat and dog in tow as a way for them all to bond as a family.
As first-time parents, they have so much to learn about caring for a new baby. From changing diapers to nursing to building trust. If you are a parent then you know having a child changes the family dynamic dramatically. The baby becomes the center of attention from the moment he/she arrives.
I like how the parents in this book are investing time and space to be together as a family unit away from home. It gives me hope these parents will walk into parenthood more connected than ever.
Newborns should be spending the vast majority of their time in the arms of their mothers and fathers and that’s exactly what this book shows. And since they were away from their home, they won’t have to worry about being their baby bombarded with the smells of other family members, friends or neighbors. All of that can be confusing to a new baby, especially when they are still learning to nurse. Babies are primal little creatures and rely on their nose to guide them.
Although this babymoon getaway is blissful, it is peppered with a bit of anxiety as the parents look like they’re trying to decipher baby’s cries. This shows the reality of parenthood and how tough it can be at times having a newborn.
Here together. So much to learn. We muddle through each new concern.
The illustrations in Babymoon will take your breath away and make you feel the love these parents have for their baby. I think this is some of Juana Martinez-Neal’s best work to date. Each illustration is so tranquil infused with gentle and loving tenderness. A definite must-have for newborn parents or parents-to-be. Add this one to your baby shower gift giving list!
Your turn: Seasoned parents, what tips or advice would you offer a new family to help them get through the first couple of weeks? Please share your wisdom in the comments below!
About the Author
Hayley Barrett wrote BABYMOON to encourage growing families to take time together to rest and fall in love. Once an aspiring nurse-midwife, she honors the arrival of any child, whether newborn or older, by birth or by adoption, as a momentous event. Hayley lives in eastern Massachusetts.
I am SO excited to share these Black History Picture Book Bingo cards with you! When I came across author Kathy Ellen Davis’s Picture Book Bingo on Instagram, I immediately shared it with my Instagram audience. I then reached out to Kathy and asked if she would create a Black History themed bingo card for me and she kindly said YES!
If you’ve never played book bingo before, it’s pretty easy and straightforward. Just read books to correspond with the categories on the card. I’d recommend it for anyone who:
Enjoys reading
Likes reading new types of books they wouldn’t normally read
Likes to be challenged
Is a consistent and dedicated enough reader to complete the challenge
Most of all, book bingo is about having FUN – even if you don’t complete the entire bingo card due to that thing called “life” we all live. Really, though, if you enjoy books, I highly recommend giving this a shot at least one time through. You can do it on your own, with your own children/grandchildren, other family members, friends or with your students.
To create these bingo cards, I came up with different categories of books and Kathy was generous enough to hand letter them on her own! I have a huge list of other categories that are not included on these cards so expect to see other versions of these bingo cards on occasion throughout the year.
I think book bingo is a wonderful opportunity for kids (and adults) to have fun while reading, along with adding an extra incentive to complete the BINGO card. Have you played book bingo before?
Your turn: Do you find these Bingo cards to be helpful? Will you participate and try it? Feel free to share in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts and perhaps see photos of your completed Bingo cards! If you share about this, use the hashtag #bhpbingo so I’ll see your posts.
This round-up of picture books highlights prominent and a few lesser-known male leaders of African descent. Each male featured has a distinct story and legacy, but they all share some commonalities: poise and confidence that no doubt added to their iconic statuses. I hope you’ll enjoy this list and explore each story to witness their perseverance through oppression and their determination through struggle. These books are great to read during Black History Month or anytime of the year.
Happy Reading!
Art Tatum
Art Tatum, an African American pianist, and one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, was born in 1909, in Toledo, Ohio. Did you know he was blind in one eye and visually impaired in the other? He was an amazing child prodigy with perfect pitch who learned to play the piano by ear.
Arturo Schomburg
Arthur Schomburg was a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and African-Americans have made to society.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
Bass Reeves
Bass Reeves was the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory. During his long career, he was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. He shot and killed 14 outlaws in self-defense.
Bob Marley
Bob Marley was a powerful musician and messenger; a poet and prophet of reggae culture. His music echoed from Jamaica all the way across the globe, spreading his heartfelt message of peace, love, and equality to everyone who heard his songs.
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson is known as The “Father” of Black History. He dedicated his life to educating African Americans about the achievements and contributions of their ancestors.
Charles White
Born in Chicago in 1918, Charles W. White was one of America’s most renowned and recognized African-American & Social Realist artists.
Charlie Sifford
Charles Luther Sifford was a professional golfer who was the first African American to play on the PGA Tour.
Claude Mason Steele
Claude Mason Steele is an American social psychologist. He is best known for his work on stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance.
Clive Campbell
Born in 1955 in Kingston, Jamaica, Clive Campbell is known as “The Father of Hip Hop”.
Cornelius Washington
Cornelius Washington was a veteran French Quarter sanitation worker who became famous following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana.
David Drake
David Drake, also known as Dave the Potter, was an American potter who lived in Edgefield, South Carolina. Dave produced over 100 alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs between the 1820s and the 1860s.
Dizzy Gillespie (John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie)
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer. Some call him one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all times.
Ernie Barnes
Ernie Barnes was an African-American painter, well known for his unique style of elongation and movement. He was also a professional football player, actor and author. Did you know his popular paintings were featured in the sitcom Good Times?
Frederick Douglass
Famed 19th-century author and orator Frederick Douglass was an eminent human rights leader in the anti-slavery movement and the first African-American citizen to hold a high U.S. government rank.
George Crum
Meet George Crum, inventor of potato chips!
George Fletcher
George Fletcher was the first African American to compete for a world championship in bronco riding at the 1911 Pendleton Roundup.
George Moses Horton
George Moses Horton was an African-American poet from North Carolina, the first to be published in the Southern United States. His book The Hope of Liberty was published in 1829 while he was still enslaved.
Gordon Parks
A man of many talents, Gordon Parks is most famous for being the first Black director in Hollywood.
Henry Brown
Henry “Box” Brown was an enslaved man who shipped himself to freedom in a wooden box.
Horace Pippin
Horace Pippin was a self-taught African-American painter.
Howard Thurman
Howard Washington Thurman was a Black author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader.
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence was one of the most important artists of the 20th century, widely renowned for his modernist depictions of everyday life as well as epic narratives of African American history and historical figures.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson broke boundaries as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. But long before Jackie changed the world in a Dodger uniform, he did it in an army uniform.
James Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings, was the son of the mixed-race enslaved Sally Hemings. He was the third of her four children— fathered by her master, President Thomas Jefferson.
James Van Der Zee
James Van Der Zee was an African-American photographer known for his distinctive portraits from the Harlem Renaissance.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen.
Jimmy “Wink” Winkfield
Born into an African American sharecropping family in 1880s Kentucky, Jimmy Winkfield grew up loving horses. He later went on to become the last Black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby.
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.
John Lewis
John Roy Lynch
John Roy Lynch was the first African American Speaker of the House in Mississippi. He was also one of the first African American members of the U.S House of Representatives during Reconstruction, the period in United States history after the Civil War.
Langston Hughes
James Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.
Lonnie Johnson
Meet the inventor of the Super Soaker Water Gun!
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist during the Civil Rights Movement.
Michael Jordan
Regarded by most as the NBA’s greatest all-time player, Michael Jordan won six titles with the Chicago Bulls.
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. Nicknamed “The Greatest”, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson, is an American astrophysicist whose work has inspired a generation of young scientists and astronomers to reach for the stars!
Nelson Mandela
Born on July 18, 1918 Nelson Mandela is best known for promoting messages of forgiveness, peace and equality.
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Born on June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition.
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism.
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer.
Richard Wright
Pioneering African-American writer Richard Wright is best known for the classic texts Black Boy and Native Son.
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was a visual artist who utilized painting, cartoons, and collage to depict African-American life.
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer, serving as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. He was the Court’s 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
Vivien Thomas
Overcoming racism and resistance from his colleagues, Vivien ushered in a new era of medicine—children’s heart surgery. This book is the compelling story of this incredible pioneer in medicine.
Wendell O. Scott
Wendell Oliver Scott was the first African American race car driver to win a race in what would now be considered part of the Sprint Cup Series.
William “Doc” Key
William “Doc” Key, a formerly enslaved man and self-taught veterinarian believed in treating animals with kindness, patience, and his own homemade remedies.
William “Bill” Lewis
William “Bill” Lewis was an enslaved man who earned enough money being a blacksmith and set a daring plan in motion: to free his family.
William J. Powell
William J. Powell was an American businessman, entrepreneur, and pioneering golf course owner who designed the Clearview Golf Club, the first integrated golf course, as well as the first to cater to African-American golfers.
Your turn: Did you learn about someone or something new after reading this post? What other books would you add to this list? Feel free to share in the comments.
The first dedicated collection of seminal speeches by women from around the world, So Here I Am is about women at the forefront of change – within politics, science, human rights and media; discussing everything from free love, anti-war, scientific discoveries, race, gender and women's rights. From Emmeline Pankhurst's 'Freedom or Death' speech and Marie Curie's trailblazing Nobel lecture, to Michelle Obama speaking on parenthood in politics and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza's stirring ode to black women, the words collected here are empowering, engaging and inspiring. With powerful illustrations from Camila Pinheiro, this anthology of outspoken women throughout history is essential reading for anyone who believes that change is not only possible, it is necessary.
Published just in time for Women’s History Month, So Here I Am is an inspiring, and beautifully illustrated book of empowering speeches about women who have broken boundaries and achieved their dreams.
As the book introduction states,
These are speeches that started revolutions, both the kind that take place in the public square – in mass demonstrations and violent clashes – and the quieter kind, which take place in the mind. These are speeches that should be remembered.
I can honestly say prior to reading this book, I wasn’t familiar with many of the speeches featured in this book. Throughout the book you’ll find speeches given by famous scientists, activists, novelists, politicians, suffragists, prime ministers, First Ladies and modern day CEOs. It was refreshing to see the anthology’s exploration of women in fields like science and business that are sometimes not represented in other books of its kind.
For each woman featured, there is a brief summary of her personal story, struggles, and successes, including how they got to where they are now if they are still living. In essence, So Here I Amshares, explores, and celebrates the strong women out there who have worked or are currently working to pave the way for women. This book gave me the confidence and encouragement to go out and do the same.
Here are a few snippets of some of my favorite quotes from the book:
Servern Cullis-Suzuki Environmental Activist
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid of telling the world how I feel.
Toni Morrison Novelist
Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence…
Cheryl Sandberg Chief Operating Officer at Facebook since 2008
But if all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here, right now. Leadership belongs to those who take it. Leadership starts with you.
Sylvia Rivera LGBTQ Activist
I believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights.
Maria Stewart Journalist and Abolitionist
…it is not the color of the skin that makes the man or the woman, but the principle formed in the soul.
J.K. Rowling Novelist
And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
Your turn: Have you read this book yet? Feel free to share in the comments.
Roses are red, violets are blue, here are some gift ideas that we’ve picked out for you! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s time to start spreading the love. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to let those around you know you care, and give a gift that gets remembered. I personally like giving intentional, practical and thoughtful gifts that people will actually use and appreciate.
Whether shopping for your partner, your child, or your favorite four legged friend, we’ve got you covered!
Here’s a bookish idea for partners to try…a Library Date night. How fun is this? The best part, it’s completely FREE. You can download the free printables here. If you decide to try this on your own, tell me how it went, pretty please! I’d try it, but this isn’t my husband’s thing.
Roses are red, violets are blue, I love you much more when I can’t smell your poo.
Spritz the bowl before you go & no one else will ever know. Poo-Pourri is a blend of natural essential oils that create a barrier to embarrassing bathroom odors.
Price Range: $4.95 – $44.95 depending on the size purchased.
These maps are a fun way to keep track of your past travels while helping you stay inspired as you plan your future trips. You simply scratch off the parts of the world you’ve been. Fun for the whole family to plan travel trips together.
An awesome travel resource that every traveler needs in their arsenal. This book shows you how to travel the world on a budget with an easy to follow format. Read it to learn how to become a master traveler and navigate the world — no matter where in the world you want to go! Image courtesy of Amazon
Your turn: What gifts are you giving this Valentine’s Day? Feel free to share in the comments.
On a warm spring day in 1883, a woman rode across the Brooklyn Bridge with a rooster on her lap. It was the first trip across an engineering marvel that had taken nearly fourteen years to construct. The woman's husband was the chief engineer, and he knew all about the dangerous new technique involved. The woman insisted she learn as well. When he fell ill mid-construction, her knowledge came in handy. She supervised every aspect of the project while he was bedridden, and she continued to learn about things only men were supposed to know: math, science, engineering.
Women weren't supposed to be engineers. But this woman insisted she could do it all, and her hard work helped to create one of the most iconic landmarks in the world. This is the story of Emily Roebling, the secret engineer behind the Brooklyn Bridge.
We’re thrilled to reveal the exclusive book trailer for Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge! Look for this one to publish from MacMillian Children’s Books on February 19, 2019. Press play below to watch the trailer!
Emily Warren Roebling was born on September 23, 1843 in Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York. Though most commonly known for being the wife of Washington Roebling and for her role in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, Emily accomplished much more throughout her life, such as obtaining her law degree from New York University’s Women’s Law class which she had enrolled in 1899.
Today, you can visit the Roebling Museum in Roebling, New Jersey. Check out their website here: http://roeblingmuseum.org/.
Your turn: Did you know a woman engineered and designed the Brooklyn Bridge? Feel free to share in the comments.
and the Pura Belpré Award–winning illustrator of 
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