Where Did My Friend Go? Family Changes: Azmaira H. Maker

Azmaira H. Maker, Ph.D., has brought forward two works for totz facing great change. Where Did My Friend Go? Helping Children Cope with a Traumatic Death aims to reassure the youngest that all are working to keep the child safe. With the loss of a friend, it is normal to be scared, worried, sad, and mad. Community stands around the survivor in love.

Family Changes, Explaining Divorce to Children shares salient points: the child is not to blame, they may experience physical discomfort such as a stomachache, they will be loved in two homes. The fictional story of rabbits brings the situation to life.

The illustrations of Where Did My Friend Go? are unattributed photographs, design by Monkey C. Media. The language is sparse with process questions concluding the work. Polona Lovsin illustrated Family Changes with warm, comforting images. The text is heavy in the midst of the fantasy. Process questions complete the work, as well.

Confronting trauma and change, it is difficult to find appropriate works for first readers. Azmaira H. Maker's works are a place to begin.

Where Did My Friend Go? 2017
Family Changes, 2015
by Azmaira H. Maker, Ph.D.
illustrated by Polona Lovsin (Family Changes)
Aspiring Families Press

The Best for First Readers

Photo from the Washington Post article

Photo from Washington Post article

Photo from the Washington Post article

Content and quality matter. This is why at readertotz we aim to raise the profile of board books, and we call for the best for our first readers. 

"Recent research has found that both the quality and quantity of shared book-reading in infancy predicted later childhood vocabulary, reading skills and name-writing ability."

Check out the full Washington Post article by Lisa S. Scott, here. Wouldn't an ALA award help this aim? Say, the Dorothy Kunhardt Award? 

~Lorie Ann Grover

Top Shelf: The Pink Hat, Andrew Joyner

Once there was a pink hat... I didn't think a book commemorating the 2017 Women's March could be done for the picture book audience. However, Andrew Joyner with Schwartz & Wade Books has honored the worldwide shout.

In The Pink Hat, an older woman knits a pink hat, as my own mother knit three: one for me, one for my daughter, and one for my friend. In the book, the hat is lost and found and lost, finally to be enjoyed by a young girl. Eventually, she wears her pink hat the day so many others wore theirs, as well. She joins the march, surrounded by diverse people marching for women's rights.

Dedicated to: "all the women who march us forward." Carry on. #Resist

The Pink Hat
by Andrew Joyner
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2017