NEW BOOKS...WITH A NOVA CONNECTION
RIF of NOVA celebrates new books by writers and illustrators with a Northern Virginia area connection, with interviews, background, and author information. If you have published a book for or about children and have a NOVA connection, please let us know! We'd love to talk with you and introduce our community to your new work! Email us at rifnova@gmail.com.
"Please stop saying broken home!"
This, from family law attorney, mediator, and coparenting coach Sheila Adams Gardner in a recent article. "The term 'broken home,' she says, "is still commonly used to describe families with divorced or separated parents. 'Broken home' is almost always a misnomer as it invalidates the child’s actual family experience to describe the parents’ legal relationship. Worse, it unfairly portends a future of social/emotional dysfunction for the child."
Sheila knows what she is talking about because she grew up as one of four daughters of parents who divorced in 1975. "Our family was the only divorced family we knew at the time. Yet, without models, books, or coaches, our parents heroically managed to coparent with the utmost respect for each other and us, fiercely committed to maintaining our strong family bond. Our parents' romantic relationship ended; but our family relationship did not."
Gardner's practice emphasizes that families are still families even if parents are divorced, separated, not married, or in other ways not together. But when she looked around for children's books that focused on the topic, she could not find any that told successful stories like her own. So she has written two new books on the subject herself. "They were just in my heart, and I had to get them out," she laughed during an interview with RIF of NOVA. "People need to see something positive in order to think, 'If they can do that, I can, too.'" Gardner wrote both books to help children feel positive and "not ashamed," and to help parents make their new-normal family a nurturing and successful one for their children.
Sheila Adams Gardner lives in Northern Virginia and practices in Washington, DC. Her two books, Made of Love and Two Houses One Family are available on Amazon. Meet Sheila Adams Gardner and learn more about her journey here.
This, from family law attorney, mediator, and coparenting coach Sheila Adams Gardner in a recent article. "The term 'broken home,' she says, "is still commonly used to describe families with divorced or separated parents. 'Broken home' is almost always a misnomer as it invalidates the child’s actual family experience to describe the parents’ legal relationship. Worse, it unfairly portends a future of social/emotional dysfunction for the child."
Sheila knows what she is talking about because she grew up as one of four daughters of parents who divorced in 1975. "Our family was the only divorced family we knew at the time. Yet, without models, books, or coaches, our parents heroically managed to coparent with the utmost respect for each other and us, fiercely committed to maintaining our strong family bond. Our parents' romantic relationship ended; but our family relationship did not."
Gardner's practice emphasizes that families are still families even if parents are divorced, separated, not married, or in other ways not together. But when she looked around for children's books that focused on the topic, she could not find any that told successful stories like her own. So she has written two new books on the subject herself. "They were just in my heart, and I had to get them out," she laughed during an interview with RIF of NOVA. "People need to see something positive in order to think, 'If they can do that, I can, too.'" Gardner wrote both books to help children feel positive and "not ashamed," and to help parents make their new-normal family a nurturing and successful one for their children.
Sheila Adams Gardner lives in Northern Virginia and practices in Washington, DC. Her two books, Made of Love and Two Houses One Family are available on Amazon. Meet Sheila Adams Gardner and learn more about her journey here.
Made of Love was published in November 2020. The book celebrates the cooperative ways in which unmarried parents raise their three-year-old son. Written in rhyme to engage the youngest reader/listener, Made of Love beautifully demonstrates that a family is still a family even when the parents do not live together. Readers can find activity pages to celebrate their own story.
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Meet Riley. Riley is a six-year-old who lives in two houses following her parents’ recent divorce. Recounting the loving and thoughtful ways her divorced parents worked together to support her and each other, Riley learns what truly makes her family a family and provides a view of divorce from the eyes of a child of successful coparents. Complete with opportunities for readers to create pictures or stories about their own families, Two Houses One Family is uplifting for both children and parents.
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Our December book introduction: The Good Stranger's Sancocho Surprise/ El sancocho sorpresa del buen desconocido, a bilingual retelling of the classic “Stone Soup” tale, set in the Dominican Republic. A stranger who has lost his family to tragedy comes to a rural town, and he is starving. He asks for help, but only a penniless girl, with no knowledge of cooking, will offer it. Together they make sancocho ― a traditional Dominican soup where everything can get thrown into the pot ― using a secret recipe the stranger learned from his grandfather. From seemingly nothing, they create a miraculous banquet and teach the villagers a lasting lesson about generosity, and overcoming fear.
The book was written by John J. McLaughlin. John is a graduate of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC, the University of Virginia, and the University of Iowa, where he earned an MFA in fiction writing. He lived in the Dominican Republic for several years beginning in 1997, first as assistant director of Creighton University’s Semestre Dominicano program, later as a journalist and teacher.
John’s articles have appeared in various periodicals and can be found on his website. His novel, Run in the Fam'ly (University of Tennessee Press, 2007) won multiple literary prizes. John co-founded Education Across Borders, a nonprofit that works in partnership with marginalized communities in the Dominican Republic to co-create lasting solutions to extreme poverty, through educational, community development, and service-learning programs. John's mother Christine McLaughlin and sister Maureen McLaughlin are members of the RIF of NOVA board.
The book was written by John J. McLaughlin. John is a graduate of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC, the University of Virginia, and the University of Iowa, where he earned an MFA in fiction writing. He lived in the Dominican Republic for several years beginning in 1997, first as assistant director of Creighton University’s Semestre Dominicano program, later as a journalist and teacher.
John’s articles have appeared in various periodicals and can be found on his website. His novel, Run in the Fam'ly (University of Tennessee Press, 2007) won multiple literary prizes. John co-founded Education Across Borders, a nonprofit that works in partnership with marginalized communities in the Dominican Republic to co-create lasting solutions to extreme poverty, through educational, community development, and service-learning programs. John's mother Christine McLaughlin and sister Maureen McLaughlin are members of the RIF of NOVA board.
 Illustrator Ruddy Núñez
Illustrator Ruddy Núñez is from the Dominican Republic. When he first read John's story, he felt very connected with his DR roots and wanted his illustrations to capture the "environment, the time period, the socio-economic conditions, and the customs of rural, small-town life." He was particularly drawn to the little girl in the story, saying she is "a ray of hope and light." He says the book reaches beyond the Latin American community and is "the story of the Good Samaritan which we all carry within us." Please watch a video of Ruddy Núñez as he draws and describes how the Dominican campo inspired his style of art. The link is here! The cover image is used with permission.
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Teachers and parents can find a full resource guide to the The Good Stranger's Sancocho Surprise here! It's full of art activities, songs, and discussion ideas about the various gifts we each bring to the table. And if that weren't enough, RIF of NOVA community members can buy this bilingual book for a 10% discount! Please click here to find that link!
Author John McLaughlin reading to a group of Dominican children
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Our September pick was relevant to our 2020 Appeal: Votes for Women -- Votes for Books! The Suffragists Playbook, Your Guide to Changing the World is geared to readers 12 and up. What a perfect read for the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
As most know, the women’s suffrage movement was decades in the making and came with many harsh setbacks. But it resulted in a permanent victory: women’s right to vote. How did the suffragists do it? An eye-opening look at their playbook shows that some of their strategies seem oddly familiar. Women’s marches at inauguration time? Check. Publicity stunts, optics, and influencers? They practically invented them. Petitions, lobbying, speeches, raising money, and writing articles? All of that, too. From moments of inspiration to some of the movement’s darker aspects--including the racism of some suffragist leaders, violence against picketers, and hunger strikes in jail—this clear-eyed view takes in the roles of key figures: Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and many more. |
The book was written and is narrated by Lucinda Robb and Rebecca Boggs Roberts. Their friendship goes back generations (to their grandmothers, Lady Bird Johnson and Lindy Boggs, and their mothers, Lynda Robb* and Cokie Roberts), this unique melding of seminal history and smart tactics is sure to capture the attention of activists-in-the-making today. Both authors appeared in a National Archives discussion about their new book that took place in August. To see that interview, click here.
In the words of the authors:
Our foremothers didn’t just make the world a better place; they left future generations an arsenal of tactics to achieve their goals. They learned so much through painful trial and error, and we can’t afford to let it be forgotten—including their mistakes. Starting with virtually no political power or public support, a diverse group of suffragists effected the largest single change to American democracy, without resorting to armed rebellion or overthrowing the government. They were fearless, creative, tenacious, and radical. They were also, just as we are today, deeply flawed and human. We find that liberating. You don’t have to be perfect to make the world a better place; you just have to step up.
As we celebrate the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, a lot of the hoopla focuses on the pageantry: the sashes, banners, hats, and dresses. We love the pageantry; it was an intentional and effective political tactic. But the costumes tend to make it feel like the suffrage movement belongs in another time, when in fact their strategies and rhetoric can be incredibly effective for today’s activists. That’s why this isn’t just a history book, but a playbook.
It was important to us that the tactics be genuinely practical. Some of our children want to save the planet, and some just want to save puppies. We hope the lessons in our book apply to both.
In the words of the authors:
Our foremothers didn’t just make the world a better place; they left future generations an arsenal of tactics to achieve their goals. They learned so much through painful trial and error, and we can’t afford to let it be forgotten—including their mistakes. Starting with virtually no political power or public support, a diverse group of suffragists effected the largest single change to American democracy, without resorting to armed rebellion or overthrowing the government. They were fearless, creative, tenacious, and radical. They were also, just as we are today, deeply flawed and human. We find that liberating. You don’t have to be perfect to make the world a better place; you just have to step up.
As we celebrate the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, a lot of the hoopla focuses on the pageantry: the sashes, banners, hats, and dresses. We love the pageantry; it was an intentional and effective political tactic. But the costumes tend to make it feel like the suffrage movement belongs in another time, when in fact their strategies and rhetoric can be incredibly effective for today’s activists. That’s why this isn’t just a history book, but a playbook.
It was important to us that the tactics be genuinely practical. Some of our children want to save the planet, and some just want to save puppies. We hope the lessons in our book apply to both.
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Lucinda Robb was project director for Our Mothers Before Us: Women and Democracy, 1789–1920 at the Center for Legislative Archives. She and her family live in Northern Virginia.
Photo: Karen Kasmauski |
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Rebecca Boggs Roberts is the author of Suffragists in Washington, DC: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote and Historic Congressional Cemetery. She and her family live in Washington, DC.
Photo: Moshe Zusman |
*Lynda Robb is a member of the RIF of NOVA Advisory Board.
Cover image used with permission. |
