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About Me
I love the quote by Mary Lou Kownacki that Mr. Rogers carried in his wallet. “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story”. I believe that if we all understood just how connected we are all to each other through our stories, the world would be much better off!
I’ve spent the past 16 years working as an advisor, consultant to schools and educational institutions around the world, established social ventures, an Edtech company and am now choreographing words to empower and inspire children. When I am not writing, I’m in the kitchen creating, baking, and nourishing anyone who stops by to visit.
A delightful story about the beauty of different cultures and the strength of collaboration.
It’s Little Robin’s birthday, and all the zoo animals want t o help him celebrate! Yet with each animal comes different ideas from around the world. So how does one plan the
perfect birthday party? First, there’s music! As all the eager creatures join in for a birthday song, what should have been harmonious music turns into chaos: mooing, yelping, raying, and squawking! And then there’s the food! Everyone has their own favorite meals, and no one can agree on anything.
But amidst all the noise rings one true note―the recipe for a perfect party? Friends who want to celebrate!
In times like these that we are currently living through, the main themes of the book bring relevance to our human lives, bringing into focus our multitudinous cultural, linguistic, and national identities as we celebrate our individual birthdays. The capacity for confusion, for uncoordinated me-tooism can easily arise to the detriment of the harmony and beauty of a well-coordinated and symphonic event. The story by the author reflects the possibility of harmony in diversity, of species, places and events as we give expression to our uniqueness in our multitudinous lives. This book was an absolute delight to read. My daughter and I love everything about the book: characters, themes and illustrations. It’s now a favorite and is placed in our favorite books shelf.
How awesome! I never thought about how different animals sound in different countries. Laurel brings this to light in her delightful book about different animals around the world preparing to make the perfect party. They each have their say, in their respective languages, which makes this a super fun read a loud for kids and adults too. Laurel’s books in general allow children to see the world as a connected story.
She does this is in such a fun and interactive way that kids want to read her books over and over again. As a teacher, I am able to pull out so many themes to use as units for our classroom setting. I look forward to more of her books!
