first image

Hi.

Welcome to This Awful/Awesome Life! My name is Frances Joyce. I am the publisher and editor of this magazine. We'll be exploring different topics each month to inform, entertain and inspire you. Meet new authors, sharpen your brain and pick up a few tips on life, love, entertaining and business. Enjoy and please share!

September 2021 Reading Recommendations for Kids by Fran Joyce

IMG-1554.JPG

Fall is a magical time of year! The leaves will soon turn beautiful shades of yellows, oranges, reds, and browns.

Mornings will be cooler, and the fall harvest offers some wonderful opportunities to cook with your kids.

For our September 2021 list of recommended reading for kids, we’ve included a few books about fall, back to school, and some fun cookbooks with recipes kids can make and share with the family. Enjoy!

Te Amo, Te Abrazo, Leo Contigo/Love You, Hug You, Read to You! By Tish Rabe – Kids will enjoy this fun bi-lingual story about togetherness. For ages Baby -3

My Dad is the Best Playground Luciana Navarro Powell – this book celebrates daddy/little one bonding and play time. For ages Baby - 3

Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim – Danbi has a new home in America and she’s excited to start school, but everything is different. She doesn’t know the rules of the games her classmates play at recess, and she doesn’t always understand the expressions they use. Danbi worries she won’t fit in until she decides to use her imagination to make up a new game she can teach to her classmates and leads them on a wonderful parade! For ages 3-7

My First Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen – Get in the kitchen with your kids and have fun teaching them basic cooking skills by helping them prepare the easy recipes in this book for after school snacks, family meals and holiday treats. For ages 4-7

This Very Tree: A Story of 9/11, Resilience and Regrowth by Sean Rubin – Rubin tells the story of the events 9/11 and how communities came together from the perspective of a pear tree planted in 1970 at the Twin Towers. Dubbed the “Survivor Tree,” it was moved to the Bronx to recover and returned home nearly a decade later when it was replanted at the 9/11 Memorial. For ages 4-8

Curves Like Mine by Krystaelynne Sanders Diggs – A wonderful story to help kids understand they come in all shapes and sizes and inner beauty makes everyone special. It’s okay to celebrate these differences and we should love ourselves and accept the people we meet for their diversity. For ages 6 and up

Easy Recipes for Young Chefs by Raffaella Ducoli – Kids will be excited to make all thirty-five recipes in this book, especially the zucchini pancakes, strawberry skewers, avocado salad, magic meatballs, and apple cake. For ages 7 and up

The Dogs Who Play Baseball by Thomas Louis Carroll – kids will enjoy this imaginative tale about a group of kids in the Bronx who teach their dogs how to play baseball. For ages 8 and up

The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden – Zooey isn’t your typical seventh grader. After school she takes care of her younger siblings until her mom finishes her shift at the pizza parlor. Lately, it seems her mom works all the time and doesn’t realize how much extra responsibility Zooey has had to assume. At school, she and her friend Fuchsia keep to themselves and try to blend in, so the kids won’t know they live on the wrong side of town. Sometimes Zooey wishes she was an octopus with multiple arms to keep up with her schoolwork and her siblings. An octopus is a master of hiding and Zooey would like nothing better than to hide from her teacher who has decided Zooey should join the debate team. Will the debate team teach Zooey the skills she needs to stand up for herself?

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes – This book is set in a classroom fifteen years after the 9/11 Attack. All the students have been born after 9/11, so they struggle to comprehend how much our world changed after that day. Told with compassion and honesty, this story helps children understand the anger and sadness their parents still feel and the reasons it’s so important we remember and honor the first responders, survivors, and victims of the attack. For ages 9-11

September 2021 in Pictures

September 2021 Reading Recommendations for Adults by Fran Joyce