When you "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" there's nothing better than curling up with a good book, and nothing better than Home Grown Books to introduce your bebe bird to the magical world of reading.
These early reading series books are eco-friendly (made of recycled paper and vegetable ink) and rich in content with beautiful art work sure to stir your child's imagination. Take a look for yourself
Artist Cecile Dyer for Home Grown Books from Kyla Ryman on Vimeo.
And allow us to introduce Kyla Ryman, reading specialist and creator of Home Grown Books.
Bebe Birds (BB): Hi Kyla! Can you tell us the origin of inspiration when creating Home Grown Books?
Kyla Ryman: I had been doing some private tutoring and getting a little involved with a homeschool collective in Brooklyn. It was very difficult to find the kinds of beginning reader material I needed outside of the schools that I worked in. Families, just didn't have access, except for phonicx only books like "Bob" series. A teacher I worked with in the homeschool collective was making their owl little books. She is also a working artist. It occurred to me that we could make our own. We met shortly thereafter and started what is now Home Grown Books. Cecile Dyer was our first artist and the teacher from this story.
BB: That's awesome! How did you guys discover other artists to contribute to the Home Grown Books reading series?
KR: I was collaborating with another mom in the beginning, who is a curator and friend. She introduced me to Cecile and then brought in the next two artists, Nathalie and Sara, who have been great. I found our fourth artist Case, at the Gowanus Open Studio tours. It was the first time I approached an unknown person and I was really nervous. But he was excited about it. Working with Case on the Adventuring set was really fun. Part of the process is that we allow the artist to come up with the focus of each book. We want the art to be very authentic to the artist. Case is really into myth and history. Sometimes trying to write for his set was challenging, like when he came to us with the idea for A Collection of Characters, one of the characters was Cretian bull dancer. I negotiated him down to a fearless acrobat-which is still challenging for a beginning reader. But it makes each set so unique and compelling. I really loved collaborating with all of these creative people to make something special for kids. I am super excited for other interesting collaborations we have coming down the pike!
BB: At what age do you feel it's best to introduce Home Grown Books to children?
KR: When a child is ready to read (I have a post on my blog all about that!). I think from 3-6 is a wide range, but kids are just ready at different times. My boys (who are now 18 and 10) were very different. My older son was not interested in reading and probably should have been taught much later (like in Sweden)-but my younger son, while no enthusiast, was much more comfortable and really found his way to being ready around 5.
BB: I love the stuffed characters that go along with each reading series. like Dash the superhero. Is there a character that's been most popular amongst children?
KR: We just introuced our cats from The Play Set, so the statistics are not in yet! But we find it interesting that adults are much more drawn to the specific cats. I think that Dash (our masked cat) may be the most popular so far. I am personally a fan of Tom-cat, he reminds me a bit of a hipster bartender. :)
BB: Being an early childhood education teacher and reading specialist can you share some ideas on encouraging our kids to read more?
KR: I think that exploding the idea what makes a good reading material and not pressuring too much will help. My kids love cartoons and comics. My older son enjoyed non-fiction more than fiction and my younger son is a big minecrafter-where he is reading and writing constantly. He is just beginning to read novels. But I've always read to them and read my own magazines and books. Sharing the joy of reading and having discussions, building language and thinking naturally all support readers. I caution parents not to get caught up in on expectations around what is a "good" reader or not. Some kids love to curl up in a corner and read for days from the start and some come to reading much later for different reasons. I think that allowing that process to unfold and to keep it interesting and fun is the best way to support your child's literate life.
Thank you so much Kyla! We love what you are doing! Friends to get your very own Home Grown Book series, $29.95, and/or one of their alpaca knit cats to go along with the series, $38, visit Home Grown Books. A great holiday gift for lil' readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment