With Martin Luther King Jr. day around the corner we wanted to share a small roundup of our favorite children's books that focus on Dr. King. These books all touch on Dr. Kings transformative and powerful non-violent activism approach but they also touch on the qualities and moments that made Dr. King a full person. There is a book written by his son, a book that focuses solely his powerful "I Have a Dream" speech and yet another that focuses on his role in amplifying community voices in the quest for equal rights. As always we encourage parents to pre-read the books before sharing with your child as every child's preparedness and emotional capacities are different and as a parent...
Here at Ditto Kids we were shaken to our cores last week along side the rest of our nation by the insurrection at the capitol. As the days have passed we've been left with the same question as many parents across the nation -- how and when do we speak to our children about these events. We firmly believe that how/when/if you discuss these events is a deeply personal decision and one which each family should evaluate for themselves. That being said, we also firmly believe that children absorb information from their surroundings at levels that sometimes we as adults are not aware of. So in our home, we chose to have the conversation on our terms in ways that...
Phew, what a week. As we all entered a new year, we were reminded straight away of the reality that racism, injustice, and anti-Semitism are not things that a new year just washes away. Instead, these are parts of our society that are very much alive and well, and on Wednesday of this week marched into the capitol and violated and endangered our nation. As a person of color, this week was particularly difficult. Seeing the confederate flag, the nazi symbols, and the assortment of other hate symbols among the raging mob was emotionally difficult and scary. The other even more difficult part of handling my own emotions was handling how to talk to my child about what had transpired....
When our own words fail us we often turn to those whose art lends truth, wisdom and power to our pain. This poem by Langston Hughes is one of those pieces that we found ourselves coming back to in the wake of the recent events on the capitol. We wanted to share it in it's entirety here in case you felt the need for it as well. Let America Be America Again by: Langston Hughes "Let America be America again.Let it be the dream it used to be.Let it be the pioneer on the plainSeeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—Let it be that...
We first found Kate through our founder Alexandria, and we were thrilled to have her on board for issue one. Kate did our cover and one of our favorite segments in the magazine called "I see you, You see me" she also just did our beautiful holiday village scene which was a newsletter gift. Kate has been such a pleasure to collaborate with. She is incredibly talented and has such a talent for transforming our vision and words into beautiful illustrations that brought every page she created to vibrant life. Below you can read a little more about Kate, how she came to illustration, and what she'd like to see more of in the world: Without further ado...here is Kate! ...
