I'm French, but I absolutely love living in LA. Still, during my maternity leave, I returned to Paris to be closer to my family. There, my baby adored singing books. She was only a few months old, but they kept her engaged. When we returned to America, I couldn't find anything similar. At the same time, I was learning all the English nursery rhymes I hadn't grown up with. I loved singing rhymes like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Patty Cake."
My son Elliott came across the Who Would Win? books a year ago on a spinning rack at a nearby library. Since then, they have accounted for more than half of the reading we do together, and a good part of the "reading" he does by himself. Even though we've read all 31 books in the series (so far), Elliott keeps demanding we go back to the library, as if they might grow on the rack like combative fruit.
As the parent of an 18-month-old, I've been reading a lot lately. That is, if your definition of reading includes thumbing through sheets of increasingly careworn and spittle-soaked cardboard, reciting the 30 or 40 words that compose each tale from memory, and pausing innumerable times to acknowledge any shape that may evoke the holiest of trinities: ball, bug, star. At first-when I had a mere 10 months of experience in this arena-I believed that reading to my child would be straightforward, if a little repetitive.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
Corchin and Illustrator Dan Dougherty were hosted at Dandelion Bookshop for an event promoting their new children's book, "A Million Yes's." While the book is available online, Corchin is encouraging readers to purchase it at their neighborhood, independent bookstore. "Its a great community business to rally around," said Corchin. "Bookstores are fighting for their right to survive in todays day and age."
"I think a lot of kids who are ill or have disabilities will relate to it, but what I'm finding is that adults are really enjoying it too because there's so much Toronto history in it."
