April MOSS Kids Book Club
- Kara Cecchi
- Apr 11
- 7 min read
And our April pick is...
April Pick -- Mural Island
Kengi drew.
Fast, busy, everywhere their hands could reach and feet could travel.
On the front steps, inside the fridge, across the bathroom mirror, atop the cafeteria tables, even on the roll of toilet paper. Kengi's parents are frustrated, and their principal tells them they need to stop. But Ms. Beatriz tells Kengi there's somewhere in the neighborhood that they should visit.
When Kengi arrives at Mural Island, they discover a place where people can paint safely, freely, and joyfully. So Kengi does. But they're not the only one painting each day, and soon Kengi recognizes that their art doesn't have to be permanent to be monumental.
With an electric, eye-catching new style from acclaimed picture book creator Katie Yamasaki, Mural Island celebrates art, expression, and the communities that cherish both.
Meet Our Creator:
Author/Illustrator: Katie Yamasaki
Katie Yamasaki is an award winning picture book author/illustrator and muralist. She has painted over 90 walls around the world, exploring local stories of identity and social justice. Her picture book work explores similar themes for young readers. Her titles include: Shapes, Lines, and Light: My Grandfather’s American Journey; Dad Bakes; Everything Naomi Loved; When the Cousins Came; God’s Big Plan; Fish for Jimmy, and more recently, Place Hand Here.
Yamasaki focuses much of her work in partnership with communities impacted by incarceration. The murals and books (Place Hand Here; Dad Bakes; Shapes, Lines, and Light; Fish for Jimmy) that have come from these explorations and partnerships encourage the viewer/reader to think beyond the binary of good and bad when considering the life of another.
Yamasaki’s greatest hope is that her work will shine a light on communities and individuals who have been pushed to the margins of society, so that we might all be able to see one another more clearly and completely. Yamasaki earned her BA from Earlham College and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where she served on the faculty for several years. Currently, she helps to run an expressive arts program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security women’s prison in Upstate New York. Yamasaki worked for 14 years as a public school Preschool, Spanish and Art teacher in both the Detroit and NYC public schools, and was a teaching artist at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
You can explore more of Yamasaki’s work on her website, at www.katieyamasaki.com
Below you will find our monthly craft; printable activity sheets; and our community outreach activity where we will be exploring composting & learning how our worm friends can help. For more books to read this month, don't forget to check out our supplemental book list:
We really hope you enjoy this month of book club as we continue to keep our nationwide book club free & accessible for all. Each book is intentionally handpicked with each activity and outreach curated to engage and enrich our youth's experiences. Through these diverse and inclusive reads, working and playing together, and giving back to their own community, we hope to instill empathy, understanding, & kindness in our kids.
Let's Craft: make your own murals
Art is a beautiful form of expression & it's rare that we get to express that freely. With our kids, we're so worried about school testing. About keeping our house clean. About only using crayons to minimize the mess. Hey, we get it. We're parents too. After reading Mural Island, we knew that we wanted kids to take a deep breath & express themselves freely. We wanted them to draw whatever they wanted to draw, whatever came to mind. Rainbow shark? Yes, absolutely, I'd love to meet one someday. Monster with razor sharp teeth? Yes, how many eyes does it have? A flower garden on a spring day? Yes, I'd love to smell that scene, are their pollinators at work? We wanted to give kids an opportunity to be creative and to encourage that creativity and enthusiasm around art. Just like Kengi has in Mural Island. Now, we did have to have a talk with our kids about where we should be drawing -- not on school tables and not on our parents clothing -- and we talked about cultivating our art by using different mediums to see what sparks joy.
We've included a few incredible murals by our author/illustrator, Katie Yamasaki, for you to print or pull up on the computer to give kids an idea of what murals look like on the sides of buildings. You may even have a mural in your area or in your school that you could visit. This is a great opportunity for kids to explore their own communities & maybe spark some inspiration.
Materials:
Cardstock paper
Markers
Optional: scrap papers, magazines, glue, paints
Examples -- check out Katie Yamasaki's work here!
Modifications:
Easy: May need hand over hand assistance to start. Create freely.
Moderate: Allow children to create, may need occasional assistance. Create freely.
Hard: Allow child to create with no modifications.
Instructions:
1. Gather materials. Cut paper in half lengthwise. Let child create freely.
2. Don't overthink it. Embrace your child's process. Encourage them to create what makes them happy, what they would want to show others.
Note: With older kids, it may be worth reading The Artivist by Nikkolas Smith and having them create a mural based on something they would like to change about the world. Protecting trans youth. Clean water for everyone. We're not free until we're all free. Tiffany Jewell created a very thorough, very beautiful educators guide to go with The Artivist, check that out here.
3. If you have one kid or a group of kids, hang their murals up. Together on the wall or on the fridge, it would look like Mural Island.
Remember: We encourage you to request your local library purchase the title for your community to share. It's easy to request. Head to your local library's website. On the site, there will be a "Suggest A Title" tab (see below). Just add the book Mural Island by Katie Yamasaki & submit. You can even share this blog with them. After reading or listening, we encourage you to please review the books on goodreads, on Amazon, & on your social media platforms. Reviews will help get the word out about these incredible books!
printable activity sheets:
We've created an activity kit with printable sheets for readers to go with our story, Mural Island. The activity kit includes: a color-matching worksheet for our youngest readers, a tracing activity to encourage fine motor pathways needed for handwriting, scissor skills, & reading, & a maze activity to promote visual motor coordination. Download the kit below:
Community Outreach: Community mural
There is something so magical about seeing large art pieces out in the community. Bright vibrant colors. A remembrance of those lost too soon. A butterfly created to celebrate a local business on the fifth anniversary of the opening with members of the community's handprints. We knew that we needed to create an opportunity for our communities to come together -- our school partners, our public library friends, our adult picture book club -- to create art. To combine each of their art together to make one large mural. We know this isn't feasible for all. And you don't have to go all out like we did. You can take the murals the kids create & put them together to create something bigger than themselves. You can grab a roll of long paper, draw some frames, & allow each child to fill the frame with something that made them happy that day. We just want to encourage children to create freely, with no restrictions, and to create it together.
See our frame example below:
Stay tuned to see how our MOSS Kids Book Project mural, created by each local MOSS Kids Book Club, turns out. Finished project will be announced at the end of the month.
This doesn't need to be extravagant. This is a way for us to celebrate & educate with our kids -- learning about the importance of art, cultivating community, and remembering to enjoy the art, even when it's temporary, and with those we love.
supplemental books:
We're also reading The Artivist; Maybe, Something Beautiful; Drawn Together; & Birdsong to celebrate & educate on art -- the creativity, the community, & to appreciate it, even when its temporary. There are a few great resources for our supplemental books, check them out below:
Please do not skip the community outreach activities. We truly believe this outreach activity is a vital part of childhood & an opportunity to raise kind kids. Teaching our youth the importance of celebrating & educating & appreciating art within ourselves & our community. To learn the importance of understanding that some art is temporary, but to enjoy it while it lasts. To learn kindness, empathy, acceptance, & understanding of others & choose to gift that to our community.
YAY! Another MOSS Kids Book Club pick, craft, printable sheets, and community outreach activity. We would love to see all the murals your kids create. You do not need to share kid's faces. Please be sure to tag us on Instagram @mosskidsbooks & use #mosskidsbookclub. Sharing about MOSS Kids Book Club is a way for your community to learn more about what MOSS Kids has to offer & for them to know about brand new diverse & inclusive books. By doing so, we can reach & help more kids across the country. We'd also love to hear any feedback you may have, please email us at hello@mosskidsbooks.com. We appreciate you all so much for taking the initiative to bring kids together to read diverse books & hopefully learn vital life skills to help make our world a better place.
Don't Forget: We Have Local moss kids book club locations in eastern north Carolina!!
Tuesday, 04/08 at 1030am: MOSS Kids Book Club at Wilson County Public Library in Wilson
Wednesday, 04/09 at 7pm: Picture Books on Tap at Larema Beverage Co in Rocky Mount with special guest, Gabby Bryson the city of Rocky Mount's stormwater engineer
Friday, 04/11 at 1030am: MOSS Kids Book Club at Braswell Memorial Library in Rocky Mount
Saturday, 04/26 at 10am: MOSS Kids Book Club with Drag Story Hour at Boxyard RTP
We're continuing our SCHOOL POP-INS! We have plans to visit 4 local elementary schools across two counties bringing our MOSS Kids Book Club right to them & then donating the book to their school library for all to enjoy. We're hoping to expand & add more later this year!
We're continuing Lunch Bunch! We will be popping in every week this month to a local school to read with a small group of third graders, to diversify their bookshelves (they get to keep the books!) & to develop a love for reading. Our Lunch Bunch pick is -- The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class: Rohan Murphy Has A Plan
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