August MOSS Kids Book Club
- Kara Cecchi
- Aug 6
- 6 min read
And our August pick is...
August Pick -- What If We...
In this charming sibling-bond story, a young boy fights boredom by imagining all the adventures he could have, but forgets that he has a built in adventure partner with right by his side.
It's only the second day of summer, and Max is completely out of things to do. As he cycles through a series of fantastical ideas, Max can't stop thinking how much more summer fun he could have-only if he were somewhere else! But by not being present, could Max be missing out on the most special adventure of all? And is he missing out on someone to share his adventures with?
This funny and imaginative story highlights the specialness of a sibling bond and reminds readers of all ages that sometimes the best things can be found right where you are.
Meet Our Creators:
Vivienne Chang & Eugenia Yoh
Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang met as students at Washington University in St. Louis and now live 2,555.87 miles apart from each other. Eugenia lives in Berkeley, California, and makes books for kids. Vivienne lives in New York City and makes digital products for grown-ups. In addition to What If We…, Vivienne and Eugenia are also the authors of This is Not My Home. They hope to continue telling stories that share universal ideas through humor. When they are not discussing their next book concept, they can be found in a forest sharing ideas on what it means to be in your twenties, which is a very confusing time, to say the least. Or you can find them at a lake, a library, or in the yogurt section of Whole Foods. You can explore more of their shared work on their website, at https://www.vivienneandeugenia.com/ Check out more of Eugenia's art here.
Below you will find our monthly craft; printable activity sheets; and our community outreach activity where we will come together to create a space for our community to dream together. For more books to read this month, don't forget to check out our supplemental book lists -- Spark Imagination with Stories; This Is Not My Home, Eugenia Yoh & Vivienne Chang's backlist title; & Sibling Stories:
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: diy koinobori
You may have noticed the beautiful koinobori on the cover of our book club pick, What If We..., so we decided what better way to connect our reading than to recreate the cover art with our own koinobori. These Japanese koi paper windsocks are a great project to display as decor, to tie them to dowels and run around outside, or to say What If...
With this story & craft, we wanted to tie in the Color Your World summer reading theme created for libraries across the country. It is during the summer when kids explore, learn new skills, & sometimes get bored. Just like our main characters. We hope that What If We... encourages kids to use their imaginations to play AND to be sure to include others in the process for a more fulfilling experience. Let's color outside of the lines in order to create something new.
Materials:
Modifications:
Easy: Prepare koinoburi with template or prepare white paper. Child may need hand-over-hand assistance to color. May need reminding to use both hands -- one to color & one to hold the paper to prevent tearing.
Moderate: Allow children to create, may need occasional assistance with scissors.
Hard: Allow child to create with no modifications.
Instructions:
1. Gather materials. Cut out koi fish template, trace template, or use the prefab ones from Amazon.
2. With markers, design your koinoburi.
3. If you are going for the watercolor look (see below), prep drying station. We set up a baking tray with parchment paper. Spray koinoburi template lightly with water. Allow to dry.
4. Once dry or you're keeping with just the marker look, fold in half.
5. Add double-sided tape to four points along your fish -- (1) top of the mouth, (2) top of the fish where the head and body meet, (3) the fin, (4) tip of the tail.
6. Now, all you need is string! Cut 6-8in of string & tape both ends of the string to the mouth of the fish to be able to hang or pull in the breeze.
*Additional activity: At Picture Books on Tap, our adult guests will be creating their own koinoburi windsocks from scratch using these instructions. We'll be using white crayon & watercolor paints to create the resistance.
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 What If We... by Vivienne Chang & Eugenia Yoh & 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 have created an activity kit for What If We... filled with worksheets designed to encourage pre-writing skills, fine motor skills, visual motor & visual perceptual skills. Download the kit:
Community Outreach: what if we community board
We wanted to invite our community to dream big together with this outreach activity. Using the prompt, "What if we..." participants will write their own fantastical, thoughtful, or practical ideas for collective joy or positive change - anything from "What if we hosted a neighborhood dragon for tea?" to "What if we invited someone to share a meal every Sunday?" These notes will be posted on a communal board, creating a vibrant patchwork of imagination and hope that celebrates the power of dreaming, and doing, together. Grab a posterboard, some sticky notes, & a marker. Set up in one of your community's favorite third spaces. Third spaces are social environments that is separate from the two primary settings of home ("first place") and work ("second place"). These spaces foster social interaction and community building, offering a place for people to connect with others beyond their immediate family or colleagues. Think coffee shops, libraries, bookstores. Ask if you can set up your communal board as a way to invite the collective to inspire and dream together. Check back in throughout the month to see what members of the community are imaging.
This activity doesn't need to be extravagant. This is a way for us to celebrate & educate with our kids -- to talk about a way to come together to help solve our problems & inspire joy, creativity, & the collective.
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 creativity within ourselves & our community. To learn kindness, empathy, acceptance, & understanding of others & choose to gift that to our community.
supplemental books:
We're sparking imagination with our siblings this month! These books make great additional reading to pair with our book of the month, What If We..., check them out: The Book That Almost Rhymed; Lift; Sundust; To The Other Side; Carmela Full of Wishes; Chirri & Chirra Underground. This is a great opportunity to have a unit study on storytelling & using their imagination to tell a story. There are a few great resources for our supplemental books, check them out below:
YAY! Another MOSS Kids Book Club pick, craft, printable sheets, and community outreach activity. We would love to see all the koinobori 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!!
Friday, 08/08 at 1030am: MOSS Kids Book Club at Braswell Memorial Library in Rocky Mount
Saturday, 08/09 at 10am: MOSS Kids Book Club at East Tarboro Eco Garden in Tarboro
Wednesday, 08/13 at 7pm: Picture Books on Tap at Larema Beverage Co in Rocky Mount
Saturday, 08/30 at 10am: MOSS Kids Book Club with Drag Story Hour at Boxyard RTP
Schools are almost back in session! We're crafting plans to pop-in to more schools in the fall & expand our programming for tweens & teens. Stay tuned!!
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