October MOSS Kids Book Club
- Kara Cecchi
- Oct 7
- 8 min read
And our October pick is...
My Abuela is a Bruja by Mayra Cuevas & Lorena Alvarez Gómez / Mi abuela es una bruja by Mayra Cuevas & Lorena Alvarez Gómez
October Pick -- My Abuela is a Bruja / Mi Abuela es una Bruja
From an award-winning author comes a vibrant and heartwarming story of the bond between grandmother and grandchild, with a touch of Puerto Rican magic!
My abuela is a bruja.
There is magic in everything she does.
There is nothing more magical than a grandmother's love. But one lucky girl suspects her grandmother has actual magic. It's in the tun-tun-tun of the way she dances salsa, in the warmth of her hugs, and the delicious smell of her cooking. The granddaughter wonders: will I have magic of my own one day?
Follow the magic in this heartfelt picture book that features extensive backmatter that includes two special recipes from Mayra Cuevas and uplifting illustrations from Lorena Alvarez Gómez.
Get ready for November in celebrating and educating on Puerto Rican Heritage Month, check out our booklist to start preparations!
Meet Our Creators:
Author: Mayra Cuevas
Mayra Cuevas is the author of the young adult novel Does My Body Offend You? (co-written with Marie Marquardt), long-listed for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award, named a 2023 Book All Young Georgians Should Read, and a New York Public Library Best Books for Teens 2022. In 2023, she was named Georgia Author of the Year in the Young Adult category. Mayra has also written the YA foodie romcom Salty, Bitter, Sweet named a Best Book of Winter by Hypable. Mayra is a co-founder and board member of the Latinx KidLit Book Festival, the largest non-for-profit organization dedicated to uplifting the voices of Latinx kidlit book creators. Things that make her smile: a silent meditation retreat, cooking for people she loves, traveling somewhere new, staying home on a rainy day, Seinfeld and The Office re-runs, playing Scrabble and Monopoly, homemade ice cream, books with funny lines, when her husband suggests EVERY single time that her male protagonists should be based on him. She lives in Atlanta with her family. You can learn more about Mayra & her work by visiting her website, here.
Illustrator: Lorena Alvarez Gómez
Lorena Alvarez Gómez is a freelance illustrator and artist, based in Bogotá, Colombia. She likes to work with color and experiment with diverse techniques. Lorena likes to approach to each project in a unique way and is always open to learning something new. She has made illustrations for children’s books, independent publications, advertising and fashion magazines. Lorena works from her home studio, surrounded by music and loved ones. She loves to paint, take care of her dog and read comic books. You'll probably recognize a few of the books she's created: The Magical Yet, The Curious Why, & The Marvelous Now by Angela Diterlizzi; The City Tree by Shira Boss; Marsha is Magnetic by Beth Ferry; I Am La Chiva! by Karol Hernández & she's the author/illustrator of graphic-novels Nightlights & Hicotea.
Below you will find our monthly craft; printable activity sheets; and our community outreach activity where we will come together to learn about fresh ingredients to make abuela's sofrito. For more books to read this month, don't forget to check out our supplemental book lists -- Latinx Heritage Month, The Magic of Witches, & Memories through Food.
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: birds in paradise
Throughout our story, you will notice multiple different types of birds in the paradise of Puerto Rico. One of the birds is the reinita, the Puerto Rican Tanager or the Puerto Rican spindalis, a bird endemic to the island of Puerto Rico. With a kaleidoscope of colors and its feathers creating a mesmerizing mosaic, the La Reinita bird emerges as a vibrant gem reflecting the rich biodiversity of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an island full of magic. We'll be creating our own with our mini bird study. This website from Discover Puerto Rico lists the endemic species that can be found in Puerto Rico, has a video featuring a few of the birds in paradise (approx. 8 mins long), & has a spotify playlist that you can play while creating our craft.
With this story & craft, we wanted to demonstrate the diversity throughout Puerto Rico. The birds, the flora, the fauna. This is also the perfect opportunity for students to understand that diversity extends beyond the biome, across peoples in our country and the world. Our different cultures, backgrounds, experiences. A way for children to understand the beauty of our differences & what those differences can bring together to create something special.
Materials:
Bird template (6 birds per page, download below)
Markers, crayons, colored pencils, or watercolor paints (depends on the time you have)
Scissors
Clothespins
Double sided tape
Masking tape
Modifications:
Easy: Pre-cut bird template, allow child to color freely. May need assistance to add bird to the clothespin.
Moderate: Allow child to create freely. May need verbal cue to utilize both hands when cutting, one hand to cut and one hand to hold the paper, and to turn the paper, not the scissors.
Hard: Allow child to make without modifications.
Instructions:
1. Gather materials. Pre-cut bird template, if needing to cut down on time or for younger kids.
2. Have each child color/paint their bird. Show the video above prior to coloring for inspiration. Or allow children to look through our book for inspiration from Lorena's beautiful art.
Note: If you're working on bilateral coordination and visual motor skills with your kids, have them cut out their own birds after coloring.
3. Place a piece of double-sided tape on the clothespin. Press down the taped clothespin to the back of the bird.
4. Fold the birds wings in a little bit towards each other to crease for optimal flapping motion.
5. Rip a 2-3 in long piece of masking tape to tape the bottom of one wing over the clothespin and attach to the bottom of the opposite wing.
6. Press the clothespin open and closed to create the flapping motion for your bird in paradise.
*Additional activity: At Picture Books on Tap, our adult guests will be creating large cardboard birds created from scraps. These vibrant & colorful birds will be displayed locally.
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 My Abuela is a Bruja / Mi abuela es una bruja by Mayra Cuevas & Lorena Alvarez Gómez & 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 My Abuela is a Bruja filled with worksheets designed to encourage pre-writing skills, fine motor skills, visual motor & visual perceptual skills.
Download the kit:
Community Outreach: Abuela's sofrito
We are inviting our community to learn more about Puerto Rican culture through food this month. We are also engaging our youth in conversation about food insecurity in our own communities.
We, as a society, need to have a conversation about access to fresh, healthy food. Food insecurity is acute in rural areas: about 16 percent of rural Americans and nearly 13 percent of all North Carolinians report struggling to afford consistent meals, according to an Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Feeding America data. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will stop collecting and releasing statistics on food insecurity after October 2025, saying the numbers had become “overly politicized.” With significant funding cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) many rural grocery stores may close or reduce service, worsening access in food deserts and American farmers, who supply up to 80% of food purchased through SNAP, would face significant economic harm. In schools, cafeterias are now more than a meal line. They are a frontline against hunger. The source of the food matters: meals made from fresh, local ingredients generally contain higher levels of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients than those relying heavily on commodity or processed foods. In our county, as in other rural corners of the state, poverty runs deep. Nearly every school qualifies for federal Title I funding, which supports schools with many low-income students, and thousands of families facing food insecurity.
This month, we're bringing fresh ingredients to make sofrito into each school. Kids will have the opportunity to use their senses to discover new-to-them ingredients, as well as, some kitchen staples. In our story, Abuela is a kitchen bruja mashing and blending ingredients to add to the sofrito, an herb-and-vegetable puree that Puerto Rican kitchen brujas use to make their dishes magical. We want kids to have the opportunity to experience kitchen magic outside of their culture and, for Puerto Rican children, to be able to see themselves & their ancestral roots in this experience.
This activity doesn't need to be extravagant. This is a way for us to celebrate & educate with our kids -- to talk about access to fresh food throughout our communities & to experience a little kitchen magic crafted by Puerto Rican brujas!
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 celebrate those differences in their community.
supplemental books:
Picture books are for everyone, so while we believe you should read our MOSS Kids Book Club pick to everyone you know, here are a few supplemental books to get your kids, tweens, teens, & more to keep reading this October. These books make great additional reading to pair with our book of the month, My Abuela is a Bruja, check them out: Strega Nona, a classic and ode to kitchen witches everywhere; How to be a Witch, unveil the world of REAL witches—everyday people who are natural healers and wise helpers with a kid-friendly spell to discover magic any time of the year; Boo Stew, an imaginative twist on the classic "Goldilocks"; Pacheco and the Witch of the Mountain, a graphic novel that will take readers on an epic adventure that's all about magic, identity, and staying true to yourself; Season of the Witch, a nonfiction based on the history of some of the most controversial women in history: witches; The Marvellers, book one of a middle-grade fantasy adventure set in a global magic school in the sky; Brooms, a queer, witchy young adult graphic novel "Fast and the Furious" that shines light on history not often told. 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 birds in paradise and sofritos 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!!
Wednesday, 10/08 at 7pm: Picture Books on Tap at Larema Beverage Co in Rocky Mount
Schools are back in session, as is our MOSS Kids Book Club visits & Lunch Bunch with third grade! We're crafting plans to pop-in to more schools in the fall & expand our programming for tweens & teens. Stay tuned!!