Rad Kids' Books | Summer Bookfair 2018
Mark your calendars! St. Luke's Summer Bookfair is coming Sundays June 10 and 17!
Featuring:
- Rad books about God, bodies, gender, and being yourself - handpicked especially for the rad kids of St. Luke's
- Books for kids ages 0-12 available for review and purchase
- The opportunity to make a donation to St. Luke's growing library of children's books
- A special summer reading challenge, complete with bingo sheet and stickers, organized by Sunday School teacher Miss Sarena!
A message from Pastoral Resident Erin:
In one of my seminary classes, Pastoral Ministry with Women and Femmes, my colleague read aloud to us from a book called Who Are You?: The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity. My favorite page came near the end. After many pages about gender and expression, about likes and dislikes, and breaking binaries and trusting yourself, that page said simply,
There are lots of ways to be a boy.There are lots of ways to be a girl.There are lots of ways to be a kid.Be who you are!
Those words brought me to tears that evening - and even now as I write this - because this is a message that I desperately needed to hear as a young person. It is a message that I still need to hear, even now. There is not one right way to be. Other people don't get to tell you who you are. "You are the one who knows you best. Be who you are."That book - along with dozens of other fantastic titles - were introduced in a presentation about how the church can talk with kids about God and gender and sexuality at all ages. There were books with protagonists of many genders and races, with expansive language for God, and illustrations to match.Even more exciting than discovering all those new books was imagining what a transformational impact the church can have on the lives of children and young people if we're ready to have these conversations. We can talk about how God is showing up here in our holy lives, with our holy bodies, in our many genders and sexualities. The work of teaching and learning about our God, our bodies, and ourselves is sacred work - and it is our responsibility and our blessing to do that work together.I'm so pumped for our Summer Bookfair - coming up on Sundays June 10 and 17 - where we'll have several of these rad children's titles available. You'll notice that some of the books use lots of God-language, and some do not. There is a book about feelings, and a book about sex. In one book, God is illustrated through the eyes of a Black child in the city. In another book, God colors creation into being like a little girl making an art project. There are books for babies and preschoolers and preteens. I hope you will find a book that is especially for you, or for a young person in your life. I hope these books get these holy, embodied conversations started.If you're interested in purchasing one of these books, you can order it at church on Sundays June 10 and 17. We'd also like to invite you to make a donation so that St. Luke's can purchase these books for our church library. You can order online as well!!! Follow this link to place your order.Contact Pastoral Resident Erin Coleman Branchaud (erincb@stlukesls.org) for more information.Look below for information on all of the books that will be available:
