First Light, First Life is a celebration of the many and varied peoples of the earth, of their commonalities and their differences. It is a celebration of life.
First Light, First Life
Picture Book
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones tells the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home. With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.
Stepping Stones is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for July 2017.
Waiting for the Biblioburro/ Esperando el Bilioburro
Teacher and librarian Luis Soriano Bohórquez packs his two burros, Alfa and Beto, with books and makes his way over mountains and through valleys to visit children in far-flung villages in rural Colombia all for the sake of literacy and culture.
How Do You Say?/ ¿Como Se Dice?
“The story of two giraffes – one English-speaking and one Spanish-speaking that overcome the language barrier to forge a friendship”
Walk with Me
A deceptively simple, imaginative story depicting the complex emotional reality of a girl whose father no longer lives at home. The girl conjures up an imaginary companion, a lion, who will come with her on the long walk home from school. He will help her to pick up her baby brother from daycare and shop at the store (which has cut off the family’s credit), and he’ll keep her company all along the way until she is safe at home.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 2.
In a Cloud of Dust
In a Tanzanian village school, Anna struggles to keep up. Her walk home takes so long that when she arrives, it is too dark to do her homework. Working through the lunch hour instead, she doesn’t see the truck from the bicycle library pull into the schoolyard. By the time she gets out there, the bikes are all gone.
Join the discussion of In a Cloud of Dust as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
The Owl and the Lemming
As Owl swoops down and blocks the entrance to a lemming den, he is sure that he has a tasty meal in the little animal he has cornered. But this lemming is not about to be eaten! This smart little rodent will need to appeal to the boastful owl’s sense of pride to get away.
Grumpy Feet (Lily and Bear)
Lily loves to draw, but today something feels different. Things feel a little frumpy and bumpy, just not so and not quite right. Her pencils are too pointy. Her paints are too sloshy. And her crayons are too stubby. Even her friend Bear can’t help, until they realize that Lily has Grumpy Feet! It takes a special friend like Bear to turn Lily’s day around!
The Shady Tree
In this new Chinese fable, Ping returns and deals with the selfish and greedy Tan Tan, who owns a beautiful house and a beautiful shady tree, but who does not share. Ping turns Tan Tan’s greed into his own gain, but even with his new-found wealth, Ping is true to his generous nature there is room for everyone.
Good Night Tiger
Emma is trying to sleep, but the animals in her wallpaper are making too much noise! The gorilla bellows, the hippo stomps, the elephant trumpets, and tiger growls. “Go to sleep!”