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23 Dedham Avenue
Needham, MA 02492

Read(y) for a Little Change: a Children’s Book Club for Adults

 

 

We are excited to announce the beginning of a new ongoing program here at First Parish: Read(y) for a Little Change: a Children’s Book Club for Adults. Once a month, all are welcome to join us as we read, share, and discuss books for youth and children that support progressive and liberatory values. See below for all relevant details! If you have questions, please contact our Director of Religious Exploration, Sara Elizabeth. saraelizabeth.dlre@gmail.com

 

Read(y) for a Little Change Upcoming Dates & Topics:

January 23rd, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Stories of Black History

February 27th, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Activism & Organizing: 101

March 27th, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Centering Women and Girls

April 24th, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Tough Stuff: Discussing Difficult Topics with Kids

May 22nd, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Expressing our Emotions

June 12th,  5:30pm – 7:00pm. Families

 

Who is invited?

Everyone from both First Parish and the wider community are invited to join us for this time of sharing and communal learning. While all ages – including all ages of children and teens – are welcome, the focus of our program is adults! Parents, grandparents, teachers, organizers, readers etc… There is something for everyone.

 

What will we be reading/sharing?

Sara Elizabeth, our religious educator and huge children’s literature fan, will bring a collection of books that speak to that month’s theme. The theme’s will vary, but generally focus on progressive values and ideals around issues of diversity & inclusion, liberation, healthy social-emotional learning, and beyond.

These books will range from board books for infants, to picture books, to elementary age novels, YA novels, etc. Most of these books will be directly from the local library and will aim to address an array of ideas and perspectives.

Participants are also invited to bring relevant books of their own to share with others or email Sara Elizabeth (saraelizabeth.dlre@gmail.com) with specific recommendations!

 

Why a children’s book club for adults?

From an early age, reading is how many children and teens learn about the wider world. How do we find books that show a diversity of experiences and counter harmful main-stream narratives? What books might help our community’s children understand their own identities? Or how to process their own emotions in a healthy way? There are books that do all of these things and more! When adults are the ones buying books for kids, we need to make sure that we all know about these literary resources that are available right at our fingertips.

(Plus, reading children’s books is fun!)

 

When is this happening? And where?

These monthly book club meetings will occur on (generally) the 4th Monday of each month. The meetings will begin at 5:30pm and go on until 7pm. However, no need to arrive at 5:30pm or stay the whole time! This book club has a drop-in/drop-out style in order to help accommodate busy schedules. Even if you can only join us for 15 minutes we would love to have you.

For now*, these book club meetings will be in person only at First Parish in Needham, 23 Dedham Ave.

[*We are dedicated to making our programming accessible to all in our community. We recognize that virtual offerings are key in this regard. The nature of this program makes it challenging to translate to an online experience; as we begin this program, we will be actively exploring how to do this well so that we may live into our values. If you are interested in attending this program virtually, would like to volunteer as a virtual co-host, or have other ideas on how to add this functionality to “Ready(y) for a Little Change,” please contact Sara Elizabeth! (saraelizabeth.dlre@gmail.com)]