The East Side Freedom Library invites you to a conversation with children’s book authors Nicole McCandless and Alejandra Domenzain

This event will be live streamed on ESFL’s Facebook page and YouTube channel!

Educators say, “If they can see it, they can be it.” When parents, teachers and librarians offer stories of children and their working parents fighting for their rights, they inspire children to imagine a better, more just world. The role models in their literature can teach them to fight bullying, gender inequality, racism and rigid conformity to class-based cultural norms. Stories about social justice issues encourage children to join the resistance when they come of age, and to question the grownups about who rules the world…and why. This is how our friends at Hardball Press describe their work.

ESFL is proud to be featuring two newly published children’s books from Hardball Press. Tune in to our Facebook page or YouTube channel to catch a conversation between Peter Rachleff and authors Nicole McCandless and Alejandra Domenzain, and stay tuned to hear them read their books. On Saturday morning, May 8, at 10am, they will be reading these books to our “Stories for (Little) People” audience. Please encourage the little people in your lives to tune in then.

DOWN ON JAMES STREET takes readers into 1930s Pittsburgh, where two young teens, one White and one Black, are caught up in a police raid on an interracial dance hall. It puts young readers (aged 6-10) in the shoes of two courageous teens, in a story inspired by real historical events from the 1930s. The vivid illustrations evoke the cool vibe of that jazz era, while the story inspires young people today to stand up for justice.

The bilingual PARA TODOS/FOR ALL follows Flor and her father as they leave their beloved country for the promise of a land called For All. Dad works long hours for little pay, while Flor struggles to find her place in school. In time, Flor realizes that not having the proper immigration papers means her father must work in unfair & unsafe conditions, and that doors of opportunity will be closed to her. Flor picks up her green pen and writes from the heart about immigrants excluded from “justice for all.” She inspires others to take action in the hope their new country will live up to its ideals.

Join us for a conversation with the writers of these great new books.