ROARing Times Newsletter July 2021

Susie Jaramillo Wins the Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy

We are thrilled to announce the winner of Reach Out and Read of Greater New York’s Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy — Susie Jaramillo, the president and chief creative officer of Encantos Media.

The Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy is given annually since 2013 to a children’s book author or illustrator who is dedicated to promoting a lifelong love of reading in young children. This year, we wanted to recognize someone who embodies the importance of diversity and inclusion in children’s literature. 

The award was created in honor of Gary Tannenbaum and Helen Mills, who are long-time advocates of children’s literacy in New York and dedicated supporters of the Reach Out and Read of Greater New York early literacy program.

“It’s so important that all children have access to high-quality books that excite their imaginations and expand their horizons,” the award founders said. 

As a proud Venezuelan-American mother of two children, Jaramillo is dedicated to telling the stories of cultures that are not represented through technology, entertainment, advertisement, media, and marketing. Her commitment to women and diversity initiatives and creative and design education, has led her to obtain her B.A. in communication design with a focus on painting & illustration from the Pratt Institute. 

In 2015, she co-founded Encantos Media as a public benefit corporation. Encantos Media is an award-winning company that believes kids learn literacy and life skills best through play. 

 “We founded Encantos to help kids learn, the way they learn best: through characters and stories that inspire them. Our Tiny Travelers books inspire kids to be citizens of the world, our Canticos books help children learn Spanish through culture and our Skeletina brand helps kids conquer their fears and anxiety. We feel so proud that our stories have purpose and heart and rhythm, reflecting the beautiful diversity of our world,” says Susie Jaramillo.

“Our school systems are stuck in the last century, focused on one-size fits all curriculum and testing – kids are yearning to be inspired. Entertainment makes deep connections with kids- they want to live in Arendale, they want to go to Hogwarts – but education remains rote, boring, one note,” according to Encantos Media.

In order to teach children 21st century skills, Encantos Media provides digital and physical product subscriptions such as apps, animated series, books, puzzles, and games that inspire kids to learn about the world through diverse entertainment, centric play-based education, and kid-friendly technology. 

Encantos Media houses three other brands: Canticos, Skeletitos, and Tiny Travelers. Canticos, Encantos Media’s first brand and Emmy-nominated Latino-inspired bilingual nursery rhyme series, was created and launched by Jaramillo in 2016. The series airs on Nick Jr.

Canticos’ innovative apps, books and sing-along videos have garnered such success that the brand received widespread industry accolades and awards from Common Sense Media, Kidscreen, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The New York Times and School Library Journal. 

Skeletitos celebrates and teaches children about the Day of the Dead with beautiful Mexican calavera art from Jose Guadalupe Posada and illustrations by Jaramillo. They provide children with comedic Day of the Dead themed tales, coloring sheets, Skeletitos masks, crafts and activities. 

Tiny Travelers inspires children to be curious about the world’s diverse geography, languages and cultures through books, puzzles and games.

Jaramillo and her work are a shining example of diversity and inclusion in children’s literature. We are especially excited to add the Canticos series for babies and toddlers and Tiny Travelers’ books for preschoolers to Reach Out and Read of Greater New York’s library of books.

For more information about the event, and to register, visit www.reachoutandreadnyc.org/events

UPCOMING EVENT: Keynote and Awards Ceremony

Rising to the Moment with Inclusion and Relational Health

To nominate a healthcare hero or a group of healthcare heroes, complete the nomination form linked herebefore the May 14^th deadline.

We’ve been living with the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, reeling from the effects and shining a new spotlight on the importance of the healthcare field. Reach Out and Read of Greater New York is taking this opportunity to celebrate the amazing network of healthcare heroes in our community. We’re bringing our ROR network a special keynote titled Rising to the Moment: Inclusion and Early Relational Health followed by an awards ceremony and Town Hall. 

We Have New Posters

We’re happy to announce our posters are now available in English, Spanish, Simplified Mandarin, and Traditional Mandarin. Click the links to download the posters to post in your clinic.

Upcoming Bilingual Workshops

Printable Flyer Linked Here

Social Emotional Learning During COVID: May 6, 8pm

• Join Imagine Neighborhood to learn about supporting social-emotional development, especially while using technology

Childhood Trauma: May 20, 8pm

• We’re talking about how early experiences affect children’s development

Past April Workshop Recordings

Building Early Math Skills

• Did you know you can use books to teach early math skills? We’re sharing our top tips.

Family Storytelling

• Join Imagine Neighborhood for a family time of storytelling and activities.

KidLit TV Has FREE Virtual Resources for Children and Families

KidLit TV is a winner of the Parents’ Choice Gold Award and has been selected as an American Association of School Librarians Best Digital Tool for Teaching and Learning. KLTV is available in over 700,000 schools worldwide via our website and video distribution partners. We’re a diverse group of parents, educators, librarians, kid lit creators, and award-winning filmmakers working together to create fun new ways to reinforce an appreciation of reading that children will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Founder and producer Julie Gribble and award winning author and illustrator Roxie Munro joined us for a workshop in March where they shared all about their resources and where you can find other virtual experiences, including virtual museum visits, virtual zoo cameras, and online educational games.

Here’s a link to the full workshop and here’s a link to a one page KidLit TV flyer with more resources.