Happy, Healthy, Me, and You with Divinity Roxx and NaShantá Fletcher

Full Episode description

Divinity Roxx and NaShantá Fletcher share Me + You and Happy & Healthy, two stories celebrating diverse families and moving and grooving to your own beautiful beat. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Me + You by Divinity Roxx; illustrated by NaShantá Fletcher

Page Length: 32 pages

Ages 3 to 8

Diverse families and children celebrate one another in this catchy, hip-hop look at what family really means.

Happy & Healthy by Divinity Roxx; illustrated by NaShantá Fletcher

Page Length: 32 pages

Ages 3 to 8

Joyful children move and groove to their own beautiful beat in this vibrant hip-hop celebration of life and health. Every book purchase includes exclusive access to the catchy song…to sing along!

NOTABLE QUOTES:

(9:35) “Growing up, my mom made sure that we always had nutritious dinners and lunches, and so I am still very much… I still very much do that for myself.”

(10:44) “I recently started (very recently started) working from home, and I didn’t realize how much being at a workplace and being surrounded by people makes me happy until I started working by myself and in this home.”

(13:16) “Generally, when I think about writing for kids, I think about what I wanted to hear when I was a kid and what I may not have heard, what was missing.”

(15:44) “I come up with song ideas based off of the children around me and my experience as a child. I still feel like that child inside of me. I really connect to her in so many ways.” 

(18:56) “I wanted to make it, like, this authentic world, like the world I see around me, cuz I grew up in urban neighborhoods. I’m from Chicago. I live just outside the city now, but I wanted to illustrate the people that I see every day, like the people I see at the grocery store, at the park, or at the laundromat, because there are so many different types of people around us.” 

(25:48) “Whatever you can imagine for yourself in your life, you can make it happen. Your imagination is so powerful that something that exists in your mind only can be output into the world as a very real and tangible thing. So go and dream big.”

(26:17) “Don’t feel like you have to be like everyone else. It’s okay to be different. And we have to be kind to each other and respect what makes us all unique.”

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

• Divinity Roxx Website – www.diviroxxkids.com

• NaShantá Fletcher Website – nashanta.com

• Purchase the Book – Me + You

• Purchase the Book – Happy & Healthy

• Me + You Video (password required)

• Happy & Healthy Video (password required)

TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE:

1. Who is in your family? Who do you live with that is in your family? Who lives somewhere else, but is in your family? What makes someone (or something) family to you? Share your answers with a grownup. How are they similar? How are they different?

2. What are ways you and your family stay healthy? What ways do you take care of your body? Your heart? Your mind? What is a new healthy habit that you would like to try?

3. How does it feel to be noticed or celebrated by somebody? Have you read a book with a character that looks or acts or celebrates or believes similar to you? How does that feel to find a character similar to you and your family? How does it feel to read about characters different from you and your family? 

4. We heard parts of three songs from Divinity Roxx today: “Me Plus You”, “Happy and Healthy”, and “Feeling Good”. Which song caught your attention? What was it about this song that made you sit up and notice? How did the song make you feel?

CREDITS:

This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com. 

Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com. 

Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/). 

Our music is by Podington Bear. 

Podcast hosting by Libsyn. 

You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.

We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.

Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors’ personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found.

DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.