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DIY Storytime: A Story About Afiya

  • Children's Room
  • Thursday, March 11, 2021

DIY Storytimes are curated storytimes that families can share at home with an ebook, songs and activities.  

A BOOK TO SHARE:

Image of a young black girl with arms gracefully stretched to the sky surrounded by red and pink birds with a white dress overlaid by leaves and branches
A Story About Afiya
by James Berry  | illustrated by Anna Cunha
available as an ebook through Hoopla & Overdrive 
place a request on print copies

This is the lyrical story of a little girl, Afiya, whose name means ‘health’ in Swahili. Every day, Afiya, who has “fine black skin that shows off her white clothes and big brown eyes that laugh and long limbs that play” wears a white dress with seemingly magical properties. Wherever she goes and whatever she does is reflected in the print of the dress, from fields of sunflowers or roses, high grasses full of butterflies, to tigers from the zoo. Afiya’s childhood is memorialized in the daily interpretations of her white dress.

Children and adults alike will be mesmerized by the sweet story of Afiya and her dress, written by the late Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning Jamaican poet, James Berry, with fresh illustrations by Anna Cunha.

Recommended by Caitlin Bockman | Children's Room Associate 

SONGS & RHYMES

Sesame Street: Sing/Canta

Can You Move With Me?

(Tune: “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”)

Can you wiggle like a worm?

Can you squiggle? Can you squirm?

Can you flutter? Can you fly

Like a gentle butterfly?

Can you crawl upon the ground

Like a beetle that is round?

Can you move with me?

 

Can you flip? Can you flop?

Can you give a little hop?

Can you slither like a snake?

Can you give a little shake?

Can you dance like bee

Who is buzzing round a tree?

Can you move with me?

Three Little Birds (Bob Marley) feat. Baaba Maal | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

Young Black girl in the forest | Her white dress is covered in red and pink flowers with green stems

ACTIVITY

Create Your Own Special Outfit

Become a designer and imagine an outfit that shows off your uniqueness while also captivating the world around you. Create patterns and designs from your head or go exploring and use what you see to inspire your magical look.

White rectangles of paper on a brown wooden table with a mixture of markers, crayons and colored pencils
Supplies:
--Paper
--Markers, pens, crayons, pencils, paint, etc.
    White rectangles of paper with black outlines of shirts, pants and other articles of clothing with colorful designs
    Get creative and remember to design looks that show off your awesome personality and unique style!

     

    White t-shirt with colorful designs
    Feel free to take it a step further by working directly on old t-shirts or clothes you have lying around. (It can be a fun way to clean out the closet!)

    "Designers, make it work.”

    curated by Mazie Cook Lawson | Children's Room Associate

    Check out our curated list of books, movies and music below. 

    Keep the learning (and fun) going with more curated activities for children from our team. Find them, here. 

    Looking for even more good books?  Check out our personalized recommendations or call us at 803-799-9084. 

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    Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress.

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    Baldacchino, Christine, 1977- author.
    Published in 2014
    Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. He dreams about having space adventures, paints beautiful pictures and sings the loudest during circle time. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom's dress-up center - he loves wearing the tangerine dress. But the children in Morris's class don't understand. Dresses, they say, are for girls. And Morris certainly isn't welcome in the spaceship some of his classmates are building. Astronauts, they say, don't wear dresses. One day when Morris feels all alone, and sick from the taunts of his classmates, his mother lets him stay home from school. Morris reads about elephants, and puts together a puzzle, and dreams of a fantastic space adventure with his cat, Moo. Inspired by his dream, Morris paints the incredible scene he saw, and brings it with him to school. He builds his own spaceship, hangs his painting on the front of it and takes two of his classmates on an outer space adventure. With warm, dreamy illustrations Isabelle Malenfant perfectly captures Morris's vulnerability and the vibrancy of his imagination. This is a sweetly told story about the courage and creativity it takes to be different.
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    A Story About Afiya

    A Story About Afiya

    Berry, James
    Published in 2020
    Some people have dresses for every occasion but Afiya needs only one. Her dress records the memories of her childhood, from roses in bloom to pigeons in flight, from tigers at the zoo to October leaves falling. A joyful celebration of a young girl's childhood, written by the late Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning Jamaican poet James Berry.
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    A Story About Afiya

    A Story About Afiya

    Berry, James, 1924-2017, author.
    Published in 2020
    Some people have dresses for every occasion but Afiya needs only one. Her dress records the memories of her childhood, from roses in bloom to pigeons in flight, from tigers at the zoo to October leaves falling. A joyful celebration of a young girl's childhood, written by the late Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning Jamaican poet James Berry. -- provided by publisher.
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    A Pattern for Pepper

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    Kraulis, Julie, author, illustrator.
    Published in 2017
    "Pepper is getting a dress made for a special occasion. It's the first dress that has ever been made just for her, and she wants it to be perfect. But what pattern is right for her? Pepper is particular, and nothing works at first. Dotted Swiss? Too plain. Houndstooth? Not enough color. Pinstripe? Too glum. As Pepper learns about each fabric, she finds a reason why it's just not the one. Will Pepper ever be able to find the perfect pattern?" -- Provided by publisher.
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    Every Little Thing.

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    Published in 2012
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