I Am Happy and I Am Thankful, two new bilingual children’s books by Room 1 aftercare teacher Karina Jacob, were published last fall. A book she wrote in 2017, I Am Magical, was republished at the same time. All three, she says, are products of her spiritual journey. “I want to experience life in a new way in these times of great change by raising my awareness through my spiritual exploration and practices,” she says. The books are a way to “share this experience with children in a playful and fun way.”
In I Am Thankful (Yo Estoy Agradecido), for example, she encourages children to “find things to be thankful for in life and feel the love and joy expand in one’s heart” – their families and friends, their homes and schools, “the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
Karina’s books are written in English and Spanish, whimsically illustrated by her friend Victoria Bruno. When she reads them to her preschoolers, she reads them in both languages as a way of exposing English-speaking children to Spanish. (She grew up in Asunción, Paraguay.)
Karina’s books are available at online booksellers.
Karina has been a White Pony teacher for 10 years and finds resonance with “the school’s nurturing approach to learning with love and compassion.”