Award-winning author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow will read – and sing – from her children’s book that stresses differences should be celebrated as part of Dauphin County Library System’s 16th annual Joan Y. Leopold Children’s Book Week.

Thompkins-Bigelow’s will read from Your Name is a Song, an Honor Book for the 2021 Irma Black Award, presented for excellence in children’s books and seamless integration of words and images.

“I want kids to feel that I am an everyday person just like them,” she says. “When I was a kid, I didn’t think of authors as everyday people. I want kids not to have that perspective, so they can see themselves as authors or whatever they want.”

• 16th annual Joan Y. Leopold Children’s Book Week: Appearances by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, 10 a.m. November 5 at East Shore Area Library, also livestreamed on Zoom, and 3 p.m. November 5 at McCormick Riverfront Library. Every family that preregisters will receive a free copy of Your Name is a Song. Registration and more information at www.dcls.org/cbw.

Thompkins-Bigelow is a former English teacher and an inaugural fellow with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, for which she developed educational curricula for anti-racist education for youth and adults. Her picture books and middle-grade fiction feature Black and Muslim protagonists, and she has appeared in Time magazine and on NPR.

Thompkins-Bigelow hopes that her presentation will help children see their inherent possibilities. Inspiring children to express themselves, especially those from similar backgrounds as herself who might not see themselves depicted in a positive light, gives them “a say in their representation,” she says.

“They don’t have to accept these representations of themselves passively,” she says. “They can be the media makers, the people who control and create narratives.”

The Joan Y. Leopold Children’s Book Week is The Library’s annual spotlight on the making of children’s books. Established in memory of Joan Leopold, a past Library board member and passionate literacy advocate, Children’s Book Week introduces children to the authors and illustrators behind their favorite books.

Thompkins-Bigelow was a perfect fit for Children’s Book Week 2022, says The Library’s Programming and Outreach Administrator Tynan Edwards. Based in Philadelphia, she has Pennsylvania ties and is an engaging presenter encouraging kids to join in her readings.

The Library sought out Thompkins-Bigelow because her work expresses the theme of “telling your own story” and features children in all their diversity.

“We thought the diversity in her work was a great tie-in, but at the end of the day, we really loved her books,” says Edwards. “I took her books home and read them to my boys, and they loved them. It’s great for kids to see themselves in stories, and I think that’s what Children’s Book Week is about, bringing in those authors who can show kids themselves in a book.”

Thompkins-Bigelow’s Your Name is a Song is about a girl whose teachers and classmates can’t pronounce her name correctly. She doesn’t want to return to school, until her mother teaches her the musicality in names from around the globe. And yes, when Thompkins-Bigelow reads, there will be singing.

“It’s a fun book to read with kids because we sing the parts of the book,” she says. “That’s always a fun element. I think they enjoy that piece, especially when they get to sing their own names.”

Her appearance at the renovated McCormick Riverfront Library coincides with Fun & Family Day, an open house introducing teachers, kids, and parents to the new children’s area. Dedicated to STREAM learning – that’s science, technology, reading, education, arts, and math – the children’s area gives the region an exciting, state-of-the-art hub for learning and exploring.

Fun & Family Day will feature music, food, fun, and stations where visitors can conduct their own science experiments, play games, or build with Legos.

“It’s exciting to open McCormick Riverfront Library and present someone as amazing as Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow in a space dedicated to children – something McCormick Riverfront Library never had,” says Edwards. “This is a great space for children and families.”

Inviting teachers to join the fun is The Library’s way of introducing them to a valuable resource at their disposal.

“Teachers are an integral part of what we do, and we want to be an integral part of what they’re doing,” says Edwards. “We want to be able to show them something we can offer to take something off their plates, to offer them new resources and a different way of engaging their students.”

Bringing the transformed McCormick Riverfront Library its first Children’s Book Week event, together with the celebratory feel of Fun & Family Day, will position McCormick Riverfront Library as a cornerstone of the community.

“It’s a great confluence of events that we’re going to be able to open this area and have this many things going on,” says Edwards. “We’re hoping we can make a really good first impression. We are ready to welcome everyone into this new area. Everyone at The Library is excited to have as many opportunities as possible to put our best foot forward.”