Counting on Community is Innosanto Nagara's follow-up to his hit ABC book,
A is for Activist. Counting up from one stuffed piñata to ten hefty hens--and always counting on each other--children are encouraged to recognize the value of their community, the joys inherent in healthy eco-friendly activities, and the agency they posses to make change. A broad and inspiring vision of diversity is told through stories in words and pictures. And of course, there is a duck to find on every page!
INNOSANTO NAGARA's new-wave board books encourage children to grow up with confidence in themselves, and to be proactive citizens who are passionate about causes from environmental issues to LGBTQ rights and civil rights. Nagara was born and raised in Indonesia, and moved to the US in 1988. After studying zoology and philosophy at UC Davis, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a graphic designer for a range of social change organizations, before founding the Design Action Collective, a worker-owned cooperative design studio in Oakland, California.
"In this powerful concept book follow-up to
A Is for Activist, Nagara tackles counting. Typical urban neighborhood pastimes are depicted with verve and vibrant colors, including working in community gardens and drawing with sidewalk chalk. Young readers will have fun trying to locate an ever-present duck on each spread. Racial and ethnic diversity is celebrated on every page, and the lyrical text will inspire budding and longtime activists alike."
—School Library Journal"Innosanto Nagara is writing a new kind of children's book. Besides being a fun, rhythmic, and lively text to read, the book's illustrations present a world of diversity and complex, inclusive beauty. We should shower our children, schools, libraries, and our communities with books like this one."
—Julia Alvarez, author A Wedding in Haiti: the Story of a Friendship and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents"Meaningful change begins with doing small things at the local level, like picking up trash on the street, helping a neighbor, planting a community garden. Counting on Community encourages our children to embrace the power within each of us to create the world anew, to become SOLUTIONARIES."
—Grace Lee Boggs, social activist and author of The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century "At last, a counting book that will speak to all kinds of different people, living in diverse environments!
Counting on Community has real-world content that breaks up stereotypes while teaching."
—Novella Carpenter,
author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer "
Counting on Community is a meaningful introduction to early readers about our innate power to contribute to our home, neighborhood and the world."
—Ozomatli "Few children’s books present a world in which kids and their families are so diverse, engaged, and vibrant. Not only is
Counting on Community an endearing and beautifully illustrated book, it represents the best hopes and dreams for our communities."
—Bryant Terry, host of the PBS series "The Endless Feast," and author of Afro-Vegan"The decision to publish it as a board book could, in itself, be considered an act of taking a stand and giving voice. This is not a book adapted into a board book, but an intentional decision to create a space that values our youngest readers as those who should be invited into the conversation ... [W]hat I think Innosanto captures so poignantly ... are the little ways of showing up: shared meals, celebrations, making art and music, working and playing together. Because of this, and the the style of illustration that you describe, I am able to find my community (which is currently the middle of a rainforest in Panama) between these pages. These illustrations allow us to see ourselves and to consider the ways we contribute to and are nourished by our communities–or perhaps, the things we wish we paid more attention to."
—Dorea Kleker and Lauren Pangle, Worlds of Words
