Storytime + Crafting with Christina Newhard, JALAL AND THE LAKE

Bel Canto Books is delighted to host a Storytime and Make-a-Fish Craft with Christina Newhard, publisher of JALAL AND THE LAKE.

Kindly RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Please stay home if you feel sick.

This event will be held indoors at Bel Canto Books Retro Row (2106 E 4th St, Long Beach CA).

EVENT SCHEDULE

12:00pm - Welcome & meet and greet

12:15pm - Storytime reading

12:30pm - Make-a-Fish craft activity + shopping time (all books come with a signed bookplate, plus free sticker pack!)

1:30pm - Event ends

ABOUT THE BOOK

Journey to the Southern Philippines through this Muslim-Filipino fairytale about nature, community, and good leadership. In Jalal’s small village, everyone celebrates the bounty and beauty of their vast lake. Everyone, that is, except Jalal. Jalal doesn’t notice the lake, its bounty, or his people’s wishes. His only desire is to own the magical, puffy clouds in the sky. When strange men come to the village and offer to grant his wish, Jalal finally learns what the lake means to his people.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hanna Usman is a Muslim-Filipina lawyer who grew up in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. She earned her BA in English at Mindanao State University-Marawi, and her JD degree from Jose Maria College of Law, Davao City. As a proud Meranaw, she wants to share the richness of her culture and tradition through fiction. Peace and environmental awareness are her advocacies, which she believes are rooted in understanding culture and tradition. She loves Korean reality shows, coffee shop hopping, oat milk lattes, noodles, ice cream, visiting museums, and reading. Jalal and the Lake is her first book.

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Christina Buhain Newhard is a designer, writer, and publisher. Born in Manila to a Filipina mother and American father, she moved to the U.S. at the age of 10. A love for text, image, and story moved her to pursue graphic design, and eventually to found her press, Sari-Sari Storybooks. The press shares the rich diversity of Philippine culture through multilingual picture books. A former New Yorker, Christina now lives in Oakland with a tiny, demanding cat named Princess Genghis. She is most at home in a city by the water.

ABOUT BEL CANTO BOOKS

Founded by Jhoanna Belfer, a Filipina-American poet and former hospitality executive, Bel Canto Books offers a curated selection of fiction, nonfiction and children's books, organized around a theme of the month, in particular celebrating books by women and people of color. Learn more at belcantobooks.net.

JALAL AND THE LAKE: A MERANAW TALE by Hanna Usman and illustrated by Marianne J. Palita, published by Sari-Sari Storybooks

Host or Publisher Bel Canto Books - Long Beach, CA