Storytime with TBIR- Rio Cortez

Join us at the historic Andrew Freedman Home for a Storytime event with published authors, curated specially for Boogie Down kids! We're passionate about getting young readers excited about book culture. Stop by to enjoy a live reading, experience the beautiful Andrew Freedman Home, and snag a new, signed book for your home library!

About The River Is My Ocean

A grandmother and granddaughter share a magical trip to the Hudson River affirming intergenerational love and the power of water in this heart-song of a picture book.
Every day, Abuela misses the ocean in Puerto Rico. But on Saturdays, when the sun is high, Abuela takes her granddaughter on a walk down the hill in Harlem to Twelfth Avenue, to a place that is just as magical: the Hudson River.
There, they admire the iconic waterway that brought millions of new Americans to its shores, make offerings to Yemaya, the goddess portrayed as a mermaid in ancient religions, and celebrate familial love passed down through the generations, showing the vastness of expansive intergenerational love, memory and the childlike curiosity they each inspire.

Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of picture books The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and The River Is My Sea (S&S, 2024). Her debut poetry collection, Golden Ax, was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry and the Pen America Open Book Award, and was a finalist for Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award. It is available now from Penguin Books.

Host or Publisher The Bronx is Reading