I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this post. Over the summer, I had the opportunity (thanks to RockStarMommy, Ashley Massi) to meet with the VP of Education and Outreach for The Smith Center of the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Candy Schneider.
Seriously, if you have any love for the arts, culture and education in our community, you should personally write her a thank you note. For the past 25+ years, she has worked diligently in the Clark County School District, not only as an educator, but also as an advocate to enhance our children’s (as well as our own if you went to school here) education and future. For those who scoff and say, “Vegas has no community. There is little to no education efforts made by the school district to increase our schools’ involvement in arts and culture.” I beg to differ. After listening to all Candy talk humbly about her accomplishments and introduction of programs into our school system, especially the lower income schools who rarely have these types of opportunites, I wanted to jump across the desk and hug her and cry at the same time.
After thanking her profusely for her commitment to our children, their education and their future, I asked her if she would submit a list of her Top 10 favorite children’s books to share with my RockStarMomLV readers. When she was pulling them off her bookshelf without hesitating, I was impressed that I had not heard of more than half of them. Since I wanted to know, I figured you would, too! Being a dedicated educator, she couldn’t just give me 10, so she added a bonus one for your enjoyment!
- Art & Max by David Wiesner
- ZerO by Kathryn Otoshi
- Otis by Loren Long
- The Jazz Fly by Mathew Gollub and Illustrated by Karen Hanke
- The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf and Illustrated by Lane Smith
- The Gruffalo by Julia Donalson and pictures Axel Scheffler
- And the Cow Said Moo! by Mildred Phillips and Illustrated by Sonja Lamut
- Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
- llama llama red pajama by Anne Dewdney
- Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe
- Frindle by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Brian Selznick
