Linny shares her recent red-carpet event in Washington, D.C. for her latest movie premiere for the movie WHEN FATAL ATTRACTION HITS HOME. She made the scene for two brief shots. She loved hearing the audience members and their friends who reacted when they saw themselves on screen. Her next red-carpet is in two weeks. Nancy talks about her experience co-chairing the Humanities Nebraska Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities. It was a big success with lots of money raised and lots of people in attendance. The guest speaker was Nathaniel Philbrick, historian and author. Usually, we feature our children’s book in December, but this year we thought we’d do it in November to give friends of children ample time to buy the book for the holiday, including Black Friday! The book we’ve chosen this year is M.W. AND THE MONARCH written and illustrated by Lauren Scheib and Christina Lambert Clarke. Linda met Lauren as a fellow volunteer and neighbor for the American Red Cross. Linny was excited to hear that Lauren wrote a children’s book and also a play. When Lauren shared a copy of M.W. AND THE MONARCH with Linny, we knew we had to feature it as our children’s book. In this book, we meet M.W. who is being grown from a seed in a greenhouse along with a lot of other seeds. As they are watered and cared for, some of the seeds grow into beautiful colorful plants, except M.W. And those beautiful plants are a little mean to M.W. Soon, all the plants are being purchased and taken to new homes, except M.W. Finally, a little girl and her father buy M.W. and the little girl claims M.W. will be the most important plant in their garden. Linny notes there are a lot of different themes in the book. She liked that the adults nurtured the seeds and plants. Clara, the greenhouse worker, told M.W. that she had a very important job. M.W. doesn’t see this for herself. Linny says there are a lot of themes to chat with a child about. That is really great, especially since children love reading books over and over. Nancy points out that the last page of the book has a list of questions to talk with co-readers about. Linny suggests adults could talk about growth and diversity, too. Also, what you might say to a bully who is calling you names. Nancy suggests the book is ripe for talking about how everyone has their own set of attributes: not better, not worse, just different. Nancy isn’t surprised M.W. doesn’t defend herself against the mean words from the other plants, because so often we believe the labels others assign to us. Linny notes that many anti-bullying programs in school emphasis that just standing with someone who is being bullied is enough, even if the ally doesn’t know what to say, their presence gives support and shows solidarity. Linny points out that M.W. doesn’t know her purpose and that is something we may all struggle with. Children, especially, are still discovering what their potential is. M.W. is confused as she is discovering her purpose. She doesn’t understand why the caterpillar is eating her leaves. Soon of course we see her strength is nurturing the caterpillar into a butterfly. Nancy says the book would be a good discussion point to discuss a child’s growing body, too. Linny observes there is always the littlest one and the biggest one in any class. Nancy was always the littlest one! Linny says there is also the environmental theme, too, with the importance of milkweeds and butterflies, as well as bees and nectar. Nancy said overall, this book made her think about the saying, “Keep your eyes on your own paper.” As an adult, this message is one she is still learning. Linny agrees that is a great message for all of us. Nancy remembers the sunflower was an encourager to M.W., too, and that was important. Linny says we should look for the sunflowers in our lives! Nancy says a question she has for the authors re: page 56 where there seems to be a callback to THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. Linny says we’ll also ask about the illustrations and how they are using proceeds from their book sales for good causes.