Family Play Festival Five Practices: TALK

Young children will learn what life can look like for an autistic child who uses nonverbal communication by following a mother and child on a day where they use a tablet to communicate with others.

"Mama Shamsi is off to the market, and today, Samira gets to go with her! Samira loves spending time with her grandmother, and she especially loves her chador, which Mama Shamsi wraps around herself every time they leave the house. As the pair get closer and closer to the market, Samira is worried about getting lost in the crowded streets of Tehran, until she has an idea: She can hide under her grandmother's chador. But when Mama Shamsi says no--if...

"Names hold power. They can be a greeting, provide comfort, act as a warning, or honor our ancestors and heroes. Sometimes growing into a name, or selecting a new one, can take a little time. Names connect us to others and help create who we are and what makes us uniquely special. With an engaging visual narrative buzzing with people and names of all stripes, and a lilting text that's perfect for reading aloud, the creator...offers a celebratory and...

Laila's birthday party, perfectly planned with her autism in mind, goes awry due to a change in weather and an accident with her cake, but with the help of her mom and her service dog, Laila knows she can handle this.

"A little boy spends the day with his grandfather, endearingly imagining himself to be the caregiver. On a walk through the forest, the grandfather teaches him to identify a number of animals and their tracks: raven, rabbit, deer, sparrow. Back at the house, their special time ends with milk, cookies, and story time that turns into a nap. Ojibwe translations of the animal names are found on the endpapers." --

In this empowering ode to modern families, a boy and his father take a joyful walk through the city, discovering all the ways in which they are perfectly designed for each other.

Oliver should go to sleep, but there is so much he wants to tell his mother about: what happened that day at school, the things he read in books, everything he sees around him. A touching and familiar picture book about (postponing) the ritual of going to sleep.

Lizzie meets an elderly man and his companion, Cecile, at the park, but Lizzie is afraid of dogs, so she relies on her new friend to help her take things one step at a time.

"When Taylor's block castle is destroyed, all the animals think they know just what to do, but only the rabbit quietly listens to how Taylor is feeling"--

All Sophia wants for her birthday is a pet giraffe, but as she tries to convince different members of her rather complicated family to support her cause, each tells her she is using too many words until she finally hits on the perfect one. Includes glossary.