Upside Down Book Read’ Set for March

Community collaborators will hold two book chats, one for parents of children ages 12-18 at 6:30 p.m. on March 23 and one for parents of children birth-11 at 5:30 p.m. on March 30. Both events will be at the Ashland Public Library, 66 Front St. The book to be discussed will be Confident Parents, Confident Kids by Jennifer Miller.
“We have designed this event as an ‘Upside Down Book Read,’ which means that instead of coming to the event already having read the book, participants will learn about the book during the event and leave interested in reading it,” said Jennifer Cutler, Director of Counseling and Social Emotional Learning, Ashland Public Schools.
“Claire Goss from the Friends of the Library and I will introduce the book and provide a brief summary and then participants will break up into small discussion groups, which will be facilitated by parents and school district educators,” Cutler said.
For the March 30 event, the collaborators are offering a special program and dinner for pre k-grade 5 students. The program will be led by Pamela PinterParsons, founder of A Soul Spirit Studio, a creative healing arts center in Holliston. PinterParsons’ “playshop” is designed to help children discover inner peace and calm, using meditation, art and a variety of mindfulness techniques. Advance registration is required on the Friends’ website, www.friendsoftheapl.org. Children who sign up should come dressed to move and to for art.
“I have been collaborating with parents to create events that would be of interest to them in learning about social-emotional learning and how they can support the development of their children of all ages,” Cutler said. “The Ashland Public Schools has collaborated with the Friends of the Library for several years on a Community Book Chat, and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to choose an SEL [social and emotional learning]-themed book. I chose Jennifer Miller’s new book as it is specifically written for parents of children ages 0-18 and provides easy-to-apply strategies for addressing the SEL competencies in different ages of development. I thought that this [event] would be a great way to bring parents and school staff together to discuss SEL.”