Gina Nino de Nightingale, Community Bookseller

Hi!  I'm a Mexican-Polish American mom of 4 (ages 7, 4, 2, & baby), homeschool teacher, and art teacher.  I remember the beautiful books my art teacher used way back when I was in elementary school, and how I looked forward to the stories and images.   But I rarely saw characters that looked like me, and probably never ones that looked like my family.  

I've always sat and listened to my father's stories.  He is an amazing storyteller.  He's traveled around the world, lived in trucks and tiny shared rural housing when he was a migrant worker, grew up in the inner city observing and learning from the political machines and civil rights leaders, and stayed in penthouse suites and met Presidents and royalty while working to help minorities in international business.  He's always shared about his struggles, joys, and dreams.  But I didn't read many books that were like his stories when I was young. 

Now that I teach and have children of my own, I want to make sure my kids and students see themselves in the stories.  I want them to enter into tales from different times, cultures, and places. Today there are so many more children's books like this!  And I found the most beautiful selection of what I'm looking for here at barefoot books! 

In our home WE LOVE BOOKS!  I'm pretty good at not shopping, EXCEPT when it comes to food and books!  We get huge bags of books from the library, and still I buy books because I can't always find exactly what I'm looking for, or we want to keep reading it again and again.  A house is a home when it's filled with love and stories!