Building Inclusive Literacy Through Picturebooks

Mama Reads is a space dedicated to the art of learning and expanding our imagination, through soulful picturebooks.

Stories have the power to transport us, to paint the unimaginable, to take our minds on the most extraordinary journeys. They also carry the potential to portray ways of life and worldviews, to open our hearts & minds to the diversity of human experience. Picturebooks are interactive, they create connection, between art and language, reader and child, child and their deepest imagination. I’m dedicated to finding inquisitive, inclusive, and engaging picturebooks - and to expand their reach, beyond their original country and language of publication. Through storytelling, book reviews, and collaborative consulting, I seek to promote greater connection between children’s literature across cultures and geographic locations.

Ways We Can Work Together: I connect with publishers, educators, and fellow creatives to broaden the reach of artistic & soulful picturebooks.

  • Picturebook Consulting

    For authors, illustrators, parents, educators, libraries, publishers, and bookstores

    Writing picturebook reviews

    Picturebook recommendations

  • Storytelling Circles & Workshops

    For schools, libraries, and bookstores, and other public community spaces

    Storytelling circles

    Creative wxpression & literacy workshops

  • Translation & Creative Services

    For authors, illustrators, editors, picturebook makers, and publishers

    Authenticity reading and cultural sensitivity review

    English - Portuguese Translation

  • "Picture books, in the present era, enjoy a status as a culture form to be enjoyed by people of all ages. It is a precious and versatile art that has already left the confines of paper behind, shattering the boundaries of its own genre and fusing with various other forms of art and imagery."

     CJ Picture Book Festival in South Korea Manifesto

  • "To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled is a spark."

    Victor Hugo

  • "I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage."

    Roald Dahl

  • "There are three ways of writing for children... the third way, which is the only one I could ever use myself, consists of writing a children's story because a children's story is the best art form for something you have to say"

    C.S. Lewis

  • "The picture book, which appears to be the cosiest and most gentle of genres, actually produces the greatest social and aesthetic tensions in the whole field of children's literature."

    Sheila Egoff

About Me

I’m a children’s literature consultant, book reviewer, and storyteller. As a lifelong lover of books with a background in publishing and community-based research across Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, my goal is to strengthen the literary landscapes between cultures and the expansive reach of picturebooks and the stories they carry.

Mama Reads is a platform and consultancy designed to connect authors, illustrators, publishers, educators, and communities at large through picturebooks that offer artistic, conscious, expansive, and inclusive literacy experiences for children—especially those aged 3–10. I engage with children’s literature by writing book reviews, offering storytelling sessions, as well as translation & consulting services. Picturebooks are an invitation to travel, both through time and space; a life giving language of what it means to be human; a learning experience; and a way for children to feel connected to one another and to the subtleties of our existence. I believe storytelling is both art and activism. And that a single picturebook can change the way a child sees the world—and their sense of belonging in it. For consulting, projects and collaborations, get in touch — I’d love to hear from you.