Salaam, Storytime

08/04/2023

Had a great, interactive first session about podcasting at the today! Sign up for my upcoming events on April 20 and 22. Looking forward to seeing you there!

08/04/2023

“Let’s Go Yum Cha” by - creator of is now live on the podcast! Check it out on salaamstorytime.com or wherever you listen to podcasts by searching for “Salaam Storytime”!

This is an adorable story about a little boy and his adventures with dim sum. Leena practiced and learned Cantonese words for this story. Check it out and let us know what you think!

04/04/2023

Day 4 at the South Central Regional Library as the Artist in Residence for the COLLIDER program!

Come by and visit us - we have had a lot going on behind the scenes the last several months we can’t wait to share.

12/09/2022

https://youtu.be/vgTdHcgwcys

Our second YouTube video is live now! Check out and subscribe to our channel!

Nope-Nope Emu is written by R.C. Chizov, who shared permission to share the visuals for this upload!

Send a message to learn more

11/07/2022

Season 2 of Salaam Storytime is here! We are back and hoping to see a consistent flow of episodes. Honored to have this story by as the debut to this season!

Authors who have reached out, happy to announce we have found an amazing person to edit our episodes so they don’t get stuck in my files. More soon! Check out the link in bio to hear our latest episode!

20/03/2022

Happy Sunday! New podcast episode of “Sunday Rain” is now live! (Thanks for your patience, friends!) Visit our last few posts to check out more information about this amazing book by and published by !

02/03/2022

🥳Happy 1-Year Book Birthday to “Sunday Rain”!

The world of children’s literature is truly a small, loving, and beautiful place to connect. We are so excited to share what we have been up to as we celebrate this adorable picture book released one year ago today by . The imaginative watercolor illustrations are delicately created by .

The amazing author, Rosie () connected with us to volunteer her book to be read on the podcast and we decided to do a giveaway with some fun prizes to celebrate with you.

🎁Giveaway Details🎁
Three individuals will have a chance to win in a drawing for swag related to “Sunday Rain” from Rosie plus $20 Amazon Gift Cards from Salaam Storytime as we celebrate the 1 year anniversary since the launch of this book. See below for details - participating in each will give you an entry into the raffle drawing and doing multiple things will give you more entries. Winners will be announced on March 9!
➕Follow and on Instagram for one entry!
✍🏻 For another entry, share a comment below of your favorite childhood memory that has to do with rain.
🏷 Tag a friend who may want to read this adorable story for another entry.
👩🏽‍🎨Follow along this week as we share free crafting ideas that accompany this wonderful story and send us photos of your crafts, and you will have chances for
🎙Listen to the podcast episode (releasing this weekend!) and share a fun fact (Rosie told us some behind the scenes things about this story we are excited to share with you!)

Best wishes!

24/02/2022

The impact of storytelling - it is so powerful to hear conversations about identity and belonging across this platform.

Inspired by two Live events today alone, one featuring Sheetal Sheth, author of Always Anjali with , it felt so relevant to highlight a past favorite episode of Salaam Storytime (thanks again for allowing us to share, !). Give the whole episode a listen on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts by searching for “Salaam Storytime.”

Then had a lovely Chai Chat with who shared about what shaped her story/authoring journey and the concept of home (and names!) came up there too.

So much to reflect on! 💗

14/02/2022

Almost halfway through . We have been doing our best to learn the history of individuals of African descent and pay tribute to the countless contributions of Black men and women. All of our children must be exposed to individuals coming from diverse backgrounds. We are blessed that our children have friends from a number of backgrounds, but if you are not - remember books can be friends, too! If you have any good recommendations on what to read or do this month, please share! We will try to share stories of accounts you should follow and activities you can do at home, too!

11/02/2022

We are huge fans of the series. Check out our recent crafts, still a bit of a work in progress.

Do you recognize them?! Let us know how we did and what you are feeling today!

02/02/2022

📚Today is !

Studies show reading aloud to children provides the following benefits:
sharpened focus
enhanced comprehension
improved vocabulary
strengthened listening skills!

This is why we created “Salaam Storytime” as a way to listen to stories sometimes when the books are not available, and still intrigue young minds.

Leena is holding a giant copy of “A Color of His Own” - what are you reading today? 💗

29/01/2022

Review: Sona Sharma Very Best Big Sister?

A charming story about a little girl in a multigenerational household who is about to be a big sister. As a Multicultural Children’s Book Day Reviewer, we had the opportunity to receive and read this early chapter book from

Written by Chitra Soundar and beautifully illustrated by Jen Khatun, Leena and I both really enjoyed this charming story.

(Although Leena did not confirm this, I suspect as the only daughter before her younger sisters were born, she could relate to the themes of uncertainty and jealousy.)

Readers will learn about Indian culture, Hindu traditions, and lots of words related to family and relationships. Each lovely black and white image throughout the book adds character, detail, and so many of them are endearing and heart-warming. (Swipe to check out some of our favorite scenes.)

Highly recommend this book if you are looking for a window into another culture or if you have a child who will be welcoming a new sibling. Thankful for this experience for introducing us to this title!

28/01/2022

Today is Multicultural Children’s Book Day! In honor of this occasion, the girls chose their own activity. So we decorated an egg carton (scissors, paint, and 👀) + stripped an old goody bag into some cool, crafted jellyfish puppets!

A fun snow day, sick day activity inspired by book critique friend from around the 🌏 in Singapore, and the magnificent art, commentary, and illustrations by . As soon as we all recover, we have a number of stories to share with you!

17/01/2022

Leena’s younger sisters are the “sound engineers” who listen to every story during the editing process. We are excited for you all to hear our next story soon, “Gracie’s Ears” - written and illustrated by Debbie Blackington.

04/01/2022

We recently connected with several amazing authors and purchased many new diverse books that we hope to read on the podcast and share with you all, too.

We also love checking books out at the library. What have you been reading lately?

(Pictured here: Matilda by Roald Dahl)

29/12/2021

A reintroduction for some new followers here! Welcome to our storytelling podcast “Salaam Storytime” and accompanying page! My name is Janan and I’m a mother of three lovely young ladies. I love books, cooking, healthcare, and creating beautiful things. Pictured here is Leena who is six, a fellow bookworm who enjoys drawing and playing games.

We read stories (with permission from authors and their publishers) aloud on our podcast, “Salaam Storytime”! Do you have a story you wish we would read aloud? Have any questions?

Let us know!

19/12/2021

Live now on the podcast, “Sushi and Samosas: A Trip of Tasty Transformations” - check it out now wherever you can listen to podcasts! Shout out to for writing this book, here’s a short audiogram from the story 🛩🌍🍛🥘💙!

15/12/2021

The next story you will hear on our podcast will take you on a culinary adventure all over the world. It’s exciting to see the diversity of international cuisine unfold through the characters of this book.

Many thanks to , author of for sharing her passion and love of food with us through this book. Can’t wait for you all to hear it soon, too!

12/12/2021

Today while Baba volunteered to help some tornado victims, we visited some of our favorite spots in town, including the coziest kids bookstore near us. We saw some food trucks from all over the 🌍 and it made us think of the amazing book we recently read (and will soon share with all of you on the podcast!) called, “Sushi and Samosas”!

We hope you all are safe from the storms and had a colorful and fun weekend!

💚💙

10/12/2021

Did you hear our latest story on Salaam Storytime?

A Kids Book About Racism
By
Published by

Check it out from the link in our bio today.

Also don’t forget to check out our recipe contest for a chance to be published and win a cash prize! If you have questions, send us a DM!

04/12/2021

Latest episode of Salaam Storytime is live now. Many thanks to and for allowing us to share the story “A Kids Book About Racism” with you all.

Please share other anti racist titles suitable for a young age and tag any creators who may know who have content we should be reading, too!

03/12/2021

Always reading 📚 even during a shopping trip 😅🛒

Where’s your favorite place to read?

28/11/2021

Brand new episode of Salaam Storytime is live now! “Bilal Cooks Daal”!

Do you recognize this voice? No… It’s not Leena! Many of you have asked about Leena’s younger sisters, and they like to be on Salaam Storytime, too!

Listen in on this episode to hear some special guest voices tagged (and some too young to be on social media 😉!)

🏷

26/11/2021

Today we are learning about protecting the world’s habitats. This is another lovely book from our local library. What have you been reading lately?

24/11/2021

The Hello Atlas! We love this book from , which introduces us to friends around the world and how to say some words of greeting. Swipe to see some of our favorite friends around the world 💙🌏🥰

We loved

14/11/2021

Exciting announcements:
🤍Salaam Storytime is back with many new episodes to come, new collaborations, features, and a CONTEST!

🌏Check out our latest story podcast live now. A fun story written by , “Going Bananas” is available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

📷This throwback photo is Leena back at the age she loved 🍌! Note: she was just modeling Uncle 😅

🚨Contest Alert! We are collecting favorite banana recipes from around the world. No recipe is too simple (or complex) to qualify! Details in the show links in link in bio.

☑️Subscribe to Salaam Storytime to stay up to date on our latest episodes and things to come!

🍌

22/10/2021

Wildflowers!🌸🌿🌼

06/10/2021

Will you be attending this event?! Visit on Thursday, October 7 at 7pm EDT. Neha has a wealth of information and resources! We will be reading and discussing a powerful Heroine from and discussing in a panel with Tamara the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in children’s literature.

See you there!!

27/09/2021

✨Leena turns 6 today! 🧁

✨In honor of this, we have podcast episodes coming live after our back to school hiatus!

✨In partnership with and her amazing, funny story as well as we will have a contest to recommend your favorite banana recipes! 🍌

✨Stay tuned for more details and podcast launch info soon while we celebrate the founder of Salaam Storytime!

💛