Maisha Simmons, Mother of Amir and Aliyah
My children love reading Wordsmith Jr, LLC books written by Grace Carroll, Ph.D. and her
adorable granddaughter, Akira Massey! Our favorite is the Akira series. Each book follows
the main character, Akira, as she navigates though life as a curious, imaginative and playful
young child. Each book is a teaching tool, focusing on academic topics such as alphabet
alliteration, homonyms, synonyms and antonyms. The books are also illustrated
beautifully!! The colors are bright and vivid; the images are of children of all different
genders, races and colors; and the pictures are very detailed. I love to hear my children
read the book out loud to each other and to me!!
Our favorite book in the series is Mischievous Akira. In this book, Akira participates in
various activities that illustrate antonyms – words that mean the opposite of another.
Akira can be found jumping UP and Down on her SOFT bed. My children crack up laughing
at Akira when she falls onto the HARD ground! And they relate when she is being very
NOISY and the grownups tell her to be QUIET! Sounds like our house every day.
As a mother, I appreciate finding books my children love to read. My children can relate to
these books because they see themselves in the characters. The characters are not perfect
children; they do things they are not supposed to do, and they are challenged to make good
decisions. And they are learning along the way. It warms my heart when my seven-year-
old daughter brings me a list of homonyms she created after reading Akira’s Happy Tale. I
have been so pleased with these books, that I shared our entire collection with my
daughter’s second grade class!
adorable granddaughter, Akira Massey! Our favorite is the Akira series. Each book follows
the main character, Akira, as she navigates though life as a curious, imaginative and playful
young child. Each book is a teaching tool, focusing on academic topics such as alphabet
alliteration, homonyms, synonyms and antonyms. The books are also illustrated
beautifully!! The colors are bright and vivid; the images are of children of all different
genders, races and colors; and the pictures are very detailed. I love to hear my children
read the book out loud to each other and to me!!
Our favorite book in the series is Mischievous Akira. In this book, Akira participates in
various activities that illustrate antonyms – words that mean the opposite of another.
Akira can be found jumping UP and Down on her SOFT bed. My children crack up laughing
at Akira when she falls onto the HARD ground! And they relate when she is being very
NOISY and the grownups tell her to be QUIET! Sounds like our house every day.
As a mother, I appreciate finding books my children love to read. My children can relate to
these books because they see themselves in the characters. The characters are not perfect
children; they do things they are not supposed to do, and they are challenged to make good
decisions. And they are learning along the way. It warms my heart when my seven-year-
old daughter brings me a list of homonyms she created after reading Akira’s Happy Tale. I
have been so pleased with these books, that I shared our entire collection with my
daughter’s second grade class!