“Mason & Milo: A Journey Through the Stars” Author Event and Book Launch Celebration at the Bettendorf Public Library -- February 25.
Saturday, February 25, 2 p.m.
Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive, Bettendorf IA
Bettendorf Public Library patrons on February 25 are invited to take a magical trip to outer space with the official launch of local author Nyilah Sulaimana's Mason & Milo: A Journey Through the Stars, a family event boasting activities, refreshments, raffles, goodie bags, a Mason and Milo Space Ship photo booth, an author signing, and Sulaimana and her son Mason - the story's real-life inspiration - delivering a live reading of the tale.
In this delightful, locally written tale, readers are invited to travel with eight-year-old Mason from planet to planet as his dream journey takes him to all eight planets in our solar system. Author Sulaimana's story encourages prayer and peaceful dreams while helping build confidence in young children, and stands as a STEM learning experience by asking kids what it's like to visit an ice cream shop on Uranus, ride a train on Mercury, become a giant on Jupiter, and ice skate on Pluto. Mason and his favorite teddy bear Milo travel through the solar system, learning cool facts about each planet along the way as this unique bedtime experience follows the night-time adventures of a young boy who wishes for happier dreams. Children will learn fun facts about planets and space as they enjoy the story of Mason and Milo exploring the solar system, with educational flash cards related to the story included in the book.
Nyilah Sulaimana was born in Davenport, received her liberal arts degree from Cedar Rapids' Kirkwood Community College, and is currently furthering her education by studying at Grand Canyon University. She grew up in a household with three older siblings but has a total of nine siblings, with her mother Valerie Bibbs a jazz concert promoter and health-information technician and her father BK Davis is a popular area singer/pianist and writer. In 2013, Sulaimana gave birth to her son Mason, and as a five-year-old, he told his mother that he was having bad dreams. As she explains in her Google Books biography, this is when the idea of Mason & Milo: A Journey Through the Stars was conceived. "Mason wasn't having good dreams," she says, "so I immediately wrote him a lullaby called 'Sweet Dreams.' After noticing such a positive reaction by him in response to the song, I decided to expand on the ideas within the song and write this children's book."
Sulaimana continues to utilize the same substantial imagination and creative nature that she displayed throughout her younger years. "My favorite playground as a child and better than any toy has always been my imagination. It's something you never grow out of, that's the best part. Creating stories and visualizing pictures/scenarios always kept me entertained." She now has the pleasure and joy of encouraging and developing the creative nature in her son Mason, while sharing the same gift with other children through her children's books. Recently, she had the honor of donating 200 of her bedtime story book sets to Iowa City Stead Family Children’s Hospital, where children and families were very happy to receive the gift.
Mason & Milo's illustrator is Luis Peres, who has been illustrating dreams professionally for almost 30 years. He lives in the south of Portugal and illustrates from his home studio near the ocean. Beyond illustrating books, Peres has also worked on video games, apps, concept illustration, cover art, board games, posters, prints, logos, greeting cards - or anything else requiring his style of illustration, which he says is heavily based on imaginary worlds, fantasy themes, and science-fiction environments.
The Mason & Milo: A Journey Through the Stars book launch will take place on February 25, participation in the 2 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (563)344-4175 and visiting BettendorfLibrary.com.
