Hometown Hero Inspires Children to Dream Big Dreams!

Kelly Starling Lyons

The Young Dreamers’ Bookstore launched the inaugural Dreaming with the Authors series on March 25, 2023. The purpose of this program is for children to meet, listen to, engage in dialogue with, and laugh with authors who invoke dreaming. We thought it was fitting that this series begin with the hometown hero and world renowned children book author Kelly Starling Lyons. Her work has not only shaped the children’s literature world, but her work has had a profound impact on the lives of my two sons. With this understanding and experience with her work, we were excited to host her.

We began the program with an interview of Mrs. Starling Lyons to provide the audience with personal context of her work. We posed questions about her inspirations as a child, the role of family and community, and what message she would give to her younger self. Mrs. Starling Lyons shared some impactful memories of her childhood and the role her mother (Mrs. Deborah Starling) played in her development. We transition from learning about her life to her books. During this section, we learned about the thought process behind the creation of some of her popular characters like Jada Jones and Miles Lewis. Learning about her popular characters transitioned into us being treated to Mrs. Starling Lyons reading many of her books, which included our favorites Sing a Song and My Hands Tell a Story.

The program concluded with children participating in writing their own stories using hand cutouts made by the librarians, while their caregivers purchased books from The Young Dreamers’ Bookstore. The time Mrs. Starling Lyons  spent with the children and their families was truly a transformative experience. The children met a daughter of Pittsburgh, who walked the same streets, attended the same schools, and checked out books from the same libraries. They met a daughter of Pittsburgh, who used her talent to achieve excellence on a local, national, and global stages. Mrs. Starling Lyons willingness to share her time and thoughts with these young people shows her commitment to cultivating the next generations of dreamers who will assist in the development of a better world. We, like everyone who attended left thankful that we had 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon to dream with Mrs. Starling Lyons.

Mrs. Starling Lyons with her family

 This program was done in partnership with the Carnegie Public Library. We truly appreciate your support and friendship and look for more transformative collaborations !

We also would like to thank our Dream Funders! As a result their generous donations, each family was received a copy of Mrs. Starling Lyons book My Hands Tell a Story!