Rice & Rocks

Tradition takes flight in Rice &amp Rocks a picture book celebrating culture and diversity. Giovanni's friends are coming over for Sunday dinner and his grandmother is serving rice and beans. Giovanni is embarrassed-he does not like "rice and rocks" and worries his friends will think the traditional Jamaican dish is weird. But his favorite Auntie comes to the rescue. She and Giovanni's pet parrot Jasper take him on a magical journey around the globe visiting places where people eat rice and rocks. This exciting story celebrates the varied traditions of every culture while also highlighting the delicious similarities that bring us all together. Sandra L. Richards is the debut picture book author of Rice & Rocks. With Rice & Rocks Sandra brings a unique contribution to the world of children's books. An American-born daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents she hopes the book will serve as an educational resource for families seeking to teach their children the value of their heritage and the importance of cultural diversity. In her day job Sandra serves as the Executive Director and Head of Diverse and Multicultural Marketing & Principal Marketing Lead for National Sales Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley. Learn more about Sandra at www.sandralrichards.com. "Rice & Rocks has something literally for every child. It teaches the joy of sharing and bonding over mealtime and the universality of celebrating holidays with traditional food (in this case the same dish). Rice & Rocks takes me back to when I was a girl in New Orleans. Stories that combined exciting fantasy with sound life lessons remain vivid in my memory as this one will." -Donna Brazile, syndicated columnist and author of Cooking with Grease