More GAS Conference 2010 Events

So you’re going to Louisville for the GAS Conference next June, 2010 and you want to know what’s up before the conference. The party before the party. There’s always pre-conference activities and I’m here to entice you to check out what’s planned.

If you like horses and horse racing there are a couple of events perfect for you. There’s the Backstretch Breakfast and Louisville Stoneware Tour or the Horses and Bourbon Tour. The first allows you to witness training of the horses at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, while enjoying breakfast in the Trackside Kitchen. After that you check out two floors of race related exhibits at the Kentucky Derby Museum and see Churchill Downs Frontside and the Winner’s Circle. Once you’e done with the horse stuff you go over to Louisville Stoneware, to see how this stone ware is created. But maybe you prefer Bourbon…then go on the Horses and Bourbon Tour. First you go to the Kentucky Horse Park to visit with more than 30 different breeds of horse. YOu see the blacksmith, International Museum of the Horse and enjoy lunch at Holly Hill Inn. Finally the bourbon, at one of Kentucky’s oldest distilleries, Woodford Reserve. But where’s the glass you say. Oh you’ll get to that…check the GAS web site for more information if you haven’t received your conference information brochure.

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?