GL_050318

22 | May 3, 2018 | The glenview lantern school
glenviewlantern.com
Local children’s author uses emojis to help kids express feelings
Submitted by Wesley Child
Care Center
Wesley Child Care Preschool
welcomed local
children’s author Evan
Nimke, of Glenview, for
Week of the Young Child
festivities on April 18.
Week of the Young
Child is an annual celebration
hosted by the National
Association for the Education
of Young Children
that celebrates early-learning
children, as well as
their teachers and families.
When Nimke and his
wife, Jennifer, decided to
put his career on hold in
order to care for their two
children, it was a daunting
but important sacrifice for
their family. Little did either
of them know that it
would chart the course for
a new and rather unpredictable
career path for the
rare breed known as the
stay-at-home dad.
“I feel so fortunate to
have the experience to
stay home with our boys,
but my journey to becoming
a stay-at-home-dad
certainly was filled with
much uncertainty at the
beginning,” Evan Nimke
said. “We always knew it
would be best for the children,
but my wife and I
wanted to also make sure
it worked for the two of us.
This felt like a big sacrifice
... in terms of my putting
my own career on hold,
as well as defying social
norms.”
Now three years into the
venture, Evan Nimke has
channeled his experiences
as a stay-at-home dad into
literature.
More specifically, in
2017, Evan wrote and illustrated
his first book: “H
is for Happy.” The book
leverages a modern day
favorite, emojis, to help
children understand and
express their own feelings
while also developing empathy.
“Throughout my time as
a stay-at-home-dad, I have
had front row seats to the
daily emotional fireworks
show put on by my two
boys as I watched them
explore — and explode —
trying to understand their
newfound emotions,” he
said. “I witnessed firsthand
how challenging it
can be for children to express
their feelings without
knowing the words to describe
them.”
Unable to find any A-
B-C books about feelings
at home or at the library,
he set about creating one
himself during his children’s
naptimes. Appropriately,
he titled it “H is
for Happy.” The book is
exclusively available on
Amazon.com.
“We are excited about
bringing this author visit
to our youngest learners,”
said Jeanne Harman, preschool
director at Wesley
Child Care Center. “This
experience will offer the
opportunity for our preschoolers
to further develop
their social and earlyliteracy
skills.”
Out with the old, in with the new
Submitted by District 30
Excavators, backhoe loaders and bulldozers recently began ripping apart the old
Maple School.
LEFT: An
entrance to
the school is
reduced to
rubble.
RIGHT:
Construction
equipment
destroys
a brick
wall of the
old Maple
School.
PHOTOS
SUBMITTED
Evan Nimke visited
Wesley Child Care Center
on April 18 to read from
his book and, of course,
share a little happy. The
center provided each preschooler
with a signed
copy of the book to take
home.
Wesley Child Care Center
is a non-profit, nonsectarian
childcare serving
the Glenview community
since 1972. Wesley’s mission
is to provide a nurturing,
secure and developmentally
appropriate
environment for children,
incorporating the diverse
needs of individual families
within the community.
Wesley Child Care offers
year-round full- and
half-day preschool, before-
and after-school
care for Glenview School
District 34 families, afterschool
care for Northfield
District 29 families, fullday
summer camp programming
for ages 2-12,
and a scholarship assistance
program.
Evan Nimke signs copies of his book, “H is for Happy,”
for preschoolers on April 18 at Wesley Child Care
Center. PHOTO SUBMITTED