Meghan brought her own writing to life, reading her New York Bestseller book “The Bench” for the Brightly Storytime channel.
Looking relaxed surrounded by her beautiful Garden in Santa Barbara, Meghan made her first appearance since the New York tour last month. She introduced herself as the Duchess of Sussex and expressed why her children’s book was “extra special” – thanks to the illustrator Christian Robinson.
She said:
“Today I’m going to read to you my book called The Bench with illustrator Christian Robinson…I asked him to do something special for me and use watercolors, which isn’t the normal medium he works in, but he did it to make it extra special.” Continuing: “I wrote this as a poem for my husband and our son Archie, and then turned it into a book so you could enjoy it too.”
Back in June Christian shared more about how his collaboration with Meghan came about. During an interview with Natalie Morales on TODAY revealed that reached out to him to help bring her book to life.
“I connected with the manuscript, and I fell in love with the story,” Christian said. “Zoom is how we connected, and it was really surreal and exciting, and we were totally vibing on that first Zoom.”
Brightly Storytime channel shared the video on its YouTube page. They said: “We’re absolutely over the moon to welcome Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex to Brightly Storytime!”
On their website, they describe how they believe “reading has the power to illuminate kids’ lives and connect families by facilitating a space in which children and the adults in their lives can spend quality time together. But we also know how hard it can be to find the right book to keep children engaged as they grow. That’s where Brightly comes in.”
They also provide “passionate parents, educators, and caregivers with the tools they need — such as tips and advice, book recommendations, Brightly Storytime, which features read-aloud and flip-along videos, and more — to keep kids connected to books through every age & stage of life. We take pride in working with a diverse group of contributors, authors, and partners who cover a wide range of topics for readers of all ages in order to cultivate a love of books and reading in children.”
Meghan released The Bench ahead of Father’s Day in June. The book tells about the special bond between father and son, and is inspired by Harry’s connection with Archie.
Ahead of the release, Meghan said in a statement:
“The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born. That poem became this story. Christian layered in beautiful and ethereal watercolor illustrations that capture the warmth, joy, and comfort of the relationship between fathers and sons from all walks of life; this representation was particularly important to me, and Christian and I worked closely to depict this special bond through an inclusive lens. My hope is that The Bench resonates with every family, no matter the makeup, as much as it does with mine.”
You’ll recall Meghan also read the book during their visit to a Harlem public school for an outdoor reading event, while in New York last month.
During their visit, Meghan gathered the kids for a read of the book with Harry sitting among the kids listening. She told them, “I wrote this when we just had our little boy, and I haven’t read it to any other kids but you!”
Continuing that she dedicated the book to “the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump,” explaining to the children that the phrase came from teaching Archie how the heart works.
She also explained, “The idea of representation — ‘That looks like me!’ — I wanted everyone to be included in this book.”
Today’s read follows a tweet earlier today, where The Assistance League of Los Angeles revealed that Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation has donated copies the book to young students at its Preschool Learning Center. Alongside photos of the children looking thrilled with their copies, the organization tweeted: “The students at our Preschool Learning Center were overjoyed to each receive a personal copy of The Bench, a children’s book penned by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex!
You’ll recall Meghan and Harry volunteered at the Preschool Learning Center, helping the kids replanting their learning garden ahead of the new school year in August 2020.
In honour of Princess Diana, the couple also planted Forget-Me-Not seeds, which were Diana’s favourite flowers.
Now that we´re talking, I also wanted to bring up the new analysis conducted by Bot Sentinel which was revealed yesterday. The report analyzed over 114,000 tweets and discovered a campaign of hateful content targeting Harry and Meghan on Twitter by a small group of only 83 accounts
“Our analysis allowed us to isolate 55 single-purpose accounts we identified as the primary hate accounts and 28 secondary hate accounts that mainly amplified the primary accounts,” the report said. With the accounts having a total of 187,631 followers, using analytic tools Bot Sentinel estimated “a combined unique potential reach of 17 million users”.
BuzzFeedNews wrote:
“Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy told BuzzFeed News that this anti-Meghan Twitter campaign is unlike anything he and his team have ever seen before.
“There’s no motive,” he said, comparing the anti-Meghan campaign to other disinformation and harassment campaigns on Twitter such as the #StopTheSteal movement to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election or the campaign to remove actor Amber Heard from the upcoming Aquaman sequel as a result of abuse allegations made against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp. “Are these people who hate her? Is it racism? Are they trying to hurt [Harry and Meghan’s] credibility? Your guess is as good as ours.”
In the report, Bot Sentinel includes examples of tweets from this group of 83 users that violate Twitter’s terms of service against targeted harassment. BuzzFeed News received an advance copy of the Bot Sentinel report and the list of users identified within it and found hundreds of additional tweets that violate Twitter’s rules.”
InsideEdition made a video I found very informative. Watch it below
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CVgO7jVFMkh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
What are your thoughts about it?? To be honest I wasn’t choked at all.
It is really beautiful to watch you guys growing ❤️❤️❤️
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