First Books: Out of the Ordinary

Adults often do a great disservice to children by underestimating them. They keep things simple and literal. They use small words rather than realizing that context and questioning will build a child’s vocabulary at an amazing rate. They tend to deal in the concrete, the tangible, the expected. But children are by nature curious little sponges and often revel in the very things that put adults a bit off balance.  Add something out of the ordinary to spark creative thinking!

Before & After or This is Not a Book by Jean Julien  The former is a great series of events, showing both before and after, but the results (and the middle) aren’t always what you’d think! Even the cover gets in on the act in this one. The latter is definitely for older kids, captivating my almost 2 year old and almost 4 year old alike. With pages set up like a computer, a tent, a person on a tightrope, and yes, even a butt crack, it is not a book, but it certainly will stretch little imaginations.

The Noisy Book by Soledad Bravi  On the surface this appears to be just another well illustrated series of pictures and their corresponding sounds. You know, “The donkey goes hee-haw…the cow goes moooooo”. But on closer inspection, interspersed with the expected cats and fire trucks are picks that truly make the book special: The power outlet goes “NO”. Pain goes ouch. The snail does nothing but move its elegant feelers. This was absolutely beloved in our house and many of my older child’s first words and sounds were directly from The Noisy Book. *One note* – The book includes both a mom & dad, so if that isn’t the family structure you are shopping for, it may not work.

Squares or Guess What? – Food by Yusuke Yonezu Yonezu has so many great options. Check out one of his shape books, like Squares, Circles or Triangles which help kids hunt for shapes in the real world. Or investigate the incredible Guess What? Food which starts with a picture of what appears to be a food item but with the flip of a flap turns into an adorable animal. Yonezu will both have kids thinking creatively and making creative connections that will serve them for years to come.

Press Here by Herve Tullet There are many choices in the interactive book world these days, but I like the artistic simplicity of Press Here. Each page requests the reader interact with the page by tapping, clapping, shaking or sliding. As pages turn, their actions alter the illustrations accordingly. My oldest used to love sitting there and doing this for himself as soon as he was old enough to remember most of the steps.

 

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First Books: Beyond Goodnight Moon

My second child did not particularly sleep. I do not mean this in the traditional wakes every 2-3 hours as a newborn sense, although he did that too. I mean I had a 6 month old who you could sometimes rock and sing and coddle into falling asleep for a maximum of 2-3 hours, but more likely 45 minutes or even just 5 minutes.  Eventually I called in professional help. Don’t judge. It’s some of the best money I have ever spent.

Everyone knows (they do right?) that reading a book is a perfect component of a bedtime routine. We always did a story, a song and then into the crib. It worked beautifully with my first, but with my second, all bets were off. And so, in our grand quest to fix his sleep, we were faced with standardizing his sleep rituals to the nth degree, at least until he figured it out. This means we read the same bedtime story every night, every nap, for weeks. And let me tell you, you’d better love that book.

Someone will give a copy of Goodnight Moon. (It may even be you, but we’ll get to that in a later post). There are so many wonderful other options out there for lulling your little one to sleep.

A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na features a wide variety of animals and all of the ways they sleep, highlighted by absolutely dreamy illustrations. In the final pages, the watchful owl who has watched over the others all night finally drifts off.

Animals of the Native Northwest: I own Goodnight World and I ordered I’m Dreaming for my cousin. Absolutely everyone who sees Goodnight World cannot believe how stunning the illustrations are. The back fully credits the Native American and First Nations artists and includes their tribal affiliations.

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton No one needs your help to discover Sandra Boynton. I own more of her books than I ever imagined (or wanted). They are ubiquitous. But the book I ended up reading ceaselessly? Every nap, every bedtime to my non-sleeping child? It was this one. It’s far and away my favorite Boynton, even if the animals do inexplicably take a bath before they go to exercise.

In checking out sleepytime board books, I actually stumbled into a treasure trove of beautiful bedtime picture books which I am definitely telling you about at some future date because they are wonderful and soothing and I love them (just maybe not for the pipsqueakiest of pipsqueaks).

Final choice: I’m Dreaming of Animals of the Native Northwest

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First Books: Babies for Babies

It is no great secret that babies are fascinated by each other. In person they are drawn to other small people, babbling and giggling away. Books are no different. Most babies go through a phase where they want nothing more than to stare into the faces of other babies. And I say, let them have what they want.

My absolute favorite in this category are the adorable Global Babies books. Stick with Global Babies and Global Baby Bedtimes rather than their Boys/Girls offerings. There’s no reason for gender specific ones especially when they are reinforcing binary gender.

My Face Book introduces some mood vocabulary: silly, serious, laughing, frowning. But the best thing about My Face Book is that it is available in a range of languages – including the English text but also providing a second language.  I can’t vouch for how well translated they are, but it’s nice to even have a Burmese or Somali option.

There’s not a lot you can do to improve on the natural cuteness of babies, but I have to say, combining them with doggies is a pretty fantastic move. The Babies and Doggies Book features (unsurprisingly) babies and doggies doing the same things. My dog obsessed little one woof-woofed his way through this many a time and it still brings him joy.

Final PickGlobal Baby Bedtimes – Global babies books are a must own for any household as far as I’m concerned and I couldn’t resist the sweet sleeping babies.

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First Books: Go Big or Go Home

The only thing better than a board book is a BIG board book. Roughly the size of a trade picture book, these books offer all the durability of a board book in a much larger (and therefore illustration enhancing package). Obviously not every title is available in this very specialized format, so if you have a treasured classic that you just HAVE to get for the new arrival, this might be the time to seek it out. So you’re giving Goodnight Moon. FINE. At least it will be the biggest, most long lasting Goodnight Moon out there, gosh darn it. Try searching for either “lap board book” or “oversized board book” for a peek at your options.

My pick was Goodnight Gorilla about a zookeeper who is followed home by his menagerie, a fact his wife discovers upon wishing her husband goodnight and getting a half dozen responses. An adorable story to begin with, in its larger form, it’s magnificent. Whether you follow the progress of the balloon, or watch the window of the neighbor’s house, even after your one millionth read, you won’t be disappointed.

Another fun choice is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? No special small details to catch in Carle’s illustration, but this extra-large version features a sliding door where you can peek at the next animal. My littles loved sliding those doors open and closed and we haven’t had one break yet *proceeds to knock on things*.  Brown Bear is such a perennial favorite with kids that  among all the first graders I taught it was the most common book that they could “read” (as in, had memorized and could recite properly while turning pages).

But mainly, this is a great opportunity to pick something you just love! Have fun with it!

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First Books: Tactile Delights

Long after they stop mouthing books, kids will want to touch them, grab them, feel them, sniff them. Let them! Indulge them! Get them books that give them these exploratory opportunities. I chose more than one book from this category, I love them so.

Matthew Van Fleet
Van Fleet is a master of texture. Shiny, bumpy, fluffy, he’s got it all. Add in flaps, pull tabs and a cast of super cute animals and you have an irresistible addition to any collection. Word to the wise: Include a pack of glue dots. Nothing works better for reattaching the heads of decapitated nightingales. Also, because the Van Fleet books are delicate, libraries usually don’t have them. They won’t survive that wear and tear. Best to have a copy just for your own littles.

I love Alphabet and Tails for the full Van Fleet experience:

Munch, Lick and Sniff are a cute trio particularly when purchased together but are no frills compared to the prior two. That said, they are more likely to survive intact as well, although the mouse whiskers on Sniff are a bit delicate.

Dog, Cat and Moo use photos instead of illustrations. The Dog version has dogs pooping and peeing at the end, in case that’s the kind of thing you’d like to know before buying. It shows illustrated pee and I think just a crouch for the pooping process.

I am NOT a fan of Dance, so I will anti-recommend that – it’s a long story, so littles will often get antsy.

Xavier Deneux
I already mentioned Deneux in my post on black & white picks and to be honest, I ended up with two Deneux books in my final basket. His Touch Think Learn series has quite a few excellent options. I have not read them all, but I love the animals ones. Take a minute to click through to Amazon, just to see. It is particularly great how Deneux offers some vocabulary that goes with each picture. For parents unused to discussing books with their kids it’s a great tool that will help them extend other books later. I will ask that you avoid Deneux’s Homes though. The depiction of an igloo and a person inside “shivering” is not something I can endorse.

Alphaprints
Alphaprints is something I never would have picked up on my own. It’s a little too bright and I didn’t particularly see the appeal of fingerprint creatures. But I had a Barnes & Noble gift card burning a hole in my pocket and two seriously stir crazy littles to get out of the house and well, we ended up coming home with Colors which soon became a favorite of the littler. He loved, loved, loved, running his fingers over the bumps and ridges. The pictures also all include everyday objects and as they grow older kids love looking for the basketballs which double as the crocodile’s eyes or the leaves that are the zebra’s ears.

DK Children’s Peekaboo Series
Are there any books more ubiquitous than the DK Peekaboo books? They come in Pop-Up (not recommended for the littlest readers who will have those in pieces before you’ve read it through once), Noisy (oh how my children loved these and loved them until there were more tabs off than on and the batteries died) and just plain old Peekaboo.

DK does a great job of showing children of lots of different races in their books. I believe I’ve also seen a child who appeared to have Down Syndrome. I can’t remember if I’ve seen a child with glasses though. I’ll look. Basically what I’m saying is that they are at least making a solid effort in regards to representation which means a lot to kids who are reading them.

And while the flaps on the Noisy Peekaboo series are smaller and tend to tear off, I’ve found the regular Peekaboo books to be quite sturdy. Their flaps are nearly full page size and hold up to a lot more wear and tear than most flap books I’ve seen. The regular Peekaboo set also include a variety of textures for kids to explore once they’ve opened the flaps.
Peekaboo

Noisy Peekaboo

That’s Not My…
In this series by Fiona Watt, published by Usborne, a mouse investigates various things declaring each to be the wrong one until he finally finds his. The illustrations are adorable, the text is short and sweet, even really young ones can often sit through the whole thing and the textures are great. The series has plenty of adorable animals from the banal (kitten) to the exotic (hedgehog) but also has trucks, trains, pirates, princesses for a full range. They use lots of great descriptive adjectives as well!

Final Picks
I ended up with Tails by Matthew Van Fleet, Baby Animals by Xavier Deneux and Bedtime Peekaboo by DK Children. I would have gotten  That’s Not My Elephant but my indie couldn’t get it in and I ended up skipping it.

What are your favorite touchy-feel-explore books for babies?

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First Books: Black & White

I thought I knew a lot about children by the time I had one. I mean, after all, I had a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education and I had actually taken Child Development and paid attention and I’d been teaching elementary school for over a decade and I was OLD too.

But I did not know one single thing about how baby vision develops and I most certainly didn’t know that babies don’t even have for certain good color vision until they are nearly 5 months old.

So there you are, waving about this brightly colored board book while the little person on your lap is just wildly unimpressed. Absolutely less than zero interest in the color palette. Does not marvel at the deep green and vibrant red that Clement Hurd has used to decorate the Goodnight Moon room (although alternating pages of that are actually grey and white).

Luckily there are some fantastic black and white books out there so you can offer a reading choice that will appeal from the very first and grow with littles one as they mature.

Black and White Sparklers by Smriti Prasadam and Emily Bolam

 

This pair of books feature black and white pictures enlivened by metallic sparkles. Each page reads “Hello, [insert name of animal]” and then two additional words, either sounds or actions of the animal. So the snail will slide and slide while the spider creeps and crawls. The very short text is great for when your little readers can’t or won’t sit for anything much longer. You can still squeeze one of these in, and quickly, if you are trying to make reading before nap or bed part of your routine.

Animals books by Xavier Deneux

My Animals features a single animal per page with one brightly colored accent. But the real treat is in the cleverly placed finger sized holes. These holes allow a glimpse of the page to come while working perfectly with the current page’s illustration. But really, the holes are ideal for exploring little fingers which will poke and eventually learn to turn those pages.

My Soft-and-Cuddly Animals again features a single animal per page, but this time, uses soft and fuzzy material to engage little readers. They can stroke a soft mole or pet a velvety bear as they enjoy Deneux’s illustrations.

Pick a Black and White Beauty! Trust me. Often the people who know and share that fact about babies not seeing color right away? They are the same kind of people who often pick the “educational” looking black and white books with the slightly creepy baby illustrations. Don’t you want the little one in your life to have one that is sweet and cute and fun to explore? Of course you do. This choice is practically a public service. You are saving children from bad books I tell you!

Share your favorite black and whites!!  
If you have favorites, I’d love to hear about them, either here or on Twitter!

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First Books: Chewable Editions

As I new parent, I dreamt of reading to my little one. Holding my small baby on my lap, gazing at lovely illustrations together, while my child was hypnotized by the combination of my comforting voice and the restful sweet text of a book.

So very different from what actually happened which was a tug of war between me and a small, startlingly strong pipsqueak hellbent on inserting the book IN ITS MOUTH. I soon learned, as all new parents do, that books are meant for gumming and if a book can do double duty as reading entertainment and mouth entertainment, we’d all be happy.

When selecting first books for a brand new baby, picture books are a tempting lure and certainly have their place, but definitely don’t select them to the exclusion of more durable choices that can be shared and enjoyed from the start.

Here are some of our favorites:

Roger Priddy Books

Roger Priddy’s cloth books feature brightly colored illustrations, usually a single animal per page and both cheerful and durable. The rhyming text won’t drive you nuts and interest in the book will persist well past the chewing and drooling phase.

Friends to Tuck in Tight

Goodnight Teddy by Francesci Ferri &  Sleepy Bunny (of Pat the Bunny fame)

Both of these books feature a little friend that can be held, stroked, cuddled, dribbled on and at some point, lovingly moved from page to page as it gets ready for bedtime. The teddy includes a pair of pajamas (practically destined to get lost although we’ve somehow retained ours even four years later) that he can wear on his journey.

Tell a Tail – Jellycat’s Tails books

These seem to be sold under a variety of names (Jellycat is a stuffed animal maker and also puts out the “If I Were a ….” series). I’m not sure if they’re all the same, but Jellycat made the one we had. Exciting tail textures delight as the animals race across the pages.

Sadly out of print, snag it if you see it: Baby Love by Sandra Magsamen

Featuring absolutely awful pun based love jokes, this was the house favorite forEVER. Baby Love features soft flaps for little fingers to yank, pull and turn, but thankfully never rip off and a fun fold-out format. And with jokes like “What does the mama elephant say to the baby elephant?” “I love you a TON.” who can resist?

Whatever you choose, just know that someday, as a parent carefully pries their baby’s damp fingers off a precious signed copy of a classic picture book*, they will be forever grateful for your forethought in selecting something durable, fun and usable from the very first.

*I am NOT knocking including fabulous heirloom books in a collection. I’m just saying that when all you’ve got is a stack of fancies and a child who is damp and smells slightly off, you will wish heartily that you had an option that allows for reading AND mess simultaneously.

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April Project: The Ultimate Baby Shower Book Basket!

Someone you know is having a baby, so of course, you are buying books. You ARE buying books right? I mean someone else has certainly got the bottles or the bath tub managed? But if you’re buying the books, you have GOT to be on top of it. You simply cannot walk in with a copy of The Giving Tree (they might forgive you, but I certainly won’t) or sit there feeling great about your choices whilst the parent-to-be unwraps the fourth copy of Goodnight Moon they’ve received. No, no. If you are doing the books, you are going to do it right.

Quite honestly, picking out books for a new baby is just about the most fun I’ve had lately. I’m not entirely sure what that says about my social life, but I can’t worry about that when I’m in the midst of putting together THE perfect baby shower gift.

I’ve enlisted the help of my local independent bookstore (of course I have) and I’ve checked books out of the library. I’ve stared thoughtfully at my own children’s overcrowded bookshelves and racked my brains for their very first favorites and I’ve made my list. And I’m going to share it all with you. My strategy, my favs and what I ultimately picked for the soon-to-be baby in my world.

First things first, let’s talk shopping:

Go Indie
If you have an indie bookstore local to you, see if they can order books for you. In most cases, if you give them a wish list and a little bit of time, they can absolutely collect all the titles you need. Most indies also will handle gift wrapping and some will even put your carefully curated collection together in a fantastic gift display for you! When I pick up my loot from The Voracious Reader, I’ll be sure to give you a glimpse.

Shop Not Amazon
It is incredibly hard to resist the siren lure of prime 2 day shipping and an extensive selection, but supporting non-Amazon bookstores is critical to maintaining a healthy publishing industry. Don’t panic if you haven’t got a local indie. Barnes & Noble (despite their crappy layoff choices) is downright virtuous compared to Amazon. Also check out The Book Depository which will have many of the titles you need and has free shipping!

Build a Basket
Even if you’re shopping indie, there is no harm in starting by filling up your cart at a big online concern. If you copy and paste your basket contents into an email, it usually includes links where your indie can check isbns and make sure they are ordering the exact version of the book that you want. I also greatly appreciate that the math is done for me. While buying indie sometimes costs a BIT more, I have a rough idea of what I’m spending without whipping out a calculator.

I can’t wait to share my basket with you!

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The Unfortunate Case of Lemony Snicket

To many Daniel Handler is a children’s book hero, the lauded author behind the wildly popular Unfortunate Events books. His alma mater (and mine), Wesleyan University, has asked him to be the speaker at commencement this year. But Handler’s history is hardly sterling. With past transgressions including racist remarks and sexually inappropriate remarks, his presence at commencement will tarnish the schools reputation and send a message that Wesleyan lacks respect for its students and alumni and especially their graduating class.

I wrote the school asking them to rescind Mr. Handler’s invitation and sever any other professional ties with him.  My letter is below. If you are similarly concerned by Mr. Handler’s behavior, I urge you, lover of children’s books, teacher, parent, student, maybe even fellow Wes alum, to also reach out to Wesleyan University and let them know you feel they are making a grievous mistake.

You can email the school atpresoffice@wesleyan.edu.

Dear President Roth,

I am a Wesleyan alum, class of ’99. I am writing you to request that the university rescind its invitation to Daniel Handler to speak at commencement and furthermore replace him as judge for the Hamilton Prize for Creativity.

Mr. Handler, on more than one occasion, has shown a lack of judgment, compassion and understanding. Both his public remarks and less public inappropriate “jokes” have demonstrated that he is an unsuitable choice for any situation allowing him to represent Wesleyan. While certainly the university has no control over the choices made by its graduates, it does indeed control whether or not they choose to continue the association beyond what is afforded all alumni.

My first awareness of Mr. Handler’s behavior came at the National Book Awards in 2014. The winner of the award was Jacqueline Woodson for her wonderful book Brown Girl Dreaming. After she spoke, Mr. Handler came to the stage for a few remarks. Here is the clip, he comes on around the one minute mark: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4515640/daniel-handler-watermelon. As you can see, his commentary was racist in tone. Please read Ms. Woodson’s own piece on the effect his words had on her: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/opinion/the-pain-of-the-watermelon-joke.html. During my years at Wesleyan the school made it very clear that racism was not to be tolerated. One year a senior male had used a racist slur during a fight. He was subsequently expelled. While there may have been other factors in his expulsion, the message was crystal: Wesleyan University will not stand for students to be disparaged due to race. Has the school changed its entire philosophy in the past 20 years? Does Wesleyan now not only permit but endorse and reward racist behavior? Handler issued an apology, but an apology does not restore Ms. Woodson’s experience on that evening. If perhaps the legacy of the school as a bastion of social justice and equality does not stir you, the realization that many potential applicants will now rule out Wesleyan due to your endorsement of Mr. Handler should. These are students who will have grown up with Ms. Woodson’s work, reading it in school, honoring her. Students will know that Wesleyan chose to celebrate a white man who would use his power (intentionally or not) at the expense of a black women.

Recently, in light of #metoo, Handler’s name has again been raised. Many details can be found in this article: https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-will-publishing-deal-with-lemony-snicket-amid-metoo. I urge you to follow the links so as to read the exact comments detailing Mr. Handler’s behavior. Having attended Wesleyan, I have always looked to the university to be leading the way on justice issues. I have expected them to be the first to stand with women, with minorities, with any marginalized group. It would pain me greatly be wrong on that score. Choosing Handler as speaker is not just a failure to lead the way, it is a failure to join a powerful national movement demanding accountability. Based on Handler’s actions, he should not be given the opportunity to address our students. But even more disturbing to me perhaps is the juxtaposition of Handler as speaker while the school chooses to honor Anita Hill. I am old enough that I recollect the Clarence Thomas hearings where Ms. Hill became a pioneer in the movement to have sexual harassment recognized for the unacceptable behavior that it is. Any honor to Ms. Hill must be diminished by Mr. Handler’s presence. How can you thank her for what she has done while simultaneously shielding the exact type of man she risked so much to stand against?

The combination of racist comments and sexually inappropriate remarks should surely be enough to push Wesleyan to sever professional ties with Mr. Handler, but let me take a moment to call attention to the fact that in both cases, some of Mr. Handler’s transgressions took place on a very public stage: the racist remarks at the National Book Awards and at least one mention of inappropriate comments occurring at an elementary school assembly. Is Mr. Handler truly someone you can trust with the commencement speech? There will be significant fallout for the school if they go forward with allowing Mr. Handler to speak. They will have fundamentally broken the trust placed in them by students, alumni and parents. But I cannot begin to contemplate just how much that will intensify if the commencement stage becomes the setting for Handler’s next misstep. It would be naïve to think that people are not watching to see whether Handler’s apologies are the first steps in rehabilitating his reputation or simply lip service to being caught. Think of how Ms. Woodson’s moment was taken from her. Are you prepared for that to happen to all of the amazing, talented, 2018 graduates?

I came to Wesleyan from a small town, a sheltered background. Wesleyan taught me to question, to fight, to speak out against wrongs, to protest. Wesleyan should be ready. You cannot train generations of fighters and expect them to let injustice pass when it happens within your own ivied walls and storied halls.

So I ask you, President Roth, to rescind Mr. Handler’s invitation to speak, to remove him from his position as judge on the Hamilton Prize.

To borrow some words from another famous alum:
History has its eyes on you.

I look forward to hearing from you,

(My Name)

Class of ‘99

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Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party

The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party
by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
Illustrations by LeUyen Pham

Everyone loves Shannon Hale’s Princess in Black series and for my four year old, this is really in the sweet spot for him of being appropriate subject matter, fun and yet more substantive than many picture books. But he isn’t the one who needs a daily dose of this one.

Nope. My 19 month old is the one who brings this over shrieking GOAT GOAT. Now, with full apologies to Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, whose work I love, he would never in a million years stand for a word for word reading of this. Instead, I offer a criminally abridged version featuring lots of page flipping so my little one can focus on what he truly loves: LeUyen Pham’s gorgeous illustrations. As evidenced earlier, he’s a huge fan of the goats so he loves shaking his finger and saying “no, no, no, NO GOAT” to the monsters as they try to snack on goat sandwich, or goat hot dog or goat ice cream cone. He adores pointing to each and every one of the princesses’ beloved beasts: dragons, tigers, pigs, giraffes and making sounds for all the ones he can. He even loves flipping through the pages and just watching the beautiful colors swish by. Of course, he’s not the target audience, but it’s great to see him enjoying it anyway!

Age Recommendation: I already knew that this would be a hit with primary grades students who gobble up these transitional chapter books. With illustrations like this I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that my little one can’t help wanting to see more, but I was. Let this do double duty when you check it out. Your 4-9 year old can read it (or listen to a full read aloud) cheerfully and your little one can admire the art!

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – The rather adorable monsters are trounced soundly and returned to monster land in ingenious and bloodless battles.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

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