The Columbus Book Festival drew a public of 40,225 people this year! And the Bigger Than Me: My Story, My Culture community-engaged collaboration between The Ohio State University and Bexley Public Library had eight kid authors representing the Bigger Than Me program there with almost 400 visitors to our tent alone. 

People who stopped by the Bigger Than Me stall at the festival included book lovers, children's book authors, local libraries interested in collaborating with our intergenerational heritage workshops program or adopting the series, local presses, organizations like Nationwide Children's Hospital and businesses like The Novel Sip eager to carry our children's heritage book series in their libraries and bookshelves, Ohio State University faculty, staff and students, and many more. 

Inclusion in the Columbus Book Festival Instagram slide deck helped boost our program visibility 

The Bigger Than Me: My Story, My Culture program uses alternative pedagogies to equip participants with interdisciplinary research methods that empower children ages 7+ and their families to tell their personal stories within broader family and cultural histories. 

Over the last two years (2024-2026), with wide-ranging co-sponsorships from Bexley Public Library, Bexley Women’s Club, Ohio State’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Arts and Sciences Office of Engagement, Office Academic Affairs, Humanities Institute, Center for Languages Literatures and Cultures, OSU Libraries, Center for Ethnic Studies, and Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Themes “Archival Imaginations,” the Bigger Than Me series has produced 16 books researched and written by children and their families:

The Dynamic Duo and the Journey Through the Past by Helene Claire Afia Osei
Это Family שֶׁלִי Etah Family Sheli This is My Family by Sam Gorelik
The Hidden Time Door: Abe and the Desert of the Past الباب الخفي عبر الزمن ; آبي وصحراء الماض by Abe Alhashimi
Chasing the Ball, Finding Ghana by Jude Osei
Becoming Jayden: It's Bigger Than Me by Jayden A. M. Jones
All the Sparkles That Made Me by Jurnee Miller
The Stories that Live in Me by Mira Wells
Because of You by Lila Wells
Leaves of Legacy by Edward Fahey
sky سماء by Jacob Alhashimi
A Portrait of Me by Maya Letostak
My Shabbat Table by Kayla Gorelik
Mighty Mattox Saves the Day by Mattox Burrell
Generations of Samuel/Les générations de Samuel by Samuel Arner
The Hidden Time Door : Abe and the City of the Future بوابة الزمن الخفية: آبي ومدينة المستقبل by Abe Alhashimi
Getting Ready for Losar by Yangsi Thurston

We look forward to producing many more titles in 2026-2028 under a Global Arts + Humanities/Cross-Disciplinary Research Exchange and Office of Engagement in the College of Arts and Sciences Community-Engagement grant which supports continuation of the program and expansion to new sites and new programming initiatives. 

In the meantime, keep an eye out for our Bigger Than Me children authors at the Ohio State Fair Kids Marketplace on August 3, 2026!

Learn more about the Bigger Than Me: My Story, My Culture intergenerational heritage workshops and children's books publications at the Bexley Library.