Who we are
We are Luminita, Andrew and Senan, an Irish-Romanian family living in Cork. Like any single child families, our lives are centred around the one and only child, his needs likes and dislikes. Luckily one of his big likes is books. As my big like is languages, the two came together in a very natural way and so our multicultural children’s book shop came to be. There is no greater feeling in the world than finding a thing you like to do and sharing it with your family.
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Our Values
We are family
Luminita Books is foremost a project of love born from a mother's desire to pass on her language and heritage to her son. We are therefore a family business that wishes to make a difference in their community.
Heritage
As a semi expat family, we understand the challenges of passing on our heritage to our children. One of our main goals is to help children and families reconnect with the language and culture of their native lands through the beauty of reading.
We pursue diversity
Different views, cultures and experiences are core at Luminita Books.
Our Journey
I never gave too much thought to children's books before my son was born. I decided that I wanted him to have some books in Romanian, so I asked my mother in Romania to please buy a few children's books and send them to me in Ireland. Up until then, we had been reading to him in English ever since I was pregnant.
My mother sent me a few board books with good illustrations. However, soon I realised the stories and the values reflected in these books didn’t resonate with my family values.
Immediately I started my long, detailed and passionate journey looking through recommendations, Facebook groups, organisations, reviews, authors…etc. – and finally I got to order some of the books on my list!
When the books arrived, they were everything that the community described; beautiful illustrations, the smell of quality print, and the stories… oh, the stories awoke the child in me, the sense of wonder and joy in the simplicity of the text and the messages they were transmitting. It was like a reminder of what are life's essential and fundamental values.
This is how I found my passion for children's books and started Luminita Books!