Anyway, the first time I went to New York City (I’m from the South), the thing I most wanted to see was the independent Museum of the American Gangster—and it REALLY delivered. I introduce this place because I need y’all to know that the docent at that museum taught me SO much about the culture of the mob, and I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due....
In no particular order: So, If you know a middle grade level reader who never knows what books to ask for, I hope this list is a great jumping-off point. There are so many great reads on this list, there’s bound to something for everyone. Happy reading!
Happily, that means that LGBTQ board books are now available! Board books are children’s books made with sturdy paperboard pages, able to withstand grasping hands and some chewing. They’re perfect for babies, and they allow parents to introduce children to books early, so they always feel like a natural part of their lives. They are also useful for when babies hit the tear-up-every-book phase. These LGBTQ board books range from incidentally showing LGBTQ families to teaching about Pride....
1. “Things we carry On The Sea” by wang ping Excerpt: We carry tears in our eyes: good-bye father, good-bye mother We carry soil in small bags: may home never fade in our hearts We carry names, stories, memories of our villages, fields, boats We carry scars from proxy wars of greed We carry carnage of mining, droughts, floods, genocides We carry dust of our families and neighbors incinerated in mushroom clouds We carry our islands sinking under the sea...
(I love this book so much I’m even working on a cross-stitch portrait of Jane.) If you’re as obsessed with the eyebrows as me, you’ll want to add these Jane Eyre retellings or Jane Eyre–inspired books to your TBR stat. Not all of these are totally true to the original, so expect some surprises, even if you think you know the story already. Adult Jane Eyre Retellings YA Jane Eyre Retellings Bonus: Board Book Jane Eyre!...
Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate from the Dominican. So in 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz....
A little girl grows up to be an accomplished artist in this sumptuously illustrated book about the small things that lead to a rich and fulfilling life.In All You Need, poet Howard Schwartz’s graceful, deceptively simple text describes a handful of things anyone needs to live a rich and fulfilling life, made all the more potent by the illustrations of debut picture book artist Jasu Hu, who uses her talents to create a rich and powerful narrative describing her own journey, creative and otherwise, from a childhood in China to her arrival to study art in New York....
1. Scrabble GO Type of game: Scrabble, but without the fiddly pieces Devices: Android | iOS Price: Free, with in-app purchases Why you’ll love it: It’s Scrabble that you can play against a computer, which won’t get mad and flip the board like your little cousins used to when you got a high score. You can play against friends as well, or with strangers if you’d like to not get annoyed at your friends....
1. “Bad Day at the Beauty Salon” by Maggie Estep Read the text here. 2. “Beauty” by Elinor Wylie Excerpt: Say not of beauty she is good, 3. “Beauty in Nature” by Arti Chopra Exerpt: Theres a poem in every flower, 4. “Beauty is brief and violent” by Snehal Vadher Excerpt: Beauty is brief and violent like the white thunderbolt of Nilgiri slow and sudden braided like her hair 5. “The Beauty of Black” by Margaret Burroughs Excerpt: (May 22, 1965) When we look at ourselves We see ourselves through eyes Which have been schooled To see comely only the opaque, Comely to us skin that is fair, Comely to us eyes that are light, Comely to us hair that is straight, Comely to us lips that are thin,...
The Years After You is a tale of betrayal and forgiveness, family and friendship, loss and redemption. A painful but powerful modern love story, it explores the cost of marital infidelity and the challenges of single motherhood, the legacy of suicide, and the healing power of love. People love to hate on love triangle books. People say they feel contrived. They make the plot focus too heavily on romance. It’s hard enough to find one person to fall in love with, how do characters find two?...
You can find high-profile reads like Pride and Prejudice and Treasure Island for free on Project Gutenberg, if you’ve never had a chance to pick them up. But if you’re looking for a different summer reading challenge, consider the following must-read classics you likely haven’t encountered on a syllabus. Fiction The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë Could you read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights on Project Gutenberg? Yes, you could....
Everybody has their own ideas about what counts as a feel-good read or a comfort book. Your definition of happy queer books might be different from mine. The books on this list are a mix of fluff and fun. They’re all on the lighter side. They are not devoid of conflict entirely, but they’re not rife with it. They celebrate queerness. There’s little to no queer suffering. Nobody dies. Here are twenty of my favorite happy queer books for your reading pleasure....
The Babysitter’s Coven by Kate Williams What’s better than a babysitter’s club? A babysitter’s coven. Obviously. Of course, 17-year-old Esme doesn’t know she’s a witch. But then the baby she’s sitting gets kidnapped and the new girl starts messing around with spells and it turns out the football coach is supposed to tutor her in the ancient ways of the babysitters? Life is weird, basically. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey Ivy isn’t a witch....
You may need a bottle of aspirin if you try to read all of these snake books in a day, or maybe you should recruit some adders to tally your favorites, and hell maybe even dance the mamba when you find the best one and NO I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE, FINE let’s get to the list. Children’s and Picture Snake Books The Greedy Python by Richard Buckley And Eric Carle Probably one of the most iconic snake books of all....
This reading light is ready to go anywhere you need some extra illumination. Plus, it’s rechargeable to make nighttime reading that much easier. $30. Want to make your home library a little more organized? Mark your books with a personalized bookplate stamp. $27 and up. This cozy pillow will keep you comfortable while enjoying a good book. Look closely: all of the text comes from Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast....
At Night All Blood is Black is a haunting and powerful novel that tells the widely unknown story of the Senegalese who fought for France on the Western Front during World War I. After his best friend is mortally wounded in combat, Alfa, the protagonist, is alone amidst the savagery of the trenches. The novel follows his descent into madness as he throws himself deeper into the terrors of war, to dizzying effect....
Reese Witherspoon’s June Book Club pick and one of summer’s Most Anticipated Books (Oprah Daily, Good Housekeeping, Travel + Leisure, Bustle, Essence and more)!Seven days to fall in love, fifteen years to forget and seven days to get it all back again… This is a witty, romantic, and sexy-as-hell novel of two writers and their second chance at love.“A smart, sexy testament to Black joy, to the well of strength from which women draw, and to tragic romances that mature into second chances....
The best 1984 quotes Let’s start with one of the coolest opening lines ever and bear witness to this fictional society that sometimes looks a little too familiar. “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” (From Etsy) 3. “Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy....
Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renee Watson Inspired by the real life of activist Dr. Betty Shabazz, this fictionalized account from Shabazz’s daughter Ilyasah follows Betty through four important years of her childhood. Beginning in 1945 Detroit, where Betty starts volunteering for the Housewives League and sets out on her path toward activism. Blended by Sharon Draper After her parents’ divorce, 11-year-old Isabella feels divided. She splits her time between her parents’ houses....
I bet you didn’t know that the common word we use to talk about body suits for babies—it’s a word which begins with “one”—is trademarked by Gerber and thus, even though you know that this is a post about those, they’ll be referred to hereafter as body suits for babies. I’ve stuck to bookish body suits for this post, even though there are other options for bookish baby clothes, including stand alone T-shirts and even some sweet pants....
