I really loved this story about a middle school girl coming to terms with her ADHD diagnosis. The author does an incredible job of putting you in Clea's head. It's stressful but so effective. Occasionally felt a bit PSA-adjacent, but not in a way that disrupted the story--and families going through this situation might appreciate the extra info.

CW infidelity
Museum curator Nessa is working on a new exhibition about sculptor Robert Locke while also trying to pick up the pieces of her marriage. Lots of old secrets come to light. Family drama + meditations on gender & fame in the art world. I liked but didn't love this one. A very worthwhile read, though!

Funny, informative, and mixed-media history lesson about the Plymouth Colony/the Pilgrims/the first Thanksgiving. Great commentary for kids about using primary sources and examining biases.

A really fun Willems readaloud with a twist ending! The silent movie format is brilliant!

A super silly retelling - and the perfect readaloud to induce giggles.

Retelling with the wolf as environmental protector and the pigs as greedy capitalists. I like the concept, but it didn't quite hit the mark. Not sure if the goal was to be "silly" like the cover suggests, or to actually make a statement. It doesn't do either that well :/

I just don't know if the hippie caricature adds anything? And there aren't any concrete lessons about environmental conservation so it's just kinda meh

DNF p. 70

I loved this book. It's funny and warm, sweet without feeling sticky. Emma Straub is brilliant at writing drama where every character gets to keep their humanity, parents are people, and life goes on (though it sometimes circles back around).

Dune is a paragon of classic sci-fi for a reason. It's the brilliant story of the Messiah-who-didn't-want-to-be, the teenage boy for whom centuries of intergalactic myth-making and imperial efforts and courtly politics and eugenics, even, have paved the way for a power-quest dripping with religious fervor and immense violence. And even as young Paul Atreides resists his terrible purpose, he knows he cannot undo the machinations that were already at play long before his birth.

There's a distinctly fairytale quality to Emma Hine's poetry--maybe it's the content (selkies, secret names, imagined worlds), maybe it's the cadence (lilting, rhythmic, delicate). Hine gently binds fantasy to her words, invites strange guests and eerie images into her domestic portraits, collides idyllic nature against its own dark variations. These are gorgeous poems, and they ache to be revisited again and again.