1. If you’re looking for a fantastic middle grade fantasy series, look no further than Angie Sage’s TodHunter Moon series. It’s three books—PathFinder, SandRider, and StarChaser—and so full of personality and humor, and I cannot say enough about it. Angie Sage is also the author of the seven-book Septimus Heap series, which you might want to read first. I read it years ago and (shhh…this is a secret) thought it was even better than Harry Potter. Sage’s worldbuildling is fantastic, and her characters are intelligent, hilarious, quirky, and thoroughly entertaining.
2. I really enjoyed this piece in The Atlantic. It’s a long read, but if you’ve felt the divide that is our world today, it’s well worth a look. Jonathan Haidt, the author of the piece, shares a look at the ways social media has perpetuated the divide. It’s very interesting to consider.
3. My husband and I sped through episodes of Apple TV’s The After Party. It was so well done! It follows characters who have just gone to their high school reunion and met up at an afterparty—where someone is murdered. I don’t typically watch murder mysteries, but this one was hilariously quirky. What was so brilliant about it was that each character told their own story in their own way. As an author, this was delightful to me. We’re always told that everyone in our stories, whether side characters or main characters, are the “heroes of their own stories.” And Apple TV did a fantastic job of showing that on the screen. This might be the only show I ever watch a second (or third) time, just to pick up on the things I missed the first time.
4. Speaking of Apple TV, they recently released a new series called Roar, pitched as “darkly comedic feminist fables.” That sounded perfect for me (plus there are some superstar actresses in it). I started watching it this weekend, and it’s both disturbing and hilarious at times. The episodes make you laugh, cry, cringe, wonder, shout, and do all the things good shows make you do. Do yourself a favor and binge in honor of Mother’s Day!
5. I recently finished Darcie Little Badger’s book A Snake Falls to Earth. If you haven’t yet read this one, it should be on your to-be-read list. The book earned a Newbery Award Honor and was long listed for the National Book Award this year, and it’s full of rich folklore and feels like a old story told in a fresh way. Really well done. Darcie Little Badger is also the author of Elatsoe, which was also a great read!
