Here are six things worth sharing this month:
1. Reading: “I think standing up for yourself always makes a difference.” I just finished reading Ali Standish’s latest middle grade book, The Mending Summer. It was lovely and hard and sweet and infused with magic and love. It’s about a girl dealing with alcohol addiction in her family, and I found it an authentic picture of what it’s like living with addiction under your roof. Standish is the author of multiple books; two of my other favorites include The Ethan I Was Before and August Isle. I highly recommend them all!
2. Reading: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” You Could Make This Place Beautiful, by poet Maggie Smith, is a memoir of divorce. And oh my goodness is it beautiful. I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did, since I’ve never been through a divorce. But as a child of divorce, I felt like it was something my mom could have written. It was just…lovely. You must do yourself a favor and read it. Smith is the author of numerous poetry books, including Goldenrod and Good Bones, which are both on my reading list now.
3. Watching: If you have not yet seen the Barbie movie, you must! My husband and I saw it in the theater together, and then we took our three older boys to a second showing. I loved it even more the second time, and my sons loved it, too. When we walked out of the theater that day, a young girl was crying and told her mother, “I loved that movie so much!” It was such a sweet moment, and my 14-year-old couldn’t stop talking about how much it meant for that girl and so many others. Anyway. End of gushing. Just go see it. (You can also watch my YouTube review of it—but beware, it has slight spoilers!)
4. Reading: One of my favorite summer middle grade reads was Lasagna Means I Love You, by Kate O’Shaughnessy. It’s about Mo, who’s just lost her grandmother and who is now in the foster system. Mo writes to her grandmother in letter format…and it will not take you long at all to absolutely love this girl, who is desperately longing for a family to call her own. O’Shaughnessy is also the author of The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane, which I have not yet read but will soon!
5. Reading: I just subscribed to Ms. Magazine. I’m not sure why I never thought to subscribe before! The magazine is celebrating 50 years, and it’s a treasure trove of statistics on equality/inequality, political needs, and women’s issues. I look forward to seeing it in my mailbox every quarter! The Ms. web site is also a wealth of information…I’ve found myself getting caught in black holes of research there!
6. Reading: “Here’s a theory: Maybe I had not really been broken this whole time. Maybe I had been a human—flawed and still growing but full of light nonetheless.” Another phenomenal memoir I read this month is Stephanie Foo’s What My Bones Know. It’s a memoir of trauma. It was eye opening and challenging and ultimately hopeful. I read the audiobook, but I had to get the hard copy so I could read it again and make notes and study it, because it’s full of helpful research. I felt such a connection to this memoir, because for the first time it put words to some of the trauma I’ve experienced in my life—and the long, difficult road to healing.
