1. Reading: I just finished Erin Entrada Kelly’s newest middle grade book, Those Kids from Fawn Creek. What I liked most about this one is that it humanizes the people who make mistakes, who maybe have a moment (or more than a moment) of meanness. That’s an important lesson for kids to learn and for all of us to remember. We’re all just doing the best we can, right? (Erin Entrada Kelly won the 2018 Newbery medal with Hello, Universe, and her middle grade book We Dream of Space was a Newbery Honor book in 2021. Both are worth checking out.)
2. Reading: I’m currently on a research frenzy, reading everything I can about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, which was the deadliest natural disaster and the worst hurricane in U.S. history. (Why am I researching? For a story, of course!) The best book I’ve read about it is Erik Larson’s Isaac’s Storm: a Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History. Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. He’s written many historical books. I haven’t read them all but can highly recommend In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin; Dead Wake: the Last Crossing of the Lusitania; and Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. Larson also released his first novel, No One Goes Alone, last year. It’s been on my TBR list for a while now, called “a ghost story grounded in history.” Who wouldn’t want to read that?
3. Reading: As a mom trying to still be productive and creative while my kids are home for the summer, I found this piece particularly relevant. And cool. And not just for moms. Or writers. How many of us find our “second acts” later in life? Doing what we love and loving what we do? It’s never too late to become who we want to be and do what we dream of doing.
4. Reading: Ellen Hopkins, one of my favorite novel-in-verse authors, has a new middle grade novel in verse out: What About Will. Hopkins is best-known for her young adult fiction (The You I’ve Never Known is so far my favorite) but started publishing in the middle grade space a few years ago. I liked this one so much I put it on several of my kids’ summer reading lists. Another of Hopkins’s middle grade gems: Closer to Nowhere. I highly recommend both!
5. Watching: On the TV side, my husband and I are currently making our way through Community. This is an older show, and I know we’re late to the party, but we’re really enjoying using it as a “palate cleanser” after some heavier shows (including Netflix’s Stranger Things, which recently released its fourth (and, I believe, final) season. I need some laughter after the terror!). You can watch Community on Netflix.
