It’s been so much fun getting back into blogging! Earlier this week I posted my NEH Institute experience from last summer and next week I have a post ready to go about how I adapted that experience in my classroom.

This week has been a rough return to classes – Spring term began on Tuesday – the short weeks are always the hardest!

Web articles:

The Librarians are not okay  – Librarianship has always been about fighting censorship but right now it feels like a never-ending battle. Seeing colleagues in the trenches of these fights is disheartening.

Last Of The Long Hot Days: (trigger warnings for suicide + parental death) This piece muses on the connections between mothers and daughters, the decision to have or not have children. The writing is beautiful and it acknowledges the many facets that go into a woman’s choice to have children. In a time when the right to choose is under attack in so many ways, this piece complicates the narrative around having children yet again. 

Books :

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson : The second book in the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Series. This series is perfect for everyone who has realized just how problematic JKR and everything she created is. It’s a queer feminist take on magic that centers BIPOC and trans stories. This second book in the series complicates the story of good and evil in ways that feel authentic and believable. (Book provided by publisher for review. Release date June 13, 2023)

Readalikes: Cemetery Boys (Aiden Thomas), Witches, Sluts, Feminists (Kristen Solee)

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai – I’ve always loved a boarding school novel, though to be honest I thought the allure had entirely faded somewhere around year 5 of working at one. This book shattered every expectation that I had of what a boarding school novel should be – gone were the strange glorifications of secret societies, gone were the reliance on ivy and Harkness tables to signify academic rigor. Makkai has created an engaging mystery that is one part A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson + Serial, one part The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, one part The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I have heard some say it is already their favorite book of the year – while I won’t go that far, I will say it is a truly enjoyable mystery that will have me thinking for awhile. (Book provided by publisher for review)

Readalikes: The Bellwether Revivals (Benjamin Wood), Luckiest Girl Alive (Jessica Knoll), The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (Anton DiSclafani)