“Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves it’s own mark. To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.” Mothers exist all over children’s literature as well as quotes about them. Enjoy this one particular quote above from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Happy Mother’s Day!
George Lucas created this magical franchise with the first film back in 1977 and it operates now as a huge enterprise! While most people think of the movies when they think about Star Wars, many novels have been written about all the creative characters and stories. Enjoy a few minutes and read one of the many Star Wars books or comics out there! Happy reading! May the 4th be with you!
Happy Read Across America Day! Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA), Read Across America is the nation’s largest celebration of reading. Share with your littles and enjoy Author Kelly Starling Lyons read her book, Tiara’s Hat Parade, aloud by clicking here for the video. Happy reading today!
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Twenty years ago, I had my very first date with my man. ❤️ For this date, he took me out for coffee at Borders in Chicago near our apartments at the time. It seems fitting now that our relationship started surrounded by tons of others stories. Stories filled with adventures, plot twists, characters, and love. Stories of inspiration, history, and magic. I have loved each moment of our story over these years and I can’t wait for our future chapters. Cheers to starting our special story 20 years ago! ❤️
“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.” ~ Winnie the Pooh Winnie the Pooh Day was created to celebrate the creator’s birthday, A.A. Milne. Milne was born on this day in 1882 in London, England. Milne brought this adorable, honey-loving, bear to life in his writings in a collection of books first published in 1926. Milne’s lovable Pooh Bear is a fictional bear inspired by a black bear named Winnie who lived at the London Zoo during World War I. The author’s son, Christopher Robin, would visit the bear often at the zoo and named his own teddy bear after her. Milne created other characters in these books, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo, after his son’s other stuffed animals. I so remember enjoying Winne the Pooh as a young girl and love seeing my own children enjoy these lovable characters. Winnie the Pooh continues today to inspire and entertain many fans throughout the world. To celebrate this fun day, go and enjoy a Winne the Pooh book, enjoy some honey, snuggle one of your stuffed animals, host a picnic, draw your house in the woods, or even bounce around the room a bit. “It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
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When the box arrived from the shop, Books and Books @ The Studios of Key West, I couldn’t wait to open it! Yes, it had books in it. But, not just any books. I opened the box carefully. I’m pretty sure that I eeped or yelped a bit. I took the books out. Three books looked back up at me. I ordered two books for my daughter and one for me. I slowly opened the book for me first. The little girl in me glowed after seeing this page! Growing up, I loved reading Judy Blume books! Her writing and topics created a movement. The characters stay with you over time. She has also inspired me as a writer. I can’t wait to share that inspiration and these two books below with my daughter. A great way to end 2020! Thank you to Judy Blume and to Books and Books @ The Studios of Key West!
It’s hard to believe that in the year 2020, people still try to ban books in schools, libraries, and bookstores. Yet, it still happens today. The American Library Association (ALA) launched Banned Books Week in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to read and highlighting the value of free and open access to information. ALA publishes the lists to draw attention to literary censorship, but ALA officials stress that the annual report provides only a snapshot of book challenges, with ALA acknowledging that most challenges go unreported. In 2019, ALA reported a 17% increase in the number of challenges to library, school, and university materials and services—with an uptick in the number of challenged books that included or addressed LGBTQ+ content. Here is full list of the top 100 most challenged and banned books of the last decade (2010-2019): The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Looking for Alaska by John Green George by Alex Gino And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Drama by Raina Telgemeier Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Bone (series) by Jeff Smith The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel It’s a Book by Lane Smith The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel Crank by Ellen Hopkins Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone Beloved by Toni Morrison Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco Lush by Natasha Friend The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon The Holy Bible This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast My Mom’s Having a Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler Neonomicon by Alan Moore The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake The Giver by Lois Lowry Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia Fade by Lisa McMann The Family Book by Todd Parr Feed by M.T. Anderson Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach Habibi by Craig Thompson House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Monster by Walter Dean Myers Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter Saga by Brian K. Vaughan Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal 1984 by George Orwell A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher Awakening by Kate Chopin Burned by Ellen Hopkins Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers Glass by Ellen Hopkins Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman Tricks by Ellen Hopkins Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks To celebrate this week, add some of these books to reading your list! As the theme of this week says, “Censorship is a dead end. Find your freedom to read!”
Guess what today is? It’s National Read a Book Day! Woo hoo! Go grab your current book of choice and enjoy a few moments of escape, silence, and enjoyment! I plan on enjoying some time reading outside. Cheers to Read a Book Day! 📚
Racism, violence, and hate have no place in our world. Black lives do matter. And silence is not an option. Take the opportunity to learn more and get a better understanding of the institutionalized and systematic racism in our country. Here are a few books listed below to check out. Books: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo Biased by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey Waking Up White by Debby Irving Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes We can also support those organizations who are working to end social injustice. Click on their names to learn more about several organizations working hard on this front. Consider supporting them both financially and with your voice. Many other organizations exist as I just listed a few here and not in any order. Organizations: The Marshall Project NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Advancement Project Southern Poverty Law Center ACLU Campaign Zero You can do many things such as sign petitions, text and call legislators, donate to these organizations, educate yourself, donate supplies, protest in person or virtually, and more. And vote. “The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist.” ― Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
“It is the custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can’t) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtinesses and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.”― J. M. Barrie, The Adventures of Peter Pan Mothers exist all over children’s literature as well quotes about them. Enjoy this one particular quote above from The Adventures of Peter Pan to celebrate this Scottish author’s birthday yesterday. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there (and even to the fictional ones)!
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