“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain”
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Phillis Wheatley Stamps Are Now on Sale
In my 30s, I have apparently become a philatelist, and so as a new-founded philatelist and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, I am over the moon that the Phillis Wheatley Stamps are on sale today! Wheatley is well-known, now, as the first Black author in the American colonies, and was an…
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6 Books I’ve Pre-Ordered for 2026
It’s hard, as a librarian, to think about book timelines accurately. I’m always reviewing upcoming releases, trying to order new releases, staring at backlist titles on my own bookshelves, and somehow dreaming of books that haven’t even been written yet. Here are 6 books I’ve pre-ordered that are being published in the next six months,…
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The “Big Ole Books” Mini Challenge
I love a challenge–a little goal that gives me structure and guidelines within a hobby, like reading, that can seem endless and boundless. At the end of 2025, I finally read Fourth Wing, flying through it pretty quickly. As I looked at my Storygraph statistics for the end of the year, I also noted that…
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My 10 2026 Reading Goals
It’s timeeeeeeeeee. Time to make my 2026 reading goals, having reflected on the success and failures of my 2025 goals, having gotten any committee assignments, and having looked around my bookshelves too many times. This year, I made 10 reading goals. Some of them are big, overarching year-long goals. Some are one book goals. And…
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Reflections on My “Failed” 2025 Reading Goals
It’s that time of year again–time to be brutally honest with myself about how I did on my 2025 reading goals and resolutions, and hopefully learn from them in 2026. You can read about my 2025 goals and WHY I chose them, according to January me, here. While writing this, I went back and read…
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Reading a 1775 Cinderella Story
It’s a small book, just a smidge larger than my palm, and more rectangular. The cover was once maybe green, maybe brown, but has faded and molted in a way that looks almost mossy. It is bound together with twine woven up and down the spine. I’m at the Smathers Library on the University of…
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Crying in the Archives: “Hid in the Heart” and a Diary of Grief
I’ve spent three weeks of my summer in rainy, rainy, rainy (yes, it has rained every single day) Gainesville, Florida as the 2025 ALSC Bechtel Fellow, where I’ve been studying the papers of Margaret Sidney, a 19th century children’s novelist best known for The Five Little Peppers series. While I’ve been reading the books, my…
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12 2025 Books I’ve Already Pre-Ordered
It’s been SOOOO long since I let myself pre-order hardcopies of books with abandon. I was on award committees four years in a row, I am an avid library user, and frankly, who has the time to stay up to date with adult books when you’re knee deep in picture books? This year though…this year…
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My 2025 Reading Goals
The fact that I’m publishing this in late February probably doesn’t bode well…does it? January 2025 saw the end of my Caldecott reading year, and as I am not yet committed to another reading thing for 2025, I decided to treat myself to some generalized book goals and resolutions. These were inspired by my goal…
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4 Books I’m Excited For (Dec 2024)
December is a slow publishing month but a big READING month for me…especially if I take the train home for the holidays. Not a ton of books on my radar releasing this month, but maybe that’ll give me a chance to catch up? HA–as if Here are four books that grabbed my eye in the…
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5 Books I’m Excited For (Nov 2024)
The year is almost over! It’s almost my birthday! THE YEAR IS ALMOST OVER! Ahhhh. I have so much reading I’ve loved this year, and so much more that I hope to do befroe 2025 is upon us. Let’s dive into five titles coming out in November that I’m excited about. November may be a…
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7 Books I’m Excited For (October 2024)
HOW is it already October? How am I drowning in backlist titles and still somehow thinking about upcoming releases? Because I’m crazy…and I love reading…and I cannot wait to read these seven books in particular, even if it probaby won’t be this month. White House Clubhouse: White House on Fire by Sean O’Brien Not going…
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