Representation matters. It's important for kids to see themselves reflected on screen, and also to teach them empathy towards others who look, sound, or seem different. We are all human, and Disney has done a wonderful job of utilizing storytelling to help convey that message. With such wonderful anti-racism resources out there for kids, from [...]
Barbara O'Neal's books always have 3 things in common: strong women discovering who they are and where they belong; the value of friendship; and a lovable pet who makes the tough things in life a little easier to bear. The Lost Girls of Devon includes these themes in the best of ways. While When We Believed [...]
I always planned on giving my kids roots. One place they could recall in their memories as home, where they could return when they were grown and feel as safe and welcome as they do now. I wanted the house we currently live in to be the setting for all their favorite memories, not somewhere [...]
I just hate throwing things away. I also have a tendency to rescue sad looking furniture from the side of the road and fix it up. When I saw this pitiful table, I knew I could turn it into a potting station for our porch. We've really gotten into gardening in the last two years, [...]
Fredrik Backman's writing first captured me with My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, and I've since read nearly all of his work and am equally enamored with each moving piece of fiction. His latest novel, Anxious People, is due out September 8, 2020 from Atria. Net Galley and Atria provided me with an advanced copy [...]
Did it feel a bit odd to read a book set in Antartica while reading poolside? Nope, not even a little. You see, How the Penguins Saved Veronica is so utterly absorbing, it doesn't matter where you read it. Hazel Prior, author of Ellie and the Harpmaker, has once again crafted incredibly nuanced characters and mastered their voices [...]
Once upon a time, I bought a cute little dresser and turned it into a coffee bar. You can read all about it here. When I redid my kitchen (here), I moved the dresser-turned-coffee-bar into a bedroom and it became a dresser again. Our youngest had outgrown his changing table before potty training, thus the [...]
Although my childhood was full of wonderful books, the famous classic Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was not one of them. It was recently recommended to me, and I had to read it before watching the new movie, so I dove into the past and discovered these four lovable sisters. Towards the end of the movie [...]
Some people have been having a hard time focusing on reading during the pandemic...but I've had the opposite problem. I'm devouring books left and right, staying up way too late and having a hard time not reading. Hello, escapism! Whichever end of the pandemic reading spectrum you find yourself on, these reads are ones I've [...]
I wrote this poem months ago, to put into words the heartbreak I felt after a dear friend's encounter with someone racist and the hurtful words they hurled at her. I wanted her to know I would always stand beside her, and use my voice to stand up for what was right whenever I could. [...]
Paw Prints in the Sink 