Let’s work together to speak up, donate, educate ourselves, and vote to help the children who are in crisis and dying at our border.
Notable Non-Fiction & Biographical Stories for Young People
The Heart of a Boy celebrates all kinds of boys.
A Micro-Review for the Discerning & Literary Child
Yuyi Morales’ picture book Dreamers is a hopeful story about love, immigration, and the power of… library books!
Asides, Ideas, Miscellany
Whew. So many things to consider this month. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ powerful testimony before congress on reparations. (Watch it here and then follow it up with the author of the Color of Law narrating this video, Segregated by Design.)
Housing (and our lack of it) has moved into the mainstream media. Americans need more neighbors. Is it the end of the single family home? I love Kea Wilson’s community-driven incremental take on this: for those of us who are privileged enough to buy property, consider investing in a duplex. (From the episode “Is the End of the Single-Family Neighborhood Near?”)
The author of the Design of Childhood talks to the War on Cars folks. (Imagine if our spaces were designed to consider our 3-foot beings?)
A kids’ podcast that tells native stories in native voices. Related: looking forward to reading An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Dr. Debbie Reese, due out on July 23.
New Works on Paper
“Gather your children in front of the flatscreen and instruct them to fix their eyes on No. 15, the winger with lavender hair. Have them watch as she gallivants down the left flank and flummoxes a defender with a stutter step. Have them listen to her unguarded pregame disquisitions on tactics, Donald Trump, haute couture, and well, every facet of human existence. Tell them that Megan Rapinoe is her generation’s Muhammad Ali.”
Thoughts? Ideas? Recommendations? I love connecting with fellow readers, writers, parents, and humans. Please drop me a line!
New here? Peruse the archive of letters right here or join below for monthly-ish news and notes.
r.p.
