Over the summer, Mike and I read the first Mabel Jones book, The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones. We both enjoyed it quite a bit and were excited to see the new one come out this week. Because of our interest, I wanted to bring you an interview with the creator, Will Mabbitt. Can you […]
Categories: Books
When Atticus turned four, he wanted a superhero party. I never posted about it, but I have all these pictures and I feel like this is what the internet is for, to share party ideas. For the games, we kept it pretty simple. We framed it as “superhero training.” First we had them jump from […]
Categories: General
We have been reading the Harry Potter books to Atticus since this summer, and he’s been extremely excited about them. We had not planned to read them to him quite yet but we have a lot of Harry Potter stuff in our house so he got interested. He kept asking, “When can I read THE […]
Categories: General
You could probably guess this from my age and demographic, but one of my favorite movies is You’ve Got Mail. All the wonderful Ephron dialogue, Kathleen Kelly’s adorable clothes and bookstore, the old modem sounds, New York and twinkle lights. What more does a girl need? Today’s book is not exactly a YA version of […]
Categories: Books
I got to preach this week at church and here is the text of my sermon. Our Advent series was “uncluttered” and I took the opportunity to talk about the good kind of clutter. I have been listening to a lot of the Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording over the past few months. If you […]
Categories: General
Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People by Nadia Bolz-Weber (via Blogging for Books) I read Pastrix and I loved the second half of it. Accidental Saints is more in line with that second half, as Bolz-Weber tells stories of her life at her church. It can be difficult to see the image […]
Categories: Books
Story time! Back in the spring, I applied to (and was accepted at) a local divinity school with a plan to go part-time for a while and then try a different sort of career path. I was so excited. And then a job I had always wanted at a local Episcopal school came open and […]
Categories: General
I made a very Baptist version of a pilgrimage this weekend, visiting Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School class in Plains, Georgia. I had been saying for a while that I wanted to go, and then he made the announcement about his cancer and I realized that I needed to quit messing around and actually make it […]
Categories: General,How to save a life
I love Gennifer Choldenko, but more importantly, my students love her books as well. Al Capone Does My Shirts is always a big hit, and I remember that right after I bought If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, all I had to do was show students the first paragraph and they were hooked (it […]
Categories: Books
I am behind on my NetGalley posts so here is a big roundup. The books were provided to me for free but my opinions are my own. The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe Billy’s family won the lottery, but his family is in a bad place after the loss of his twin sister. Some new […]
Categories: Books
My first big church transition came about 12 years ago, when Mike and I slipped out of the back row of our nondenominational church and decided to try something different. After about a month, we found ourselves somewhere in the middle of an American Baptist church here in town (the back row was already spoken […]
Categories: Books
Play Music by Laurie Lake White (purchased a copy) This charming novel (based on a true story) is about Viennese immigrants to America in the early 1900s. Hugo is a conductor, first for a hotel orchestra and later in a silent movie theater, and his wife designs costumes for the Metropolitan Opera. The way that […]
Categories: Books
It’s been a couple of months since I wrote up my reading list. So of course it’s ridiculously long. School Shooters: How to Recognize Schoolroom and Campus Killers Before They Attack by Peter Langman (via NetGalley) I work in a school and I know the chances of something like a school shooting happening to me […]
Categories: Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books
Every day in February, I am celebrating Black History Month by posting children’s and YA books that you should know about. I am not going to claim that this is an exhaustive list of the best and the greatest, just that they are books that have resonated with my family and my students. Some of […]
Categories: 28 days of books for Black History Month,Books