Let’s get spooky folks. Halloween is here, there has been Snow in Boston, and I am right in the busy time of the semester if my to-do list for the next couple of weeks is to be believed.
I finally feel like I’ve got virtual classes for this semester in a place that I’m comfortable with as far as balancing synchronous and asynchronous work and I’m looking forward to trying to get ahead on some upcoming projects because those deadlines are going to be here before I know it and before I’m ready for it!
Plus, I’m looking forward to getting to go back to Colorado for a week for Thanksgiving!
This Month’s Blog Posts
I did not meet the “two posts a month” goal this month, but I’m fine with that because the post I did write was longer and more in depth than most of the posts that I tend to write. It was also way outside of the typical topics I cover on this blog which made it a lot of fun for me to write.
Life is a Highway: A Look at America’s Interstates in “Divided Highways”
I also wrote my second blog post for Hack Library School about Embracing the Practical Project, which shares some of my thoughts about projects that actually work to apply professional knowledge and skills rather than just writing another paper.
What I read this month
Not a super hefty personal book month, but I did read some hefty books. It was another month of heavy picturebook reading as well which should continue through November and December as I continue to work my way through the Picturebook Course at Simmons. I read 114 books, but 107 of them were picture books!
As always, heck out my Goodreads page for reviews of each of the titles listed (for my personal reads anyways).
Books for Fun:
- When Stars are Scattered by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson
- A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
- Storytime Stories: The Whole Book Approach to Reading with Children by Megan Dowd Lambert
- Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
- Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways by Tom Lewis
- Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods
- Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram
- King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Books for Class:
- Artsy Toddler Storytimes: A year’s worth of ready-to-go programming by Carol Hopkins Garnett.
- The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Rachel Isadora
- Piggybook by Anthony Browne
- Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
- The ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag
- King Arthur’s Knights: The Tales Re-told for Boys & Girls by Henry Gilbert
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
- Alligators All Around: An Alphabet by Maurice Sendak
- Saturday by Oge Mora
- Zoo by Anthony Browne
- My Mom by Anthony Browne
- The Tunnel by Anthony Browne
- Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker
- Button Up by Alice Schertle
- The Baby’s Own Aesop by Walter Crane
- I Want My Hat Back by John Klassen
- The Stray Dog by Marc Simont
- Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora
- And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
- Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
- The Hole Book by Peter Newell
- Sparkle and Spin: A Book About Words by Ann Rand
- R. Caldecott’s Picture Book No. 2 by Randolph Caldecott
- Ring O’ Roses by Leslie Brooke
- Ed Emberley’s ABC by Ed Emberley
- After the Fall by Dan Santat
- Antics! An Alphabetical Anthology by Cathi Hepworth
- More More More Said the Baby by Vera Williams
- Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
- My Pen by Christopher Myers
- See and Say: A Picture Book in Four Languages by Antonio Frasconi
- My Dad by Anthony Browne
- Again! by Emily Gravett
- The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy by Beatrice Alemagna
- I Wrote a Note by Lizi Boyd
- Harbor by David Crews
- Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
- ABC Book by Charles Buckles Falls
- Life on Mars by Jon Agee
- Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson
- I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes
- Richard Scarry’s Find Your ABC’s by Richard Scarry
- City Cat by Kate Banks
- The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
- It Is Not Time For Sleeping by Lisa Graff
- Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
- Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel L. Feelings
- Edward Lear’s the Scroobious Pip by Edward Lear
- Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin
- Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
- The Golden Mother Goose by Alice Povensen
- Harlem by Walter Dean Myers
- Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
- The Gashblycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey
- Home by Jeannie Baker
- Mother Goose by Arthur Rackham
- Into the Forest by Anthont Browne
- Another by Chriistian Robinson
- What Mary Jo Shared by Janice May Udry
- Can’t Sleep by Chris Raschka
- The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
- Gorilla by Anthony Browne
- The Black BC’s by Lucille Clifton
- The Story of Ferdinand by Leaf Munro
- Kate Greenaway’s Mother Goose by Kate Greenaway
- Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove
- A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss
- Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
- A: Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway
- We’re going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
- Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
- Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting by Randolph Caldecott
- A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems by Paul Janeczko
- Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming
- The House That Jack Built by Randolph Caldecott
- A Fine Dessert by Emily Jenkins
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
- Black Cat by Christopher Myers
- How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander
- Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown
- Topsys & Turvys by Peter Newell
- The Famous Heritage Edition of Mother Goose by Roger Duvoisin
- William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow
- I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
- Marigold Garden by Kate Greenaway
- Night Driving by John Coy
- Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison
- Thank you Omu! by Oge Mora
- The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
- Moter Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum
- On Market Street by Arnold Lobel
- Jabberwockyby Christopher Myers
- Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley
- My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
- Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
- The Random House Book of Mother Goose by Arnold Lobel
- The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman
- Radian Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe
- Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester
- Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince Beaumont
- Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
- The Day the Crayon’s Quit by Oliver Jeffers
- The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
- Wings by Christopher B. Myers
- Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
Review: Hello Lighthouse — My favorite book of the month
Sophie Blackall’s Hello Lighthouse won the Caldecott Medal in 2019 and it is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. It’s printed on thick, luxurious paper and Blackall’s images are just so smooth and luscious. I could spend ages telling you just how well the trim size, endpapers, and design elements of this book work. It’s just so beautiful that it’s not fair. Read it if you haven’t.
Favorite Book of the Month Runner-Up: Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram
My favorite non-book things
Hiking Trips
This month I took two weekend hiking trips to New Hampshire with my boyfriend, Jake. Each hike was roughly 10 miles, and though my legs burned by the end of them we got beautiful foliage views and had a lot of fun! It was great to get away from the city for a little bit and engage with nature. We even did some camping one weekend which was just the icing on the cake.
Another Embroidery project finished
I just finished an embroidery project I started in February that was then left to languish in Boston while I was off in Colorado. Then when I got back in August, I just felt “meh” about returning to it. However, I recently decided to just grind through it and knocked it out!
This was my first attempt at landscape embroidery, a category I greatly admire and appreciate. I think it turned out pretty good, but if I try something like this again, I think I’ll take a different approach to it.
Gilmore Girls
If you’re looking for comfort, warmth, laughter and New England vibes for all seasons, look no further than Gilmore Girls (streaming on Netflix). I’ve watched Gilmore Girls before, but I couldn’t help starting this series again as fall has descended upon Boston. Lorelai, Rory, and the Stars Hollow crew are always good for a dose a joy.
This Cat Mug
I bought this cat mug at Trident Books and it is so large and holds so much coffee that it brings me so much joy. I couldn’t resist sharing it with you here.
Bookishly Bright 