Stuff We Like :: 6.9.17

The summer issue is coming together, and—as usual!—I think it's kind of awesome.

around the web

Love this: How historians can become activists

A really excellent guide to what makes a great children’s science book

Relevant to my interests: Behind the scenes at the National Spelling Bee

I bet anyone who read this piece about spies and knitting could have guessed that it would end up in my favorite links

at home/school/life

on the blog: I’m talking about our (mostly successful) first year homeschooling high school

also on the blog: We tried doing the Book Deal of the Day on the blog, but people seemed pretty split on whether they liked it, so we are keeping all the book deals on the book deal page.

one year ago: The Life-Changing Magic of Embracing My Kids’ Reading Choices

two years ago: Growing Through Traveling: Independence, Confidence, and What We Become Away from Home

reading list

Suzanne is giving me a major inferiority complex with her Library Chicken success lately. I have been making a dent in my graphic novel/comics reading list because I’m working on a round-up for the summer issue. Highlights so far: Berlin (about the politics and problems of Weimar Berlin in the years leading up to the Nazis), Hark a Vagrant (thank you, Suzanne, for introducing me to the ultimate book nerd comic), Zita the Space Girl (feminist-y sci-fi!), and The Last Unicorn (which may be partly because of the sheer nostalgia factor). Do you have a fave graphic novel I should be sure to check out?

In my continuing effort to pick up books outside my comfort zone, I’m reading In the Garden of Iden, which I apparently put on my holds list at some point. (I sometimes log into my library account after a couple of glasses of wine, which is probably not a good idea but which has brought some interesting books into my life.) This book is technically sci-fi, about a cyborg botanist who travels to Elizabethan England to rescue specific plants from extinction, but it’s really gorgeous historical fiction plus star-crossed love story, and I’m totally okay with that. 

My son and I are diving into biographies this summer, starting with Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix, which is one of the coolest picture book biographies I’ve discovered. This one corresponds nicely with our cooking shows obsession. (Next up: Creekfinding: A True Story, which is a biography of an ecosystem rather than a person.)

at home

We’ve been cooped up for a couple of weeks with some yucky health stuff, so we’ve been binging obscene amounts of television. The kids discovered Malcolm in the Middle, which I missed when it was actually on but which is pretty fun to watch on Netflix.

I’m knitting up a few shawl-y things to keep me warm in the classroom this fall, and I think I’m going to start with this super-snuggly one.

Everyone is talking about Wonder Woman (and fair enough—it’s about time!), but I’m already counting down to the new Murder on the Orient Express. (You should watch the trailer just for Kenneth Branagh’s spectacular mustache.)

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