Friday links and books

including the FTT in the news

Photo by Anna Connors, the Chatham News and Record

Thank you to reporter Ben Rappaport and the Chatham News and Record, which featured Ben’s story about the FTT on the front page! We loved how Ben and photographer Anna Connors captured our style as writers, researchers, crafters, and orange lovers!

A few other news items for you:

-The Scottish town of Moffat goes totally dark for two weeks every January, turning off public outdoor lights and encouraging residents to turn off artificial lights (even indoors). It hasn’t increased crime, and one resident says it’s “the most fun time of year.”

-This website lets you drop a raindrop anywhere in the U.S. or the world and follow where it winds up. (Just put in your town or zip code. It’s a good way to visualize the effects of pollution on rivers and the ocean.)

-We still need Judy Blume, who in this delightful article talks about tap dancing, fan letters, book bans, and bodies that change our whole lives.

-HBO keeps canceling my favorite shows (grr). John McWhorter wrote this interesting appreciation of South Side’s “intricately crazy” reflection of reality.

Book picks from Belle:

I recently enjoyed George Gissing’s The Odd Women, a Victorian feminist novel that is pretty much the opposite of a marriage plot novel. I picked it up on Vivian Gornick’s recommendation in her memoir, The Odd Woman and the City, and couldn’t put it down. (A tip I’m always giving people: Gornick reads her own audiobooks, and you won’t find a better companion.)

I’m currently engrossed in They’re Going to Love You by Meg Howrey, set in the world of ballet and choreography in the 80s and 90s. A really interesting and complex family story, as well as a glimpse into a rarified world.

Book picks from Bea:

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger is an advanced middle grade fantasy book I got from my school library. This riveting thriller is about a kid named Sophie Foster, who has never fit in: after all, she’s a 12-year-old high school senior. She’s shy and quiet… until a mysterious boy arrives and whisks her off to another world, where she enrolls in a different school and moves to a new home, all while uncovering dark secrets. It has me hooked—I plan on reading every single book, and there are nine in the series.

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton is a book I got at the Chatham County library and read with my mom. It’s a memoir about the life of Olemaun Pokiak, who as an eight-year-old is sent to one of Canada’s residential schools for Inuit children. She chooses to go there because she wants to learn to read, but she’s terribly mistreated—her hair is cut, she’s given cruel chores, and the teachers try to take away her culture. But she is eventually able to triumph over the nuns and return to her family.

Blubber by Judy Blume is a book I listened to on audiobook with Mom and Harriet. This book is kind of surprising because it’s from the point of view of a bully, or at least a kid who willingly goes along with bullying... until it’s turned on her and her best friend. I always enjoy how crazy some of Judy Blume’s characters are and how she lets kids make up their own minds about what happens.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar is a very funny book of stories about a school that is 30 stories high, with one classroom on each floor and 30 flights of stairs—it was supposed to be one story, with 30 classrooms all in a row, but the builder got it sideways. We listened to this one, read by the author, who is also a character in the book (Louis the yard teacher). Even Harriet loved this one!

And a book pick from Harriet:

The Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel—I got this adorable book at McIntyre’s for Harriet and she loves it. It’s the first mushroom foraging book I’ve seen for kids, but it’s also full of useful advice for adults. (Sarah, a McIntyre’s bookseller, showed me a spore print she made from a Fearrington mushroom.)

We’re looking forward to:

The movie adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret—it comes out on Harriet’s birthday (April 28) but Harriet doesn’t like non-cartoon movies so Bea and I will wait a few days to see it… maybe a good one to see with friends!

The Rhythm of Time by Questlove and S.A. Cosby—a middle grade, time traveling action and adventure book. How will this not be great? Pre-order at McIntyre’s or your favorite indie bookstore.

What have you been reading and looking forward to, Frog Troublers? As a famous literary frog once said, spring is just around the corner.