5/5 stars World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments , by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2020), Illustrator: Fumi Nakamura This is a beautiful debut of nonfiction essays about nature, how the author relates to the world around her, and how and what animals and plants can teach us. The essays include very cool facts about animals and plants, side by side with anecdotes about the author's past - where she grew up, the many different places she live

4/5 stars Black Star , by Kwame Alexander (2024) TW: Racism, KKK activity, reference to a lynching This is a sequel to The Door of No...

5/5 stars Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls , by Kai Cheng Thom (2023) "from the depths of my rage and...

5/5 The Door of No Return, by Kwame Alexander (2022) TW: Violence, descriptions of the slave trade, mention of rape “Black history began...

3/5 stars When We Were Sisters, by Fatimah Asghar (2022) Asghar is a poet, and this book reflects that, as it is written in short bursts...

In May of 2023 I wrote a poem using the titles of the first 30 books I read that year, and called it The First 30. Well, now here is The...

A few days ago I was talking to Dorothy about how I've read 30 books so far this year, and we were talking about how a lot of them have...

3/5 stars So Much More Than a Headache, edited by Kathleen O'Shea (2020) I Describe a Migraine I wanted to describe chronic migraines as...

5/5 stars Deaf Republic, by Ilya Kaminsky (2019) This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend two of RIT/NTID's Big Read events,...

Today I wrote the following... poem, I guess? And I wanted to share it. The Textures of Goodbye. “See you soon” is the smoothest duvet...

5/5 stars Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo (2020) Sixteen year old Camino Rios has grown up in the Dominican Republic (DR) with...

5/5 stars Lanny, by Max Porter (2019) This is such a unique, beautiful, poetic, fantastical little book. If you're a fan of poetry, a fan...

3/5 stars Call Us What We Carry, by Amanda Gorman (2021) Like everyone else, I was introduced to and blown away by Amanda Gorman when she...

5/5 stars In This Moment: Revolution, Reckoning, Reparation, a chapbook series curated by Amanda Chestnut, coordinated by Jeanne...

4/5 stars Mixed feelings: Poems and Stories, by Avan Jogia (2019) This book may be slim, but it packs a punch, exploring the complicated...

4/5 stars Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson (2014) Earlier this year I read Woodson's 2020 novel Red at the Bone (click to read...

3/5 stars The Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh, by Ho Chi Minh (1943) Translated from the Vietnamese by Aileen Palmer My mom is going through...

Over the past few days I read two short books - a short story (which I first read at Bard College in a class with one of my favorite...