Did you know that the Outer Banks has its own Paul Revere? In 1775, Betsy Dowdy of Currituck, North Carolina, rode fifty miles one cold December night to warn patriots of an impending British invasion at Great Bridge (yep, that Great Bridge). Not only was Betsy's ride several times the length of Mr. Revere's but she was only in her teens when she made it!

Anouk recently got a Felicity doll and has been super interested in Revolutionary war culture, so when I saw The Ride I snapped it up thinking at least it would offer some fun historical flavor.  But it is even more than that. I love how The Ride points out that even things that seem small can be of great importance. As Betsy tells herself over and over, all she has to do is ride, but as she stumbles and falls and tackles cold and fear you realize that it isn't so simple after all. The contributions of women -- especially young women -- are missing a lot of the time especailly from Revolutionary history (a fact Anouk laments every time we listen to Hamilton), so it's nice to see Betsy take center stage.

Kitty Griffin's writing is a pleasure to read. As the story picks up the words begin to gallop over the page like Betsy's horse, Bess. The swirling Starry-Night-esque illustrations by Marjorie Priceman give a sense of urgency. Will Betsy make it by morning? Of course she does, and you know she will, but you still breathe a sigh of relief when she finally arrives.



No one really knows whether or not Betsy's ride happened like it does in the book or who Betsy herself really was, but her story is no less inspiring for lack of detail! To read more about Betsy Dowdy and what her ride might have been like, click here. And to buy a copy of The Ride, click here.  The Kindle version is only $2.99 and the audio version is even less!

On our recent trip to Philly we also stopped by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. So much fun to be had in this space -- I could probably write several thousand words about how well curated their collection is and how much fun it would be for littles to walk through! Instead, though, I'll write several hundred about some of the fun books we found in the gift shop and took home to read.



Kid Artists: True Tales of Childhood from Creative Legends by David Stabler. I brought this back as a souvenir for Anouk and we've been reading a chapter or two every night before bed. Who ever imagined Picasso of Van Gogh as a little kid? But it makes these greats seem very accessible and gives a hint into why they focused their art the way they did. For instance, knowing Beatrix Potter was the lonely child of rich and inattentive parents makes you really appreciate the tiny animal friends she created for herself. Knowing Theodore Geisel (AKA Dr. Seuss) was bullied mercilessly at school makes you understand why he would want to escape into a world of fun and silliness. There's a Kid Athletes and Kid Presidents volume in the series, too.




The Game of Patterns by Herve Tullet: Tullet of Press Here fame has a whole series of books that we got to play with at the museum's play area. The Game of Patterns, The Game of Finger Worms, The Game of Shapes. They were beautifully done like all of Tullet's works and a nice break from ducks and rabbits and traditional board book fare.



A is for Art Museum by Katy Friedland. Alphabet books are nothing new but this one highlights a masterpiece seen at PMA for each letter. The text also helps children begin to understand how to see and talk about art. (Next to Picasso's Three Musicians: "M is for music. Three men dressed in costumes play music. Can you see the circles and lines of their musical notes?") Friedland's other books is Art Opposites which also focuses on the PMA collection.

I wish we could go back to Philadelphia Museum of Art soon because their Wild: Mike Nichols exhibit opens at the end of June with tons of photographs of the natural world and creatures in it. If you can't make it either, see a trailer for the exhibit here.

We have seen Christine and Kellie Emery at so many of our out-and-abouts around town! You probably have, too, and would recognize them as the mother-daughter duo that bring the fabulous face paint and amazing balloon animals to local festivals. They're awesome, and when I heard they'd written a book I knew it would be awesome, too.

The Straight and Narrows is the store of Wide and Curly, who was born into a town of uptight, upright stick figures. Nobody understands her, and everybody wants her to change. Her distraught parents try everything to make her more like everybody else, but after almost losing their daughter, come to their senses and realize she's perfect the way she is.

It's a simple but effective story. Because the story features the word "straight" in the title it would be easy to say that it is a metaphor for LGBT acceptance specifically, and it definitely works for that, but The Straight and Narrows is broader than that, can be used to foster an attitude of tolerance and to encourage kids to celebrate ALL KINDS of differences. It also points out how hurtful that forcing somebody to change who they are can be and the responsibility for creating a world that is comfortable for all people's differences and abilities.

The message is spot on and worth buying the book for alone but the illustrations are also extremely well done. Kellie Emery manages to convey so much feeling and attitude with what are, basically, just straight and curvy lines. Anouk thinks Wide and Curly is the most adorable thing and keeps asking where I can buy her a Wide and Curly doll. (Marketing opportunity?)

Overall this is a beautiful book by some beautiful local people. I'm proud to say it came from Hampton Roads! And I look forward to whatever the Emerys do next.


We love The Straight and Narrows so much that we are giving away a copy to one lucky reader. Head over to the Mermaid City Kids Facebook page to enter!

During the International Women's Month of March, Anouk and I had a goal to read more books ABOUT women BY women. We have sampled some great ones but Rad American Women A-Z is definitely our favorite! Things to love about it: the wonderful pop art portraits. Each woman's achievements, though sometimes complicated and subtle, are presented in a way that's easy for children to digest. And also it covers some relatively untrodden ground -- Rad American Women introduced Anouk (and even me) to women we had never heard of before. The subjects weren't just Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart who achieved great things but who we all know of, but women who were less well-known, less glamorous, more easily marginalized. Women like the Grimke Sisters, Virginia Apgar, Dolores Huerta, and Jovita Idar.





















Rad American Women A-Z is most suitable in my opinion for kids from grades K-4. For upper grades, check out the authors' book for older readers, Rad Women Worldwide.

What are you reading lately?

 We're fans of illustrator Taro Gomi's work (Bus Stops, Everybody Poops) but lately we've been getting super into his doodle books with their charming open-ended illustrations that are prompts for kids to tell stories through their own works of art.



Right now we're working our way through his Story Doodles book (the thick-paper pages are meant to double as place mats) but there are several more to choose from, including one of postcards for kids to design and a puzzle book. We can't wait to collect them all (and we think they'd be great birthday/holiday presents for little ones, too).

 This Halloween, we took costume inspiration from some of our favorite kids' books.
A. surprised me by insisting that she did NOT want to be Elsa (the first time in three years! Yay!) Instead, she wanted to be a flamingo. Flora and the Flamingo is one of her favorite books -- she loves to sit and "read" it by herself when she's in a quiet mood.


So we cobbled together a flamingo costume in an explosion of pink. Pink chucks, pink tutu, pink leotard and tights in the exact right matching shade of fuchsia (thank you, Rit Dye). A feather boa and a felt mask that is quite possibly my greatest sewing triumph even including the quilts I have made. It's hard to get a flamingo beak to curve in just the right way. And I have the hot glue burns to prove it.



Anouk chose Harold and the Purple Crayon to inspire Augustus's costume. It's also one of our faves. This one was much easier to put together: a blue sleeper and a felt crayon. Et voila. By the way, I must also point out that this book caused Anouk to lobby hard for Harold as Gus's name while I was pregnant with him. But obviously we're not into old man names for little babies so we nixed it.

I didn't have the time/wherewithal to make a costume for myself, but if anybody asks, I'm going to tell them that I'm Nobody. From Goodnight Moon, get it?

What are your kids dressing as this Halloween? Have a great & spoooooky weekend, everybody!

Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford. Publisher summary: A Bonfire of the Vanities for the 21st century mixed with Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep and Amor Towles's Rules of Civility.

I wanted to throw up while reading this book, but in a good way? It was just so hideously awkward and nerve-wracking to watch the heroine, ordinary Evelyn, try to pass herself off as a member of New York's elite upper class, knowing that she couldn't (could she?) possibly sustain it. The social striving reached Whartonesque proportions pretty quickly and then kept going. On the one hand you're rooting for E. to pull it off, on the other, you wonder why she wants so badly to fit in with these awful people and it makes Evelyn seem a little awful, too. But that just means you can sit back and enjoy her missteps along the way. NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. 

The Bullet by Mary Louise Kelly. Publisher summary: From former NPR correspondent Mary Louise Kelly comes a heart-pounding story about fear, family secrets, and one woman's hunt for answers about the murder of her parents.

I am a little obsessed with NPR so when I heard news correspondent Mary Louise Kelly had written a novel I had to get it. This is the story of Caroline Cashion, who one day wakes up with neck pain, goes to the doctor, and finds out she has a BULLET lodged in her neck near her spine. Of course she has no idea how it got there and finding out dredges up a bunch of secrets in her past. I feel like I keep reading books in this suspenseful, the-next-Gone-Girl genre, and while this one wasn't my fave, I really, really appreciated that I did NOT see the end coming in any way. My eyebrows went way up and stayed that way for the last 20 pages.

The Blondes by Emily Schultz. Publisher summary: A hilarious and whipsmart novel where an epidemic of a rabies-like disease is carried only by blonde women, all of whom must go to great lengths to conceal their blondness.

That premise in itself is interesting enough to sustain an entire novel but you also have main character Hazel thrown together in the chaos with her boyfriend's very angry, um wife. And oh yes, Hazel is pregnant with his baby. The result is awkward, sinister, redemptive -- a great mix. This book IS funny -- but there were also moments that chillingly brought back events of the past year, of riots and uprisings and people being taken down in the streets, only this time the image featured (usually affluent) blonde women, which was a weird juxtaposition that made you think about things in a new way, probably just as the author intended.

The Lake House by Kate Morton. Publisher summary: Living on her family's idyllic lakeside estate in 1930s Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure...

I haven't been too impressed with Kate Morton's last few books, finding them a little convoluted and too pat. But this one reminds me of her first, The House at Riverton, the one that originally turned me on to her. Everything ties up neatly at the end, which usually bothers me, but isn't that what you expect from Kate Morton?

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan. Publisher summary: Elisabeth Egan brings us harried mother Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age. 

So the book opens when Alice's husband spectacularly quits his law job and she must go back to work for the first time since her children were born. Just like in real life, you can't please everyone in the working mom/stay at home mom debate and there are a few points in this book where I found myself angry on behalf of one or the other group. But I did enjoy some of the details of Egan's plot, especially reading about the "innovative" (read horribly corporate and awful) book company Alice goes to work for. NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. 

Mr. Tweed's Good Deeds: Mr. Tweed is like a less obnoxious Where's Waldo (I don't know why I find Waldo obnoxious but I guess I do?) I think because it starts out slowly (he finds one kite, then two fish, then three etc...) or the message that you should do your best to help people even if it inconveniences you. This book is actually kind of hard -- Anouk and I never found that last gift-wrapped present before our library due date.



Beautiful Birds by J. Roussen and E. Walker: Anouk is definitely too old for another alphabet book but this one is SO BEAUTIFUL.


Tell Me What to Dream About by Giselle Potter: Why don't you dream about eating teeny tiny waffles with teeny tiny animal breakfast guests? Or wearing clouds like sweaters? Delivers on the whimsy and more beautiful illustrations.



Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson: A Press Here knockoff in which you can make trees grow and blossom and change throughout the seasons. Anouk cannot resist this type of book (though J & I are kind of sick of them to tell the truth).


Cecil the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey: Maybe because I'm pregnant, but this one made me teary. A little girl is adopted by a pet glacier on a trip to Norway -- at first she wants to be rid of him but then she learns that true friends will always be there for each other. Nou thinks it's hilarious how they feed the glacier pebbles. :)


The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool: A fairytale/morality tale about learning to live simply, and about wants versus needs. Love the message, and the art.



Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue by Naoko Stoop: This adorable heroine and her adorable friends go on a journey to return a polar bear cub to its home. One in a series of three so far.

The other night, while walking around Riverview on the way to dinner, Anouk and I made sure to check in with one of our favorite spots in the neighborhood -- a spot others might miss -- a little wooden box decorated with fishing floats right outside The Village Mermaid, with a sign that reads: Little Free Library.  Just a teeny tiny lending library on the side of Granby Street, blink and you'll miss it, and we're so glad we didn't.

The Little Free Library always features at least a dozen or so interesting-looking titles (for grownups and kids) and Anouk can spend some time deliberating on which one she wants to bring home. They are all up for grabs to anybody who passes by and are (mostly) in good condition, though occasionally you meet with a book that has unfortunately met with a rainstorm. Take the books home, read them, bring them back next time you pass by -- you can even drop off new titles from time to time (we do when the box isn't too full).

Little Free Libraries have started popping up all over the #HRVA area in the last year or so (there are over 30,000 in the US and in 70 countries worldwide). Virginia Beach has half a dozen, in some of the prettiest spots. We'd like to see more in our area -- I've been toying with the idea of starting a little library but I think it might have to wait until after this baby pops.

For help locating little free libraries in your area, visit this map. And if you've visited one, share about it in the comments!




PS: The Little Free Library at Bluebird Gap Farm is a great place to look for gardening resources. And Anouk and her friend T. scored awesome copies of books from Suzanne Tate's nature series there!

When you think of summer reading, you usually imagine it happening by the side of the pool or under a beach umbrella. Sadly (but truly) most of mine this year has happened in the middle of the night as I struggle with insomnia. When I was pregnant with Anouk I feel like I did nothing but sleep, with this one, I feel like there is something new every night to keep me awake (heartburn is the latest and greatest).

So that's the bad news; the good news is that I've managed to get through a ton of books on my summer reading list even though summer is only just officially here. And if you can't get what you want (sleep glorious sleep) having a good book to keep you company is at least a comfort.


China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan: This is a sequel to two summers' ago Crazy Rich Asians, which was also a fave beach read of mine. There is something about reading about fabulous rich people and their drama and exploring a part of the world (Singapore/Hong Kong) that I usually don't read about that makes for a wonderful poolside (and I did actually read this one by the pool, over Memorial Day weekend) read. Just when you think things can't get more shocking (a character arrives by helicopter to crash a wedding) they do (poison!) Love it. NOTE: I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher.

Disclaimer by Renee Knight: What The Girl on the Train was trying to be, a mystery with a twist I didn't see coming. Catherine receives a book with the "resemblance to real people and events" disclaimer crossed out, the story recounts a secret that she's been trying to keep hidden for 20 years. Plus this mysterious book has an ending in which the unnamed author gets a grisly revenge, so C. better find him before he finds her.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll: You would think that Ani (formerly Tiffani) would be gracious and generous after pulling herself up to join Manhattan's elite but she isn't, she's still bitchy and hardscrabble and that's why I love her. She's also determined to set the record straight regarding her pask but will these old events threaten to pull her back down again? I loved this book -- it was so much smarter and funnier and ultimately tenderer than I expected.

The Bookseller: This one's a bit like that old movie Sliding Doors: Kitty, a career-driven spinster (by 1960s) standards, begins to have vivid dreams of a second life in which she's a wife and mother. As her dreams become more and more real, you begin to wonder: which is actually her real life? And which is the dream? I felt this one was bittersweet in the end as Kitty was forced to choose one path over the other -- but isn't that what basically happens in every life? You give some things up to embrace others.

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume: Three plane crashes in three months in one town during the 1950s sounds pretty impossible but it really happened and it's the basis for Judy Blume's supposed last novel, which connects families and friends in various ways across four decades. It wasn't a perfect or even perfectly satisfying book ultimately but reading it did feel like visiting an old friend. Plus Judy Blume's Summer Sisters is the epitome of summer reading, how could I not pick up this one too?

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North: I think the last book I read that so perfectly summed up a character without ever going into that character's head was The Great Gatsby and Sophie Stark is a little like that, as Sophie the avant garde filmmaker is basically her own creation and lives off of others' stories rather than her own. I never really sank into this book -- as I was reading I kept telling myself I would give up after the next chapter, but then kept picking it up again. Like Sophie herself, the book is unsettling.

A few weeks ago I received a review copy of The Picnic: Recipes and Inspiration from Basket to Blanket and was super excited, since picnics are a regular thing around here and we are always looking for new ways to liven them up. The book turned out to be a treasure trove of tips for making outdoor meals more convenient and picturesque and recipes for putting together the perfect array of food and drink for a well-balanced meal.

This fruit salad recipe was our favorite recipe we found. We've already tested it on a recent playground lunch and we made it again over the holiday weekend to take to one of the many BBQs we attended. It was a hit! Everybody in the world seems to love cherries, pistachios, and mint separately and when you put them together they seem exotic and extra-special. The tartness of the cherries matches well with the mint and the pistachios are a perfect added crunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Bing or Ranier cherries (stemmed, pitted, and halved)
• 1/2 cup shelled, roasted and salted pistachios
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced

Toss together ingredients and serve in your prettiest bowl. Pro tip: use a chopstick to easily pit the cherries. I read that in The Picnic, too! I told you this book was handy.

Happy Monday!

Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier: Taking the letter out of various words to form new words is a new concept for my just-beginning-to-work-on-reading four-year-old, and this book fascinates her.


Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney: Maybe the loveliest kids' book ever? A little girl in Victorian times tells her grandfather she is planning on getting a job and seeing the world -- and then, she does just that. But her grandfather told her to not forget to add beauty to the world in some way, so Miss Rumphius also scatters lupine seeds to brighten the landscape -- lots and lots of lupine seeds. And then she gives her little namesake niece the same reminder. Just beautiful.



Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema: Like the House that Jack Built, only an African village is waiting for the rain that will bring the drought-stricken landscape to life.



The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak : The joke is on the parent (or reader) in this one. The book, as the title says, has no pictures but it has a lot of words that the person reading the book absolutely has to say out loud and which makes them say all sorts of silly things (Blork!) We read this book for 28 straight nights in a row, and it took at least 10 before I wanted to bash my head against the wall. Which is actually saying a lot in the book's favor.



Is There a Dog in This Book? by Viviane Schwarz: A group of cats (Anouk will read anything with cats in it) are suspicious of the dog that follows them through the pages of this book (she will definitely read anything with dogs). It was a nice alternative to the Book With No Pictures when that one got to be too much to bear for another night in a row. The two have something of the same vibe.



Julia, Child by Kyo Maclear: The story of young Julia Child and her friend Simcha writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking...but instead of teaching cooking they're trying to teach a bunch of grownups how to be childlike again? I don't know. I think the book is a little gimmicky but Anouk loves it and the message is truly sweet so it makes the list.



Harold's Fairy Tale by Crockett Johnson: I didn't even know there were other Harold and the Purpole Crayon books besides the original until we found this one in a stack at a used book sale. We like it even better than the original, probably because Harold seems so much more creative in drawing his way out of sticky situations (and we've read the first a thousand times).


What have your kids been reading lately?

Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio: So this might be the most adorable book ever. Two dog families find out that it's not what looks right that makes a family, but what feels right. We love the little Parisian touches, ooh lala.



I'm Not Bobby by Jules Feiffer: Rather than do what his mother tells him, a little boy imagines all the other things he could be besides himself (a rocket ship, a lion).




Gobble Growl Grunt by Peter Spier: My friend J. mentioned the other day that she searched high and low for a copy of this book when her kids were born -- A. and I came across it at the thrift store and brought it home for something like 10 cents. It's been worth 10 times that in the time we've had it. We love the whimsical way the animals are illustrated and the way they are grouped together on the pages according to the types of noises they make. I also like a lot that the quiet animals are represented, too.



Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier: Anouk loves reading this book, which is not one book but a bunch of little books sandwiched inside each other, growing progressively smaller like a literary matrioshka doll. We especially love Giant's teensy book right in the middle.




Hide and Seek Fog by Alvin Tresselt: This book is written by the author of White Snow, Bright Snow, one of our other favorites. I love so much the beautiful and descriptive writing of how a little village looks with the fog rolling in off the water and how it affects all the people who live in that village.



Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein: I never ran across this Shel Silverstein when I was little. The poems are all the same kind of funny ones you're used to -- but the words have switched letters. It's a hilarious challenge to read.




The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen: A town in Maine helps the animals that escaped off a circus ship hide from their mean owner. A. loves turning the pages and spotting the giraffe cleverly disguised as a clothesline or the elephant posing as a rock in somebody's garden.




Beach by Elisha Cooper: This is probably the most beautiful kids' book I've come across, with the watercoloresque illustrations of the beach. It looks so much like our beaches here in HRVA! The story is simple, basically describing what a day at the beach looks like, but that feels familiar too, and is probably why we love it. It scratches that can't-wait-for-summertime itch.

(to see vol. I of our favorite kids books, click here).