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Welcome!
Can we read? is your weekly guide to children’s books, raising readers, and how to build a culture of reading in your home.
We’re all busy, and we all know how important it is to read to the children in our lives. But how? I take the guesswork (and time!) out of finding excellent books for you and the children in your life.
As a full-time work-outside-the-home mother of two kiddos, I understand how hard it can be to prioritize raising readers. I’m here to tell you that it’s possible and help you do it.
Join 5,100 other subscribers who receive reviews of books old and new, along with help finding “right fit” titles for their families, every Thursday morning.
Why subscribe?
I save you time, energy, and emotional labor by doing the work of finding great books that you and your kiddos will enjoy
I tell you why I recommend each title I review and curate booklists you can trust
I feature at least one diverse/inclusive title in every single issue, because representation matters
I help and support you in your efforts to raise readers
Subscribers have said:
“I have no bandwidth to go to bookstores and libraries, and trying to find decent books online is so hard. The book recommendations in this newsletter have been immensely helpful.”
“Sarah’s passion, interesting commentary, and fantastic book selection have been the highlight of my inbox.”
“Not pretentious, not unrealistic, just right. I feel like we could be having a coffee and talking books, and it’s just really nice to read.”
Can we read? is also a Substack Bestseller and was a 2023 Substack Featured Publication.
Read some of my most popular posts:
This is a donation-based resource
🙋♀️ What the heck does that mean?
Paid subscriptions are simply to support my work, not to receive anything extra.
Everything gets sent to everyone every week.
Nothing is paywalled.
🗒️ A note on the paywall itself: it still exists for anything that ever was paywalled to begin with. This is because there is no magic Substack button that allows me to just remove it across the board — I’d have to go back and change the settings post by post and honestly, ain’t nobody got time for that. (Okay, maybe somebody got time for that, but not me.) So only paid subscribers will be able to hop the paywall of the past.
Everyone — free and paid subscribers alike — receives:
A weekly post featuring 4-5 book reviews, plus others offering a glimpse into my home life and what we’re reading, answers to questions from you, mini issues focusing on specific topics, micro-reviews, fun discussion threads, link roundups, and frequent giveaways
Special editions and Spotlight On issues focusing on seasons, holidays, and specific topics
A once-monthly deep dive into the topic of raising readers and how to build a culture of reading in your home
But are there any perks for being a paid subscriber?
As we say here in Wisconsin: you betcha 🧀
Instant downloads that are different than the ones I provide to free subscribers
A book-tracking Notion template I created for you to copy and make your own
Complimentary access to seasonal reading PDFs I release a few times a year
Personalized booklists for your family, classroom, or other group. This is a service available only to paid subscribers
Free access to the full universe of GoKidGo — an audio imagination company and top podcast network that produces super fun, compelling, full-cast shows for kids
FAQs
🟢 What if a subscription isn’t in my budget?
No problem. There’s no paywall — no barrier to entry — so you can enjoy everything I write even if you can’t donate by upgrading to a paid subscription.
But if you still want to support my work (thank you!), sharing is helpful. Word-of-mouth will forever be the love language of the internet! 🩷
🟢 I’m an educator — how can I use your newsletter?
Many of my subscribers are classroom teachers, homeschoolers, reading specialists, librarians, even therapists. They use my booklists to plan/expand lessons, enliven read-aloud time, increase inclusive representation, and more.
Hear it from one 1st-grade teacher:
📚 “As an educator trying to plan engaging lessons, your newsletter has been an invaluable resource. (Your mini issue on worms saved me!) Your book recommendations often have themes that breathe life into my otherwise very prescribed curriculum. The titles have diverse authors and characters, they give me new ideas, they’re seasonally appropriate. It’s so helpful.”
🟢 I’m not a parent — is this newsletter still for me?
Absolutely! You don’t have to be a parent to find value here. Shoutout to all the grandparents, aunties/uncles, and other people circling kiddos with love who subscribe to this newsletter. (You’re wonderful, btw.)
If there are children in your life in any capacity and your relationship might be strengthened by books and reading, you’re in the right place.
🟢 Can you help me find books about a specific topic or issue?
Creating personalized booklists for subscribers to explore topics in more depth or help out with specific issues is one of my favorite things to do — but it’s also more labor intensive, so that’s a perk I provide only for paid subscribers.
Take good care and read good books 😘
Sarah Miller
Hi Sarah, I'm stuck in my bedroom separated from my wife and 7 month old in the living room looking for things to read because of covid, and I'm really happy that I stumbled on your newsletter!
As someone who didn't grow up reading a lot but who later in life started reading more, I've wondered what I would read to our daughter. I knew intuitively even before she was born that reading with her would do tremendous good for her and our relationship, but since I hadn't read many children's books, I always just chose whatever was convenient and sounded vaguely familiar, downloaded via the Libby app and my local library subscription.
That photo you have on this page of you reading with your children - you had me at that. Read a few of your posts after that and decided to subscribe. Thanks for doing people like me a big favour, and for being generous by sharing much of it for free. Depending on how deeply our daughter and I get into the reading habit, I believe I might become a paid subscriber in the future. Cheers, Sarah. Sincerely, Nick.
Hey Sarah, I think this works well as your center piece content in your magazine layout. Have you had any other comments about the concept? I appreciate your comments and opinions!