Zoom into books

Can we read? No. 107

Hi.

Before we get started, I want to write for a minute about seasons. Literal ones, sure, which have weather and (now) air quality issues and their own vibes and moods, which somehow stay the same and also change every year — but also figurative ones. I’ve said more than once I’m having a dumpster fire of a 2023 — the worst of my life since I got married (unrelated, I just remember it) 13.5 years ago. I’ve heard from many people — truly, many — that they’re in hard seasons right now, for various reasons, and their family reading lives are taking a hit.

Maybe you’re struggling to read aloud when it’s nice out and it’s light for longer, and you don’t want to miss all the summer to be had while you can have it.

Maybe your family has so much going on, your regular routines have been thrown off and you’re skipping things you normally do, like reading at bedtime, or whenever, more often than you’d like.

Maybe you — like me — can’t concentrate worth a damn and find yourself in the worst reading slump you’ve experienced in years. (I have even written about how “I don’t get bogged down in reading slumps” and let me tell you: none of my consistent solutions are working. I’m spending most nights in tears of varying intensity over varying things, and though I know it will end — the lack of reading and the crying — it feels particularly awful in the moment, and when I think about, and much of the time in between.)

Maybe you’re feeling the pressure of making sure your children are reading every day because summer slide is real! and terrible! and if they don’t read every day they’ll fall 10 years behind and never go to college and never get a job and end up living on your couch when they’re 40! 😉

Maybe you’ve just had to put your family reading life on the backburner, for whatever reason.

I just want to tell you that it’s okay.

Let me repeat that, and really, listen: it’s okay.

Whatever effort you are making right now — however small, however imperfect, however seemingly insignificant — is enough.

If you have laid a solid foundation of reading aloud, or together, or in the same room, or just in spirit, trust it. It’s not going to crumble this one season.

If you are reading five minutes a day — even every other day — it counts.

If you’re doing nothing more than letting your children check out 18 Playaways from the library, or leaving them to listen to their Yoto Players or devices with Audible, hoopla, Libby, or some other digital audiobook delivery system — that adds up.

You are not failing at raising a reader. You’re not ruining everything.

Whatever is happening — or not happening — you’re still doing something right.

Keep doing what you’re doing, even if it doesn’t feel like it’s paying off.

Seasons pass, including the hard ones, including the ones you think you can’t survive (but somehow always do). Put one foot in front of the other, and repeat. With everything.

And don’t give up.

Your effort is love in action, and it matters, and so do you.

Keep going, friend.

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Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher (1993)

This review first appeared in one of my very first issues, No. 2. I have edited and updated it slightly

“Mama’s got a zooming machine, and she zooms me everywhere.” Thankfully the little boy who narrates this story isn’t talking about Zoom as we know it — he is instead talking about the adventures he takes with his fun-loving (and fun-making!) mother. Her wheelchair is a starting point for all the places they zoom together in his mind, and while this book has simple text and pencil-and-watercolor illustrations (really excellent for toddlers and preschoolers), the genuine enjoyment these two have in each other’s company is contagious — meaning this is not one you will mind reading over and over (and over 😉) again.

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Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes (1987)

If you forced me to pick my favorite Kevin Henkes book ever, I don’t think I could — he’s such an incredible author and illustrator, and I can’t think of a single title of his that isn’t a hit with kiddos — but I’ll admit that Sheila Rae, The Brave is pretty dang high up on my list.

It’s probably because I have two daughters, and this sweet but never-even-the-tiniest-bit-saccharine story about what happens one day when the two of them — big sister Sheila Rae, supposedly the brave one, and little sister Louise, supposedly the “scaredy cat” — get lost in their neighborhood is so delightful and charming it’s hard to put its appeal into words.

Certainly Henkes’ masterful black pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are part of it — they’re always part of it — but so is the message here about bravery, love, and how the labels that get put on us might not always be so true.

Don’t miss this.

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Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival (2018)

I read a lot of children’s books — duh — and I am moved and enthralled and taken in by a lot of them, but it’s not often that I come across a title that ends up comforting me as much as my children.

Enter Ruby Finds a Worry, an endearing story about a little girl who one day discovers a Worry and, unfortunately, realizes that that it just grows and grows. The simplicity of this tale is part of its beauty (along with Percival’s appealing digital illustrations) — it’s clear enough to speak to preschoolers but also everyone else. (And by everyone else, I mean my 6yo, my 9yo, and yes, me.)

That’s not all, though: rather than being overly didactic — acknowledge your worry, feel your feelings, and everything will be fine! — this story concludes with a practical solution: tell a friend. (So, while this does give kids an option for handling their Worry, it feels natural, not shoved down their throats. Points for this, Tom Percival.)

I loved this book, my readers loved this book, and I highly recommend it for any human — small, big, or anywhere in between — who ever finds themselves saddled with a Worry.

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How to Be An Animal Detective by Millicent Selsam, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats (1963)

Let me say this right away: if you are anywhere, ever, and you come across a book by Millicent Selsam for sale, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, absolutely do not walk away from it under any circumstances: just buy it. That’s how good she was at writing “science discovery” books for children, and any nonfiction collection is immediately enhanced by having any of her titles on the shelf.

This is as true of How to Be An Animal Detective as any of her others — it’s chock-full of the kind of interesting, helpful information kids love. Focusing primarily on footprints and tracks — “‘What happened here?’ a detective says. ‘Who was here? Where did he go? A detective has many ways to find out,” all actions that Keats does an excellent job illustrating, as one would expect — this is a straightforward but totally engrossing guide to using observable clues (rather than, say, an actual sighting) to find animals and engage more deeply the world around us.

This is a great choice for elementary-aged kiddos, especially if you have a nature and/or nonfiction lover itching for information.

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Thanks for reading today! Wednesday issues are always free, so if you know someone who might like this newsletter, please pass it on! 📤

Sarah