(“Puppy + Sally”; photo by Rawley/use with permission only, please)

• “My Lighthouse: A Story of Finding Your Way Home,” by author Ali Gilkeson and illustrator Lee Wildish, is our first new release for review this week. (WaterBrook/Random House, 2024, 40 pages, ages 3 and up, $14.99.) “This is a story about a house…” the book begins, and we are invited into the world of Fynn, his parents, and the lighthouse they call home.
• “A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration,” o “Un Alete de Esperanza: Una Historia de Migración,” a lovely book about migration, is available in both English and Spanish. I reviewed it here; check it out. Compliments to author Cynthia Harmony and illustrator Devon Holzwarth.
• “Siendo Tú: Una Primera Conversación Sobre Género,” texto de Megan Madison y Jessica Ralli, con arte de Anne/Andy Passchier, traducción de Cristina Nuñez. This is a fantastic and much-needed new book about gender. The illustrations are supercool and yes, remind me of my old favorite art kit, ColorForms. (Dude I love ColorForms.) The book is perfect for kids of all ages and their grown-ups.
• And… last two! There’s a new graphic novel version of “Amber Brown is Not a Crayon,” the Paula Danziger classic. Great fun. I’ve been a Danziger fan since I was a kid and discovered “The Cat Ate My Gymsuit.” Great fun, great title.
• Ryan Seacrest and his sis, Meredith Seacrest Lynch, are scheduled to release their first kids’ title, “The Make-Believers.” This sweet picture book shares with readers the joys of imagination and dreaming big. Look for it in early October; it’s available to pre-order now.

The pick of the week is… “Siendo Tú…” for being creative and matter-of-fact.

Disclaimer: All of the books reviewed today were sent to me free to review. Disclaimer here. See you next time!

WM

#westcoastbestcoast

This is one of our favorite spots, forever and always, on the Oregon coast. Leave the dogs at home or in the car (if the weather is cool, which it generally is.) All photos by me and my kid.

Enjoy your weekend.

WM

Photo by Nancy Rawley/use with permission only, please and thank you I really do love books, can you tell? I’ve been writing reviews here for years now. It’s kind of funny, the years and books just keep rolling along. More coffee, please. Presenting… more new releases, just in time for the winter holidays. All of the books included in this post were sent to me free for review purposes. Disclaimer here. Thank you for reading and see you next time! WM

1. 1. Simon & Schuster Kids has come out with a cool paperback collection of Christmas books for kids. The covers are engaging, the art jumps off the front. And the stories inside are as good as ever. Classic, really. (Smiles.) It’s like I used to tell my students, “You don’t have to love books as much as I do, that’d be weird. But if you love them even half as much as I do? That would be enough.” Srsly these kids don’t want to read. Maybe they’ll be won over by this new “vintage” set that includes “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Twelve Classics of Christmas,” including works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Brothers Grimm and other writers. Happy gift-giving, folks. Think inside the box. (2025, ages 8 and up, $7.99 per title.)

1. 1. My early Christmas gift arrived in the shape of the 100th anniversary edition of A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner.” I can’t find this exact version online, I’m sure you will, though. So that’s a link to a super cute Piglet and Pooh “rain puddle print” umbrella that you may like. (I’m all, hey, Wacky Mommy is a gift guide now.) The cover is beautiful, yellow and black, soft and fuzzy like Pooh. I’m in love with this edition, it’s perfect. It was originally released in 1926, followed by the release of “The House at Pooh Corner” in 1928. This book contains both titles, with original artwork by Ernest H. Shepard. His line drawings contain so much detail and warmth. (Aladdin, all ages, 361 pages, $10.99.)

1. 1. “Keeping the Light: A Story About Letting Your Light Shine,” is a new book from Ali Gilkeson, with lively and bright pictures by Lee Wildish. I like this little guy, Fynn, he makes the day happier. “He lives with his family in a lighthouse by the sea. (I mean, all lighthouses are by the sea or near a body of water. I’ve never seen a lighthouse in the middle of a city or at the end of a cul-de-sac. Have you?” the author begins.) And a fine story it is. (Waterbrook/Multnomah/Penguin Random House, ages 3 and up, $14.99.) (I reviewed Gilkeson’s last title, “My Lighthouse: A Story of Finding Your Way Home,” last year.)

1. 1. And now for “Little Monsters,” a playful spoof by Maire Roche, wherein the March sisters from Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” became, yep. Monsters. Not sure how I feel about this twist, but I know the kids will get a kick out of it, so there you go. It’s not scheduled for release until next summer, so we have some time to puzzle it over. Oh-ho! Roche’s other new title, “Bromantasy,” a “cozy, queer fantasy” about young people and love, is scheduled to hit the shelves in May. Ahhhhh… this is a whimsical, creative author. Thanks, Maire. (Aladdin Books/Simon & Schuster.)

1. 1. Speaking of monsters and magic… (see how nicely I segued there?) “A Mastery of Monsters,” by Liselle Sambury, is out now. This is the first book in what’s being described as a “dark academia fantasy series” for teens. August’s mother has gone missing, and now her brother, right before his sophomore year. She knows something is wrong and vows to find the truth and save her family. Great read. (Margaret M. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, 2025, high school and older, 580 pages, $24.99.) Sambury is a Trinidadian Canadian author whose works covers a lot of genres, including fantasy, horro and sci-fi. Rock it.

(“Gleneden Beach, Oregon coast”; photo by Rawley/use with permission only, please)

• “This Moment is Special: A Día de Muertos Story,” a new children’s picture book written and illustrated by John Parra, is a great way to introduce kids and others to a special holiday that means so much to so many. The book is in both Spanish and English, and the illustrations are bright and playful. (Beach Lane Books/A Paula Wiseman Title; scheduled for release July 15, 2025; all ages; $19.99.)
• “Living Bridges: The Hidden World of India’s Woven Trees,” poses the question: How would you get around in your village, in the mountains, if there was no ease of transport? Especially during monsoon season? In the state of Meghalaya (northeastern India) the community comes together, and has for centuries now, to use rubber ficus trees to make Jingkieng Jri, aka Living Root Bridges. Author Sandhya Acharya and illustrator Avani Dwivedi have done a thoughtful job with this picture book of introducing readers to the twisting, braiding and tying, along with the science and care, that goes into building these magnificent structures. (A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025, ages 4 and up, $19.99.)
• “Always Be My Bibi,” a new young adult romance, introduces us to Bibi Hossain, who is not spending the summer working at her family’s fried chicken joint, after all. Instead, she’s traveling from Paterson, New Jersey, to Bangladesh for her big sister Halima’s surprise! wedding at the bridegroom’s family’s tea estate. This trip could get interesting! (Salaam Reads, ages 7th grade and up, 356 pages, $19.99.)
• Christine Virnig’s (“A Bite Above the Rest”) new scary-fun mystery (for middle grade readers and up) is scheduled for release Aug. 25. “Phantom Academy” tells the tale of one young Finn, who gets knocked in the head with a stray coconut, doesn’t survive, and lands at the academy for the recently deceased. Kinda dark and twisty, but still fun. The kids will love it; the grown-ups may have some questions, as grown-ups often do. (Aladdin, ages 8 and up, $18.99/hardcover, $8.99/paperback.)
• G.F. Miller’s new romantic read for young readers is “What If You Fall for Me First?” (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2025, 368 pages, $8.99.) Sofia is not “sooo nice,” okay? And is on a mission to show Mark Chen, her crush, that she’s complex. She enlists cool guy Holden to help her, but how is this going to go, folks? Read and see. It’s been fun finding some good summer reads, by the way. Here’s another one…
• The final title in the Restorationists trilogy, “Beyond the Far Horizon,” is scheduled for release Sept. 9. (Written by Carolyn Leiloglou, with illustrations by Vivienne To, WaterBrook/Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group, middle grades and up.) Join Ravi, Georgia and Vincent as they fight with the Distortionists, and learn about art and adventure along the way. Books where kids are the heroes are the best.
• One more picture book… “Kittybunkport,” by Scott Rothman, with illustrations by Zachariah OHora (Viking/Penguin Random House, 2025, ages 3 and up, $18.99). Chowder and Crackers, two sweet and shy kitty cats, living large, catching lobster, enjoying their lobster rolls, and suddenly tasked with fixing the “super-haunted” lighthouse. For the record? They’re not both in agreement on this. The illustrations are pretty great, and the story is funny and dramatic.

The pick of the week is… “Living Bridges,” because I was geeking out on the science-y stuff and resources in the back of the book.

Disclaimer: All of the books included in today’s post were sent to me free for review purposes. Disclaimer here. All for now and see you next time!

WM

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

My husband and I are coming up on our… 17th anniversary? No, 16th. But we’ve been together for 17-plus years now and sometimes, believe it or not, we get on each other’s nerves. We spend a ton of time together, which is how we both like it. On the other hand, he loves the ocean. I love the ocean, too, but I also love hanging out with a book by the pool, or maybe, I dunno, going shopping. Or for breakfast. But he really, really loves the ocean, as in, being alone at the ocean, riding his bike along the shore, taking loads of photos, hiking for miles, traipsing up winding, crazy lighthouse stairs.

This ocean appreciation came as a surprise to me, because when I married him, he was definitely a mountain man.

This scene, from “The Perfect Storm,” sums it up:

Bobby Shatford: “I got a woman who I can’t stand to be two feet away from.”
Captain Billy Tyne: “Congratulations.”
Bobby Shatford: “Then again, I love to fish.”
Captain Billy Tyne: “Son, you’ve got a problem.”

We were having coffee, planning out our weekend, and Steve said something about, “What was that you said, about ‘spaces in your togetherness’?” First of all, I was being a smartass when I said that, and second of all, I didn’t say it — Khalil Gibran did, and I’ve heard the lines at approximately 80 percent of all the weddings I’ve been to.

Ever.

The lines have become, OK, I’ll say it… somewhat trite, along with over-used, but so are a lot of other lines. Shakespeare’s, for example. Which kills me a little inside because I’m Shakespeare girl for many years now. But it made me think… You know what would be perfect? Wedding vows that were a mash-up of Polonius’s lines to his son, Laertes, along with the lines from “The Prophet.” Oh, yeah, honey, now that’s the motherlode.

The words from “The Prophet,” I’ll put into italics. Polonius’s quotes I’ll put in bold. Ready?

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

“Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, and you are stay’d for. There; my blessing with thee! And these few precepts in thy memory see thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel…”

“But do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade. Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, but not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy…”

“Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”

“For the apparel oft proclaims the man, and they in France of the best rank and station are of a most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!”

God, I love the Internet. Adieu! And Stevie, here’s to the rest of our lives. I love you.

xoxoxoxo

wm

(Photos by Steve Rawley)

http://youtu.be/OJJxu16HCCI

(Photos by Steve Rawley)