Pop Corn (juvenile fiction)

     Remember Judith Viorst's classic 1972 picture book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Well Rob Harrell's Pop Corn is a latter day middle school version. It's protagonist, Andrew, like Alexander, has a day when everything that could possibly go wrong does...

     On a day that everything needs to go right. It's Andrew's school picture day and he has to keep up his appearance until his homeroom gets called. It's also his mother's first day at a new job and she's stressed about making a good impression on her boss. 

     Andrew lives with anxiety. It impacts every aspect of his days. He's very dirt and germ phobic. He catastrophizes about even seemingly innocuous situations. And he lives in fear of having a panic attack, especially at school. 

     Andrew's day goes downhill very fast. Before his turn to sit in front of the camera he's a total mess sporting a black eye and broken glasses. And his grandmother who has Alzheimers has gone missing. His anxiety has been ramping up. Now his worst fear coming true seems inevitable. 

     Between the text and the cartoon like illustrations that look like they were drawn by a twelve-year-old kids can get a very real understanding of anxiety and its impact on the lives of their peers. 

On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was really fun. Eugene and I started off with our weekly delicious 😋 😍 😊 breakfast at Governors. Then we went on a big road trip. We stopped at a bunch of yard sales. My best finds were a Squishmallow, really cute dish towels to replace the ones that are falling to pieces, and some Christmas gifts for friends. Eugene and I like opposite kinds of yard sales. He likes ones with practical stuff and old fashioned stuff. I like ones that have kids stuff (as in clothing that actually fits me and--you guessed it--Squishmallows) and whimsical, sparkly stuff. So when I picked out the dish towels I made sure he saw that they were practical. We had a Subway subs picnic. The weather was perfect: in the 70s with a breeze. When we got home I opened the studio window for the first time this year much to Tobago's delight and dropped in on a neighborhood 🎂 party. 

A great big shout out goes out to Silas who just turned three with wishes for his fourth year to be wonderful for him and his family. 

Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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Thrifting

And speaking of thrifting, Friday I started volunteering with the Clean Sweep crew. People have lugged all the stuff students left in the dorms to the ice hockey 🏒 arena. Now we're sorting it out and organizing it so that everything will be in place when the sale starts. It's so fun and exciting. This is my best friend, Lisa Morin, showing us granny multitasking. She's keeping that stroller moving with one hand while taking care of business with the phone in the other. Making it look easy. I think she looks radiant. Don't you?

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Thrifting

I was really lucky Catherine saw these slippers and pointed them out to me. They're precious and fit just right. And their tails move when I walk.

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Thrifting

These are the Squishmallows I got at Goodwill Friday. Aren't they precious?

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Thrifting

This is a shirt I got at Orono Thrift Shop Wednesday. 

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My Friends in Hell (adult horror anthology)

"Death, blood/gore, evisceration, amputation, broken bones, cannibalism, kidnapping, suicide, gun violence, fire/burning, medical illness/disease, loss of bodily autonomy, bullying, racism, homophobia"

     This first paragraph from My Friends in Hell (nicely curated by A. D. Jones) lets prospective readers know that this fine anthology is not for the faint of heart. The gore and violence are omnipresent, although never gratuitous. Characters indulge in actions that would be considered despicable by just about any society. The authors know their readers' fears and use this insight to create super eerie settings and truly terrifying villains in believable and often quite sophisticated plots.

     What I'm saying is this may not be the book you want to tackle on a dark and dismal night when you're home alone. For the more spleeny among you it's not a book you want to tackle. Period.

     But the hard core chiller affecianados among you are in for a real treat. Among the twenty-five pieces you'll find:

*In Amber Hathaway's With Sisters Like These Michaela, pledging a sorority, hoping for close friends and fun activities, finds herself the intended victim of a gruesome rite.

*When Babs, protagonist of David Washburn's Tag, becomes friends with a fellow graffiti artist she never guesses the sacrifice she'll have to make so he can have limitless power.

*In Alana K. Drex's AI Pals Incorporated Sera learns why ordering an AI Pal is a dangerous mistake. 

*Max, the child narrator of Lance Loot's Christmas Every Day learns the hard way that parents had a very good reason for forbidding kids from crossing Bone Creek. 

*In  Bethany Russo's The Pumpkin Patch the participants in a late night vandalism spree receive severe punishment from Pumpkin Patch characters come grotesquely to life.

     Those are only a few of the slightly satanic dishes served up in this gripping horror smorgasbord. And an additional good thing about an anthology is the author biographies in the back. You can use it to get your hands on more of the published writings of your new favorite scary story writers.

On a purrrsonal note, last night was the definition of bittersweet. I was running errands with my good friend Catherine and her brother. It was bittersweet because she has her degree and is now off to Buffalo, New York which is far away from Maine. One stop was Goodwill where I found Squishmallows. Catherine found a cat shirt for me then she found incredible cat slippers. (I promise pictures.) At Walmart I found sugarless low fat ice cream sandwiches which were actually good. 

I've been bad with long distance friendships. But I vowed this will be different. I sealed this vow with my latest tattoo--the boba drinking cat. If ink doesn't signal serious intent I can't imagine what would.

A great big shout out goes out to Catherine Segada UMaine Class of '26.

Jules Hathaway 

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Re: This mug

🥰

Emma Smith reacted via Gmail

On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 1:23 PM julia.hathaway <julia.hathaway@maine.edu> wrote:

Was in the Wade Center kitchen. I totally coveted it, but I wasn't going to steal it. Fortunately I was able swap a mug I didn't need for it. Now it's in my kitchen. 

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