This autumn I'll really enjoy this apple scented candle when I'm doing my evening reading. Aren't those gifts fabulous? You may want to check out once upon a book club.
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Friday, May 22, 2026
Gift 2
This charm bracelet is my favorite. I love its delicacy and its book themed charms.
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Gift one
This was the first book related gift: a skull cookie cutter. I'll give it to Amber, our family's Halloween queen. Quite on brand for a scary story author and fan of all things R. L. Stine.
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Thursday, May 21, 2026
Six Of Sorrow (YA chiller)
When Amber came over on Mother's Day carrying a Once Upon a Book Club package you'd better believe my eyes lit up! I knew I was in for a quality immersive reading experience. It contained not only a superb YA novel, but four narrative themed gifts to open at certain points in the book...
...And what a book it was! Isabeau, Reuel, Georgina, Cori, August, and Solaina were born on the same day. Some took their first breaths far from Sorrow, a small town named after a witch. But they and their families returned. Most of their lives the girls were inseparable. People couldn't help noting the highly inprobable coincidence of the birth date. One older woman whispered that they were blessings from the witch. But something happened on their thirteenth birthday that split them. Narrator Isabeau only spends time with Reuel.
"We are surrounded by death.
For a breath, we simply pause together, Reuel and I, standing inside the arched gates of Greenbrier Cemetery. The wet air rustles the trees around us, the Spanish moss dripping from their branches, like cobwebs strung from the corners of the night sky, which is so dark it looks like it's been colored with the blackest ink."
Probably not the ambiance in which you'd want to celebrate your sixteenth birthday. But it's where Isabeau and Reuel go to drink, exchange gifts, and make wishes that night. They also cut themselves to take a blood oath.
The next day Reuel has vanished without a trace. Wherever she is, she's left her phone in her room. Ominously all the plants in her home have died overnight. A search yields no clues. But it does bring the remaining girls together...
...Strangely it brings the mothers together. They, for the most part, don't even like each other. And they seem to be keeping secrets from their daughters...
...one night Isabeau wakes to find Reuel in her room eating her cigarettes as if they were French fries. Reuel is gravely ill with symptoms that defy diagnosis. And she can't remember a moment of her missing days. Then Georgina disappears from a sleepover and returns gravely ill and lacking memories.
Despite reassurance from the medical community the other girls know their friends are getting worse, possibly fatally so. And they have reason to believe that an unseen being is targeting them all.
Could it be Sorrow, the witch?
Could it be a far more malignant entity?
Could it somehow be the unintended consequence of a spell their mothers tried to cast back when they were teens and best friends?
I highly recommend Six Of Sorrow for YA chiller affecianados. The girls are given well defined and distinctive identities. Reality and fantasy are integrated seamlessly and plausibly. And the suspense builds up perfectly to a fever pitch.
On a purrrsonal note, at Clean Sweep we're in the final stages of preparation for opening tomorrow. Pricing and labeling and all that stuff. Today I came to campus in shorts and a tee shirt. The air-conditioning made me cold 🥶. I dug through one of the clothes mountains, hoping for random stuff that fit and was able to put together in less than ten minutes a coordinated outfit--white jeans, a white with gold dots sweater, a coordinating soft belt, and gorgeous feather earrings--that everyone loves. Emma says I have a gift for putting outfits together. I love having that gift.
A great big shout out goes out to the fabulous and talented Clean Sweep crew of '26 and our fearless leader, Lisa Morin.
Jules Hathaway
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Wednesday, May 20, 2026
More finds
These are some of the Squishmallows I found. I also acquired a huge owl.
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Another find
Can you believe someone left these? They fit me just fine. All they need is laces.
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Clean Sweep finds
I found this great dress. Note the cats and 🦉s. Everyone says it's purrrfect for me. The socks are another cool find.
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Tuesday, May 19, 2026
A Crown of Stories
"As a grad student in publications design in the 1980s, I was inspired by the design of The Black Book to pair my poems celebrating Black America with historical images. That photo-essay for class grew into a life passion for pictures and research...20 years later, that class assignment grew into a book: Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People."
Carole Boston Weatherford, a prize winning children's book author, considers Toni Morrison to be a mentor. The awe and respect and love she has for her is evident in her biography in verse, A Crown of Stories.
The highly unusual choice of voice--second person in a way I have never seen before--speaks to an intimacy between author and subject. The you Weatherford addresses is Morrison.
"No one can call you second class.
That means a lot at a time when laws and leaders
keep Blacks at the bottom of the ladder.
Your family may not have had much money,
but your mother joins the Book of the Month Club.
In the Wofford household books are everywhere.
You devour them like Sunday supper."
I shared that quote because to me it conveys the essence of the book. It is evocative. As it narrates Morrison's life story it gives a real feel for its texture and nuance. It gives a real feel for the life of a child who was given the treasure of books and reading in a world that was hell bent on keeping her "in her place".
Khalif Tahir Thompson's warm, colorful collage like illustrations are a powerful compliment to the text. They are not to be just skimmed over. They not only help set the tone, but convey valid clues. When she is shown writing, for example, it's always with a standard number 2 pencil, nothing fancier.
All in all, this captivating and engaging book would be a great addition to public, school, and family libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm having a grand timeal volunteering with Clean Sweep. Today I was working on clothes and bedding. I'm making some great finds--mostly clothes and Squishmallows. Today I found Air Jordans that fit! All they need is laces. My very first Air Jordans. Eugene is not as enthusiastic as he could be about the new sofa. Tobago has enough enthusiasm for both of them. I am ever so glad I arranged the switch.
A great big shout out goes out to the '26 Clean Sweep crew and our fearless leader (who is also my best friend) Lisa Morin.
Jules Hathaway
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Monday, May 18, 2026
A tale of two sofas
This is the new sofa. It's a lot more comfortable and attractive.
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A tale of two sofas
This is the sofa that has been in my living room for decades, a hand me down from another family. For years I've really wanted to replace it. When we're not at camp Eugene spends his evenings on the sofa watching his shows. So I wanted him to have a comfortable sofa. This year all the elements came together. Bailey and Cam quite generously gave us a sofa. They even delivered it and hauled the old one out. Since it's May the old one will be hauled away for free.
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Sunday, May 17, 2026
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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Saturday, May 16, 2026
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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Friday, May 15, 2026
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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Thursday, May 14, 2026
This mug
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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A iced coffee ☕️ bar
That actually had decaf. My first iced decaf was really good.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Keep It Together, Keiko Carter (juvenile fiction)
My largely unsystematic study of juvenile fiction has led me to the conclusion that seventh grade is the year nearly universally portrayed as the most difficult. It's easy to see why. Sexual development can be challenging for both early and late developers. Academic responsibilities ramp up. Even long term close friendships can be strained as people develop different goals and interests. And emotions can be more volatile and confusing than ever. If family change is added to the volatile mix life can feel overwhelming.
Keiko, Jenna, and Audrey are long term besties. Jenna has been away for the summer, visiting her now divorced father. They're finally reuniting just before the start of seventh grade. Keiko is sure things will back to normal. Together they will join new clubs, explore new horizons, maybe begin dating...
...not quite. Jenna has been texting with a boy Audrey has decided is hers. Things go south rapidly when Audrey tells Jenna to cease and desist and Jenna refuses. Pretty soon the two girls aren't speaking to each other and Audrey is pressuring Keiko to take her side.
Keiko would like to get some advice from her mother. But home is another place where too much seems to be changing. Her mother has moved up to full time work. She's also writing her first grant proposal which necessitates her being away even more. Her absences are taking a toll on the family. Keiko wonders if that's how it started with Jenna's family.
Keiko is very conflict aversive. She'll do whatever she must to restore harmony, feeling it her duty. But what if she can't with either her friends or her family?
On a purrrsonal note, in the larger scheme of things I'm sure it's not up there with the discovery of penicillin or open heart surgery; but I'm loving sugar free ice cream. Since I embarked on the diet from Hell last summer ice cream is one of the foods I've missed the most. A few weeks ago my friend, Bailey, brought some to the Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund potluck. Then this week Eugene brought some home. I think it's delicious 😋 😍. He disagrees. He says I can have regular ice cream 🍦. Technically I can. Realistically I can't. Diet compliance is one of the ways I can remain physically healthy and cognitively competent, stay actively engaged in and really enjoy life, and be around for my family including precious Tobago and my many friends as long as possible. I'm willing to forgo favorite foods in service of this greater good. But I greatly appreciate them being diet compliant.
A great big shout out goes out to all the scientists who are discovering how to produce the safe versions of favorite foods for those of us on medically restricted diets.
Jules Hathaway
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Also from Amber
Amber knows I love Once Upon a Book Club packages. Each contains a book and gifts you unwrap at certain points in the narrative. It makes reading extra fun. (www.onceuponabookclub.com) This one is a YA chiller that I look forward to reading and reviewing.
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Gifts from Amber
Isn't the owl precious? I love that Amber made it for me. The book looks great. I'll be sure to review it for my readers who relish good horror fiction.
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Monday, May 11, 2026
Paper Girl (adult nonfiction)
I first became familiar with Beth Macy's writing when I read and reviewed her Dopesick a hard hitting expose about the devastation wrought on vulnerable communities by the opiate epidemic enabled by the greed and duplicity of Purdue Pharma. Readers were given much more than facts and statistics. We got intimate heartbreaking portrayals of the people who became addicted and their friends and family and communities, considered by its administration to be acceptable collateral damage.
In Paper Girl (as a child she delivered the local newspaper by bike) she uses her powers of observation and analysis to answer a deeply personal question--why had her hometown, Urbana, Ohio, declined so precipitously in the decades since she left. She also answers another question--why should those of us who live hundreds or even thousands of miles from Urbana care.
"In my hometown, the number of children living in poverty has more than tripled since I left. The number orphaned by the opioid crisis has tripled since 2015. After the jobs went away, heroin helped itself to my hometown, followed by fentanyl and meth. The result of that one-two punch has been a preponderance of trauma that is overtaxing every system meant to address it. 'Backward mobility,' economists call this devastating trend, exacerbated by the Great Recession."
Throughout the book readers meet the victims of this devastating trend. In one quite revealing thread Macy traces her life trajectory with that of a man who graduated from the same high school decades later. They both started out with similar challenges: poverty and family dysfunction. But she was able to break free thanks to a Pell grant that bankrolled her college education. His education was frequently interrupted by seemingly insurmountable financial obstacles.
But Urbana's challenges go way beyond financial ones. An abyss has opened between the rich who run things and the much less privileged whose needs are ignored by them. Social media disinformation and venom have spread faster than the most infectious of viruses. Distrust and resentment have eroded relationships between people and institutions, neighbors, and coworkers. There are unsafe subjects that can't be brought up even with close friends and family members.
It turns out that today's Urbana has a lot in common with other cities--maybe one close to where you live.
Macy gives a cogent analysis of the various factors contributing to the downward spiral. Paper Girl is an illuminating read for anyone wondering why life in America isn't what it used to be or if there's any way out of our current national downward spiral.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday Eugene did everything he could to make my mother's day purrrfect. He gave me 🌹s, a sweet grey 🐱, and a card. He took me on a road trip and bought me critters and earrings. He took me out for lunch. All my kids called. Amber and Brian came over with gifts. Now I have a copy of My Friends in Hell, a just dropped anthology Amber has a story in. Amber also gave me a once upon a book club package with a YA chiller and 3 gifts to open when I hit certain pages. But her best gift was an owl heating pad she made herself. We both really like 🦉 s and give each other owl themed gifts. Katie and Adam called. I'll see them in two weeks. Even Mother Nature gave me a present, breaking out the sun for some glorious late afternoon outside reading.
A great big shout out goes out to my fabulous and fantastic family.
Jules Hathaway
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Sunday, May 10, 2026
Friday event
This is my friend, Adam. He's a custodian at UMaine, a proud cat dad, an all around nice guy, and one of Lady T's biggest fans. Everyone at the Union relies on and thinks the world of him.
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Friday event
Here is my new little friend. I read on a tag that he's made from recycled ♻️ plastic bottles. I have no idea how, but intend to find out.
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Event on the mall
Here's me with my new little friend. Note my self decorated jeans--a tribute to precious Tobago.
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Event on the mall
Here's Bailey running the stuff a buddy table which was by far the most popular. Note the tiny shirts.
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Saturday, May 9, 2026
Birth Behind Bars (adult nonfiction)
According to Rebecca M. Rodriguez Carey, more than three thousand women in our nation's prisons each year are pregnant. Despite the numbers hardly anything is known about them. Out of sight, out of mind. Carey set out to change that. Her research paints a draconian picture--one that would inspire a latter day Dante to add another ring to Hell. Just try to imagine:
*being denied adequate pain relief after a C section because of a general rule about opiates despite the fact that it's major surgery. (I've had 3 C sections. Trust me when I say that after you get cut like that you need an opiate);
*being shackled at the ankles, waist, and wrists while in labor;
and *suffering from post partum symptoms like seriously heavy bleeding and severe breast pain and not being allowed to see a doctor.
Her research resulted in Birth Behind Bars: The Carceral Control of Pregnant Women in Prison. At the heart of the narrative are the candid and poignant--often heart breaking-- experiences of the women who trusted her with their stories.
Readers follow these women through the often insurmountable challenges and deprivations and cruelties they must cope with from learning of their pregnancies through labor and delivery to leaving prison, often hoping for reunification with their babies without being given anywhere near adequate resources to do so.
"Throughout this book, I show how the maternal web of control operates and argue that incarcerated pregnant women are regulated in the most extreme of ways through subjugation and oppression and through the near-countless and archaic rules governing pregnancy and motherhood behind bars. Using a reproductive-justice framework, I introduce the maternal web of control and show how the criminal legal system works with other social systems to further repress the reproductive rights of women, where reproductive decisions are not left to pregnant women but remain in the hands of powerful carceral systems collectively disrupting entire families, neighborhoods, and communities."
Carey hopes that Birth Behind Bars will lead to incarcerated women being included in conversations centered around pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. I see it as a most excellent read for feminists and our allies.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday UMaine had a festive event on the mall. There were a bunch of tables and some games. By far the most popular was Bailey's table where people could stuff a bear and put a UMaine t 👕 on it. I was paparazzi. I randomly found the fun photos app on my phone and had fun experimenting with it. Then I was hanging at a table with friends having a great time. Then I rushed to write this review in time to hand the book over to Bailey so she could read it before it's due. I finished with 5 minutes to spare. Eugene came home after a week at camp and I was very happy to see him. When I realized I'd left my favorite book mark on campus he drove me there to get it.
I love reading. I enjoy writing and take pride in my reviews. But sometimes I feel a lot of pressure because of all the great review worthy books that keep getting published. I'll never get to them all, especially if I keep any kind of balance in my life.
A great big shout out goes out to Carey for crafting such a relevant, timely book and the women who shared their stories with her.
Jules Hathaway
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Friday, May 8, 2026
Signs of spring
Little blue flowers 💐 in the woods path I takes to get to my bus stop
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Thursday, May 7, 2026
Right Back At You (juvenile fiction)
Carolyn Mackler's Right Back At You is a delightful twist on time travel. It's not people who do the traveling--it's the letters of two-twelve-olds, both of whom are facing serious challenges.
Mason (2023) is missing his father who has moved to Atlanta to start a higher paying job. His mom seems to be having a problem with alcohol. At school he is being bullied by a cruel boy who gets away with his meanness because he's very popular and very sneaky and his parents donate a lot of money to his school.
Talia (1987) feels like she's being abandoned by her long time best friend. Although she loves baseball, the school team's coach won't let her try out because she's a girl. She's being bullied by antisemitic comments that the teachers do nothing to stop.
When Mason's therapist tells him to write a letter to someone or noone and send it or not send it he writes it to Albert Einstein and tosses it in his closet...
...only to discover it replaced by one from Talia. It's the beginning of a most unusual correspondence. After they overcome their very understandable initial skepticism it turns out they have a lot to offer each other...
...and there's an amazing but credible plot twist at the end.
On a purrrsonal note, I had the most purrrfect evening last night. With my very introverted husband at camp, Tobago and I had invited Bailey and Cam over for dinner. I even baked a dessert. They arrived just as the spaghetti 🍝 was ready, bearing garlic bread 🍞. Cam was seeing the place for the first time and was very impressed. We had a delightful meal. Lady T outdid me at hostessing, being very attentive to our guests and loving all their attention. The rest of the night 🌙 she was strutting around, looking quite pleased with herself. I believe I can safely say that a good time was had by all.
A great big shout out goes out to Bailey, Cam, and precious Tobago, the hostess with the mostess.
Jules Hathaway
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Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Sundown Girls (juvenile fiction)
"When the sun goes down in a sundown town
Be wise and beware.
When the sun goes down in a sundown town
Make sure you are scarce.
When the sun goes down in a sundown town
Only the foolhardy stay there."
This menacing poem, quoted at the beginning of L. S. Stratton's Sundown Girls, lets readers (and parents and teachers of readers) know that the book, although fiction, is rooted in dark history, rattling the bones of the inconvenient skeletons in America's closet.
I was well into adulthood when I first learned about sundown towns. In the not so distant past they were legion, and not just in the South--unless you consider Illinois and Oregon to be below the Mason Dixon Line. Stratton based the history of the fictional Sparksburg, Virginia on real life examples.
After the Civil War the whites in many integrated towns began to strongly resent the new found prosperity of some of the Black residents. They drove the Blacks out by threatening them, burning their homes and businesses, and even resorting to murder. The Wilmington (North Carolina) Massacre of 1898 and the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Massacre of 1921 are particularly egregious examples. Often the town leaders and police forces turned a blind eye to, encouraged, or participated in the lawlessness rather than trying to subdue it.
Not all those towns became sundown towns. The ones that did enacted legislation that specifically forbid Blacks from being in the town after sundown. That way the whites could exploit them as domestic and agricultural laborers without accepting them as neighbors. If unlucky Blacks were caught at night whites could dispose of them by any means they chose. Many Blacks disappeared, never to be seen again.
"'Sorry,' Dawn said with a small smile, 'didn't mean to startle you, honey, but you didn't hear me when I was calling you.'
No, you weren't calling me, Naomi thought, because that's not my name."
When Naomi was fifteen she was torn from her mother (who was taken away by the police) and returned to the family she'd been kidnapped from as a baby: Dawn (mother), Andre (father), and Maya and Blake (siblings). So she's living with strangers who share a long, intimate history. Dawn and Andre panic any time they can't find Camryn (her birth name), fearful of losing her again. Maya seems to wish she'd never returned.
To restore harmony the family is taking a three week vacation at an isolated cabin in the Shenandoah Valley with a relentless list of planned activities. But it's not going to be the bonding panacea the parents anticipate. Naomi has misgivings about the place. On the way to the cabin a black truck follows the family and almost runs them off the road. At the cabin she starts smelling a sickening stench like rotting flesh that the rest of the family is oblivious to. And there's the silent little nightgown wearing girl who appears only to her, seeming to want something of her.
Naomi makes friends with Elly, a girl her age who is vacationing with her two moms at a nearby cabin. She's seen a stranger lurking in the woods near the cabins at night. When Elly's moms die suddenly in a car accident Elly is nowhere to be found.
When her family had first driven into town Naomi had seen a missing poster for a teen named Amber. Thinking maybe both girls had been kidnapped by the same person and are still alive, she starts her own investigation. Local law enforcement warns her that there will be consequences if she doesn't cease, desist, and leave the detective work to the professionals. Dawn and Andre do everything in their power to stop her. She knows she's putting herself in real danger...
...but if there's any chance of finding Elly before it's too late she'll do whatever it takes.
Books like Sundown Girls are so necessary now. Book banners and curriculum white washers are trying so hard to remove evidence that could tarnish beliefs in American and white supremecy. We are so in danger of returning to the educational ignorance of my childhood. We can't let that happen.
On a purrrsonal note, my day had a purrrfect start. When I woke up Tobago was contentedly snuggling with me. When I was doing my half hour on my exercise bike my prisms caught the light and I was surrounded by dancing 🌈s. Tobago snuggled on the sofa with me while I read my email newsletters. And I read that Kimberly Crenshaw (who came up with the theory of intersectionality) has gotten her memoir published. I'll review it as soon as I can get my hands on it. Campus is in bloom with so many gorgeous flowers. Who can ask for anything more?
A great big shout out goes out to Crenshaw for her brilliant scholarship, Stratton for her eye opening narrative, and precious Tobago for being such a sweet snuggle buddy.
Jules Hathaway
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Monday, May 4, 2026
Sunday, May 3, 2026
A Sea of Lemon Trees (juvenile historical fiction in verse)
I had a big old to do list that I was planning to accomplish. But you know what they say about those best laid plans often biting the dust. Once I opened Maria Dolores Aguila's A Sea of Lemon Trees I couldn't put it down. The plot is engaging on both the cognitive and emotional levels. The characters are well developed and highly relatable, especially the narrator. The plot is in free verse, always a plus in my mind. And young readers are introduced to yet another dark chapter in this country's history that those in high places want them to remain in the dark about.
Roberto is the youngest of four siblings. He resents being the only one treated like a baby, not let in on grown people's business. He has no clue that he'll soon be thrust into a frighteningly mature role.
He is also the only one of the siblings born on American soil, his parents' dream. This is both a blessing and a burden.
Before Roberto returns to school from Christmas vacation he is warned that he and the other Mexican will be sent to another building--one in which farm animals have been housed--for their education. His father tells him to come home instead. He does so and many of his peers do the same.
"My daddy says we should just go to the
Olive Street School, says a girl with dark
brown trenzas.
Her sister
hugs her rag doll a little closer.
They will call emigracion, says Pancho.
My mother says we are not going back to la
Caballeriza, no matter what, says David,
crossing his arms."
As the children talk their parents are in a meeting discussing how to react to the sudden separate and far from equal direction their beloved children's education is going in. Imagine being in their situation where advocating for loved ones could come at an unbearable price.
The parents who won't give in organize a committee--communicating with the Mexican Consulate and raising funds for legal services.
The school officials retaliate.
The committee succeeds in taking them to court. Roberto is chosen as lead plaintiff, representing all the children.
"It was okay when
I was only my family's futuro
but to be the hope
of so many other students' futuros
is frightening."
Aguila provides readers with an illuminating history of the real life Lemon Grove Incident.
I highly recommend A Sea of Lemon Trees for public and school libraries although it will probably draw the hate of banners and censors. It can help younger readers understand not only the evils of the recent past, but stuff that's still going on today. As Aguila reminds us, "Never forget that knowledge is power, and every single one of us has the power to change the world."
On a purrrsonal note, this weekend has been nonstop cold drizzle and 🌧. Yesterday Eugene and I went on a drive and managed to find two Goodwills. Today Eugene went to the store to get milk and 🍞. He managed to fill a shopping cart.
A great big shout out goes out to Aguila for creating a most excellent narrative and Eugene for not sticking to his shopping list.
Jules Hathaway
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Saturday, May 2, 2026
More treasures
These and a set of different colored gel pens were the other treasures Eugene bought for me.
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Thrifting find
Tobago at first did not know what to think of the new Squishmallow Eugene bought for me. We acquired it on a drizzly road trip today.
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Sunshine 🌞
This picture just makes me 😃 😊. The day I took this picture was grey and 🌧. But this room was an oasis of sunshine and not just from the lighting fixtures.
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Friday, May 1, 2026
Monsters in the Archives (adult nonfiction)
I'd just picked up an inter library loan, Caroline Bicks's Monster in the Archives: My Year Of Fear With Stephen King, at Orono Public Library and was waiting for the bus back to campus. A guy I was sharing a bench with asked me what I like best about Stephen King's writing.
It's that, although there are gruesome scenes in his books, the horror doesn't come from special effects, nonhuman monsters, gratuitous gore, or over the top violence, but from King's intimate knowledge of human cognition and emotions. He has his finger on the hopes, fears, ambitions, loves, and hatreds that motivate people. He realizes that underneath the personas we present we are complex and contradictory. His protagonists are far from perfect and his villains, even in their most monstrous incarnations, show flashes of humanity.
That's why I took to Monsters in the Archives like Tobago to Fancy Feast entrees and good quality nip. Bicks gets it.
Caroline Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine. When she was about to start a sabbatical year she had an inspiration: to research how King's horror stories evolved from first draft to publication to gain insights into his creative process. For a year she had access to the Holy Grail of Stephen King primary sources: an archive attached to his famous Bangor home. She was the first person besides his family and Foundation to have access to those materials.
In the book Bicks focuses on five of King's early works: Pet Sematary, The Shining, Night Shift, 'Salem's Lot, and Carrie. By studying the evolution of plots and characters through these primary sources she gives readers insights into the Horrormeister's creative process. In Carrie, for instance, a number of revisions make Carrie less monstrous and more vulnerable, capturing her fading humanity.
The contextualization of Night Shift is particularly fascinating. Nearly all the short stories in this anthology were originally written when he was a University of Maine undergraduate. Bicks helps readers understand the influences of his growth and life challenges during what he's called "the most crucial and formative period of my life" and the politically turbulent era in which it took place.
Just like my Amber, Bicks started reading Stephen King's books at a very early age. She was only twelve when she read her first, Night Shift, and was terrified by one of the stories: The Boogeyman.
"In my imagination, the only thing worse than having my home ripped from its foundation and thrown into the wilderness was having it invaded by a monster that comes out when your parents are away."
Throughout the book she shares her reactions to his narratives. This openness and vulnerability make up a very fascinating strand, sure to resonate with readers who have had similar experiences.
Monsters in the Archives is a must read for the real Stephen King affecianado who wants to know the back story behind some of his most iconic works. I see it as a reference work one can return to profitably as opposed to a one time read. It would be an excellent birthday or Christmas gift.
On a purrrsonal note, although I had read King's earlier works as an undergrad, the Horrormeister didn't take up residence in my household until the winter of '97 when my 6-year-old Amber wanted to watch the TV version of The Shining. I videotaped it and watched it with her. At the end she announced that when she grew up she would be a horror story writer like Stephen King. She kept her siblings and friends entertained (and scared) with her stories. For awhile a nearby vacant lot became an animal Sematary. Fortunately the wildlife buried there never became reanimated. The girls and I had a special tradition that lasted well into their teen years of horror read alouds. Amber made good on her ambition. Her first horror novel, Little White Flowers, dropped last summer and her second, Hallowed Deadly Seeds, will be out in June. I think a tour of (fictional) Evanston, Maine might give even the Horrormeister the shivers.
A great big shout out goes out to Stephen King for creating such masterful narratives, to Caroline Bicks for sharing her insightful research, and to Amber Hathaway for not giving up on her childhood ambition.
Jules Hathaway
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