‘Children of Ragnarok’ by Cinda Williams Chima

I recently completed Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima (Grade 7 and up - School Library Journal). Published in 2022, this book was “new to me” when I purchased it at a second-hand bookstore. I was deeply interested in the fantasy setting that incorporated Norse mythology and I quickly became caught up by the story, which centered around three young people whose respective quests and challenges converge in New Jotunheim: a seeming paradise that is tainted by hidden evil. School Library Journal says: “Hand this to fantasy fans and younger readers aging into YA.” Children of Ragnarok is the first book in Chima’s Runestone Saga. The story continues in Bane of Asgard, published in 2024 — currently on my “want to read” list.

Equitable travel is essential for accessing library services

I live in a metropolitan area where I take for granted that I can just walk or take the bus to my public library. So while listening to That Librarian, written and narrated by Amanda Jones, I was deeply concerned by something Jones said about teens being able to access Livingston Parish Library in Louisiana: “Kids younger than sixteen cannot drive alone.” Teens would not be unaccompanied in Livingston Parish Library unless an adult gave them a ride and dropped them off there.

I was concerned and troubled by the idea that young people (or really people of any age) couldn’t easily walk, ride a bike, or take public transit to access their local public library. (And I’m aware that this reaction of mine is off-topic to the main focus of Jones’s book, which concerns her efforts to combat attempts at book censorship and to challenge hateful people who subjected her to cyber-bullying.)

What I’m reading in Summer 2026

What books do people have on their reading lists? Here’s a look at some of the books I’m reading during Summer 2026.

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End of school year, 2025-2026

What an amazing final week of school at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts: with a Pride celebration that united our community, followed the very next day by a Promotion Ceremony for our departing eighth-graders.
https://youtu.be/dGNPPg2g1NE

H.R. 2616, another tool for censorship

Among worrying legislation at the federal level, H.R. 2616 recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s troubling enough that, under certain circumstances, schools would be forced to “out” trans students to their parents, but I’m concerned about Section 3’s prohibition against “teaching or advancing gender ideology.”