Letter supporting Pride displays in libraries

Someone removed all the books from a Pride display at the Rohnert Park library. In solidarity with Sonoma County Library and with other local libraries that help users to #ReadwithPRIDE, I submitted this letter to the editor of the Press Democrat. My ground-rule when writing this letter: not to validate a campaign to remove the books, nor the organization spearheading it, through any mention of their names.

Read-aloud update, Summer 2022

Video: Read-aloud update, Summer 2022. Between “First-chapter Friday” previews of new and interesting books, as well as full-length read-alouds of stories in the public domain, I hope that my recordings encourage young listeners’ imagination and vocabulary.

SRCSA library : End-of-school-year video

Congratulations to our promoting eighth-graders for 2021-2022! School is out, but I’ve had end-of-school-year tasks to accomplish. I’m grateful to our school’s parents’ group for purchasing backstops for the library shelves.

Book-Talk : It Sounds Like This, by Anna Meriano

What happens when a high-school marching band’s entire low brass section is suspended? Yasmín Treviño and some of her bandmates volunteer to be part of a replacement low brass section in an effort to save their marching band. It Sounds Like This is a wonderfully representative book for characters with diverse identities and orientations, especially for asexuality.

Review : ‘Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster’

One of the books that I’ve been reading this month (now recently completed) is Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster by Andrea Mosqueda. In this Young Adult novel, Maggie Gonzalez has to choose an escort for her younger sister’s quinceañera.

Maggie’s up against a deadline as part of fittings and preparations for her sister’s quinceañera, but choosing an escort is compounded by romantic feelings that pull her in three directions: toward her best friend Amanda, toward her former boyfriend Matthew, and toward Dani, a new girl at school.