An interview with Rue Mapp, creator of Nature Swagger

English 12 & Up Black Joy Outdoors Feminism I got the amazing opportunity to do a Q&A with Rue Mapp, creator of the recently released Nature Swagger & founder of Outdoor Afro! Nature Swagger is a beautiful book that celebrates Black Joy with stunning photography & personal essays from some of the outdoorsiest folks around….

Top 5 Books I Read in May

If you’re looking for a quick monthly roundup, check out the best 5 books I read in May! Ordinary Equality: You know, it would be really nice to go one day without feeling like my bodily autonomy wasn’t under attack. By now you’ve probably seen all sorts of coverage about the document leak regarding overturning…

Black Girl Magic: Ballerinas & Other Historical Figures

English Middle Graders Black Culture & Identity summary Both of these books are beautiful collections of badass historical figures, many of whom are still alive and continuing to make history! If you’re in the market for nonfiction anthologies about historical figures (like I am 100% of the time) make sure you check these out from…

The Grandmaster’s Daughter

English & Korean 4+ Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts Korean Creators Perseverance Respect Dan-ah Kim summary The Grandmaster’s Daughter is a sweet and simple story that shows incidental representation of girls with black belts and tells the reader a bit more about the martial arts practice. Every morning, Sunny can be seen outside of the…

Learning About Africa: 2 Reads

English 5+ African Culture & Identity Historical Figures African Countries summary Can you recall what you learned about Africa when you were in school? I can. We learned all of the countries and then had a test where we had to fill in a map in 7th grade. That’s it. We didn’t learn about historical…

Climate Justice for the Whole Family

English All Ages summary I’ve been described as a “militant recycler” before, a title that I wear proudly. But recycling is just the bare minimum of what we should be doing for our earth. Climate justice is for the whole family, and citizens need to hold corporations accountable as well as politicians to ensure that…

Fearless: The Story of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Defender of Free Speech

English 6+ Historical Figure Protest Journalism Free Speech CW: Pet death, Daphne’s death mentioned in back matter. Gattaldo summary I had never heard of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist from the island of Malta, before seeing this book from Candlewick. Upon reading, I was flabbergasted that I’ve never heard of this amazing journalist working for…

Nice White Ladies

English YA+ White Supremacy Complicity Unconscious Bias White Feminism Jessie Daniels summary “No amount of positivity, light, and love will help us defeat the patriarchy if white feminists can’t tolerate being criticized” (8). If you’re a white lady, you should be reading this book. If you’re a “nice” liberal white lady, you should be reading…