The March 2022 issue of Smithsonian Magazine, with an article on the whooping cough vaccine, brought back a couple of memories for me, one that seems incompatible with the scholarly reputation of the publication.

It might seem impossible for an author/illustrator to write a humorous account of growing up during the Cold War in Russia, but that is just what Eugene Yelchin has done in The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.

I noticed a pattern in the books I have enjoyed most lately – Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs, View from Pagoda Hill by Michaela Maccoll, and Red, White, and Whole by Rajani Larocca. Each of these took the skeleton of a true family story and filled in the rest with fiction.

The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson, which goes on sale May 6, is a sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. While it is a stand-alone, I would recommend reading the two books in order.

The days grow short for the Johnny Jump-Ups – also known as violas, but I like the common name better. You can keep your pansies, though they are lovely.

Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett begins with an implausible start. The protagonist Emma Starling is born with the gift of healing which seems strange enough. Then the reader realizes that the narrator tells this tale from her allotted space in the graveyard, having died and been buried some time ago.

I’ve been asked the question more than once since I started this journey to become an Ezra Jack Keats biographer. Most recently it was by our oldest grandson’s girlfriend when he brought her home to introduce her to the family. “When did you start this?”

Rachel had come to New York City with her Uncle Fritz as displaced Jews from Berlin who had somehow managed to escape the Nazis. Her husband Aaron, who labels himself “a Jew from Flatbush” tries to understand but can’t fathom the trauma she brings with her.

The challenge was to write a poem that challenges a well-known proverb. The neighbors’ chickens this morning made me think of “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Let’s see how that works.

In a just released children’s book, Jack Knight’s Brave Flight by Jill Esbaum, the nonfiction story follows a little-known story of how air mail almost didn’t get into the postal system.

In this poetry month, I return to what may win the prize of “most visited” in my decade of blogging. April 4 is Maya Angelou’s birthday and seems a good time to revisit this blog, first published on June 2, 2014.

For two and a half years, we have lived out here on what we lightheartedly call “The Ranch.” We have watched this one dead tree. With unceasing breezes and winds, we have figured it would lose branches or fall just any time.

Maud Newton begins her book, Ancestor Trouble, with her search for her own heritage. She has heard family tales about the ancestor who married thirteen times and was killed by one of his wives and another who was killed with a hay hook and died in an institution.

The last Dropbox share with a publisher left mixed feelings, predominantly joyful relief preceding a hole in my life. What do I do now?

This post is a bit late for the International Strong Women celebration, but I’ve been thinking about the strong women in my life since the March 8 observance.

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani Larocca won an honor designation for the Newbery Award and a whole string of other honors listed on the website. It deserved every one and then some more.

We had been expecting the call. We had heard from friends and been forewarned with TV alerts that it was likely to come. Still, it was a bit of a surprise when Al answered a local call to hear, “This is your oldest grandson.”

Just out on March first is The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen, advertised as the first-ever monograph on this beloved midcentury husband-and-wife illustration team. I got to read the advance copy furnished by the publisher, Chronicle Chroma, through Net Galley.

During the fall lull in the coronavirus, I found myself on the opposite side of a school pick-up car line from the one I remembered. A lot of things had changed.

Bluebird, by Sharon Cameron, raises questions right from the start. Unless you are a history expert on the period right after World War II, I recommend reading her back matter before starting the book.