August 2025 Reading & Writing Wrap-Up

August Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

Check out this new review of The Song of Orphan’s Garden over at Always in the Middle! I love the way Greg ends his reviews with a “five more things to like about” format!

Turned a manuscript in to my agent! – I finally finished the ms I’ve been working on converting from prose into verse and sent it off to my agent. She loves it, and we plan to go out on sub with it, but the timeline is a bit unknown.

Picture book draft – I actually finished a first draft of a picture book! I’m super excited about the book. I have no idea where it might lead (the market is tough right now, and many people write tons of PB manuscripts before they ever get one published), but I’m hopeful that this is the first of many and that it will make its way into the world at some point!

Other News:

Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio book event – Leigh Bardugo just released her first picture book, The Invisible Parade, with co-author/illustrator John Picacio. It’s utterly gorgeous!! I found it really interesting to hear about the process of how they wrote the book together. Plus, I got to get a couple of my other LB books signed, which was a nice bonus.

Aaron Reynolds book event (and a trip down memory lane) – This one was even more fun for me because Aaron and I go way back – he was the K-1 teacher at a church I volunteered at for years. It’s a mega-church, and back then, the kids’ program was a really elaborate production, and he wrote a lot of the programming. I was on the drama team for the kids’ ministry (yes, we had a whole drama team – it was pretty amazing), and I also eventually was a volunteer teacher in the 3-year-old room. I used to say that serving in that room was akin to being on a show like Blue’s Clues – we had special character guests, costumes, full-sets, musical numbers, etc. It was a LOT of work, but so much fun! One year Aaron and his wife wrote and directed a hilarious hour-and-a-half long operetta (all music, no dialogue) for Christmas. I played Mary–this is honestly a core memory for me! (I also once played a singing, dancing monster alongside Aaron for a children’s ministry conference–while I was eight months pregnant!!)

 

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Anyway, Aaron’s newest book, Troubling Tonsils (narrated by Jasper Rabbit of Creepy Carrots fame) was just released, and I got to go to his launch event at Anderson’s Bookshop (Bardugo’s event was there as well). Let me tell you, Aaron hasn’t lost any of the energy and humor he had as a K-1 teacher/writer all those years ago – his presentation is basically a kids’ “show”, and it’s so much fun!!!

Volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank – Now that I have a bit more time, I’m back to volunteering there weekly. Volunteers do things like pack bags with books to give to students, scan books to sort them by grade level, check books for damage, sticker them with the Bernie’s logo stickers, etc. It’s been nice to get back to volunteering regularly!

Lunch with B&N friends – Since I quit B&N, I’ve been trying to meet up with a couple of my friends from there once a month or so. My one fear after quitting was that I would lose out on actual human interactions with people outside of my family. LOL

What I Read:

• I read Always Anthony by Teri Libenson because I’ve been trying to do a bit of graphic novel research. (My library didn’t have the first book in this series in – it’s very popular! But it’s fine to read these out of order.) I’m hoping to try my hand at a graphic novel script at some point, but we shall see!
• I read Vote for the G.O.A.T. by Ali Terese, a wonderfully funny book about kids who stand up for what they believe in (and end up on some crazy capers) to save their school mascot.
• Next was Dracula’s Brunch Club by Brian Gonsar, another really funny read! (Guess I was feeling the need for some humor recently). This one is a graphic novel that imagines Dracula as a chef who makes blood orange donuts because vampires don’t realize that actual blood gives them even more energy. Loved this kid-friendly version of a vampire story!!
• Then I read Nordlys: Book One by Malin Falch, a Scandinavian take on Peter Pan. This graphic novel is truly gorgeous, and I just want to stare at the illustrations all day long!!!!
• I listened to Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver, another book that I had removed from my shelves during my purge (the best thing I ever did for those books was get rid of them and add them to my Hoopla audiobook TBR!!)
• Finally, I listened to The Beat I Drum by Dusti Bowling, a long-awaited companion to the Aven Green Series. I especially loved the appreciation for drumming in this one since my husband’s a drummer.  🙂
• I also read more picture books! Here’s a list:
  • The Flower Garden, Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates, Just Snow Already, The World’s Best Class Plant, Bird Rehearsal, How to Spot a Mermaid, What Fish Are Saying, Build a Sandcastle, The Squirrel Who Squabbled, The Way Home for Wolf, Firefly July, There’s Something Odd About the Babysitter, Side by Side,
    and Leafy Landmarks: Travels with Trees

• I read Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green. This YA verse novel takes place in Germany during the time just before the Berlin Wall came down. I’d never read a book about this topic and didn’t know much about it. It was really interesting to hear this perspective.
• Then I read The Burning Season, another verse novel, this time MG, by Caroline Starr Rose. This book is about a girl who is training to be a fire lookout. I didn’t even know this job exists, and I learned a lot. Plus, the verse is beautifully written!
• Since I’ve been trying to do a little middle grade graphic novel research, I read Sunny Rolls the Dice by Jennifer L. Holm and illustrated by Matthew Holm. (My library didn’t have the first book in the series, but I found it easy to jump right into this one.)
• I listened to The Things We Miss by Leah Stecher. I’ve heard amazing things about this book, and I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read it. I loved so much about this story about the pains of adolescence and what life might be like if we could skip over all the hard parts. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time!
•  And I read Wish I Was a Baller by Amar Shah, illustrated by Rashad Doucet. This graphic memoir tells the fascinating story of how Amar persisted in tough circumstances and became a teen sports journalist (and got to hang out with Shaquille O’Neal!).
• I also read a bunch of picture books! (31 of them, to be exact!) I don’t have time to put in pics of all of them, but here’s a pasted list of the titles (I hope to post pics of some of my faves soon!):
  • Capybara : a First Field Guide to the Biggest Rodent in the World, The Capybaras, There’s a Lion in the Forest!, Capybaras After Dark, I Am a Great Friend, Robins! : How They Grow Up, Sleepy Happy Capy Cuddles, The Koala Who Could, Dancing with Daddy, We Are Definitely Human, Willow and Bunny, Magic Candies, The Boo-Boos of Bluebell Elementary, Who’s Afraid of the Light, Homegrown, Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day, Big, Home in a Lunchbox, What Can You Do with a Rock?, Room on the Broom, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Where the Deer Slip Through, The Wall in the Middle of the Book, Frostfire, The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, Song After Song: The Musical Life of Julie Andrews, Butterfly on the Wind, Life After Whale, River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon, The Quacken, and The Story Book Knight

• I read Radiant by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, a verse novel about seeing the world from others’ perspectives. Loved it!
• Then read An Encantadora’s Guide to Monstros and Magic, a new release by fellow Middle Grade Escapades author Sarah Mendonca. I’ve been so excited that all of the books in our group are so incredibly good!! The MG world is getting some great books this year! My review for this one goes up tomorrow, along with a Top Ten Addictions list for the author!
• I also read an advanced copy of The Cassette Tape Secret by Danielle Herzog for my first blurb. Kind of an exciting milestone, and I really loved the book! It has great mental health representation and a very satisfying mystery.
• I listened to the final Greenwild book, The Forest in the Sky by Pari Thomson. I absolutely love everything about this series – such gorgeous writing and creative worldbuilding. This series might be an all-time favorite for me!
• And, finally, I listened to Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow. This is one of the books that’s been sitting on my shelf for way too long, and I added it to my listening TBR when I did my shelf-purge. I knew this book was going to be heartbreaking, but I didn’t realize it was going to be so poetic!