What up, my nerdy friends! I miss you! Thanks for this opportunity to celebrate my book launch with you for Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America. More than five years ago (Wait! What? I don’t feel five years older!) I shared a post with you about […]
Author Archives: CBethM
December
15
Being a Nerd, Weaponizing Hope, and the Art of Being Happy in Bad Times by Preston Norton
posted by CBethM
2020 was a bad year. I don’t need to tell you this. The four or so years leading up to 2020 were bad in their own way for reasons I probably don’t need to explain. So now here we are, almost all the way through 2021, and still, for whatever reason, everything still feels bad. […]
December
08
Giving Thanks for Fry Bread by Trevor Scott Barton
posted by CBethM
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. “Wait, Mr Barton,” said my students. “You mean Christmas isn’t your favorite holiday? That’s when you get presents and stuff!” “Nope,” I said. I like the ‘Thanks’ and the ‘Giving’ parts of Thanksgiving. I like to say ‘thanks’ to all of the people who mean the world to me. And […]
December
03
Cover Reveal & Exclusive Excerpt for THE OGRESS & THE ORPHANS by Kelly Barnhill
posted by CBethM
I started this book by accident. Like many people in this country, and perhaps some of you as well, I found the last handful of years difficult, weighted by heartsickness and worry and chronic rage. I found myself feeling silenced by my own sadness over the state of my country, and I honestly didn’t think I […]
November
30
The Story Behind Art of Protest by De Nichols
posted by CBethM
When I was a kid growing up in Mississippi and Tennessee, I learned pretty early about social injustices that exist in the world. I remember defending myself against bullies who did not like me because of my dark skin. I recall watching my favorite TV shows and learning about South African apartheid, police brutality, the […]
November
23
Why History? by Kekla Magoon
posted by CBethM
When I was young, I would probably have told you I don’t like reading non-fiction. I also would have told you I thought history was boring…and then rushed home and devoured my copy Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry or Across Five Aprils. There was such a disconnect in my mind about what history was […]
November
13
Ten Booty-ful books for laughing and learning by Jocelyn Rish
posted by CBethM
Kids like books about butts. And farts. And poop. Actually, most adults like them, too. There’s something about a solid scatological joke that sets off peals of laughter. Heck, even just saying the word toot can trigger the giggles. Because books about backsides produce so much laughter, they are a great way to slip in […]
November
11
Own Your Poop by Mark Pett
posted by CBethM
Were you a weird kid? I certainly was. Hoo boy, I wanted so badly to fit in. I grew up in Salt Lake City, the child of a Lithuanian non-practicing Catholic and a zealous convert to Catholicism. In my grade-school class, it may not surprise you to learn that I was the only Catholic in […]
November
10
Post-Hero YA? Reading Meg Rosoff by Terry Farish
posted by CBethM
Meg Rosoff is Boston born, London based, of Ashkenazi heritage. My path to her is wild and rangy by way of Ursula Le Guin who suggested in her writing that the novel is much more than a hero’s journey. She suggests that the stories of heroes and human triumphs that are the core of the […]
November
06
Ten Books to Support Young Activists by Rochelle Melander
posted by CBethM
When I started a writing program for young people in Milwaukee, I had one goal: to create a space for children and teens to tell their stories. The students I’ve worked with over the years dream of changing the world. They’ve written about how they would do it, from buying back guns to mandating recycling […]
Nerdy Book Club 