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Picture books with a mission: Little Netta takes on the world By Laura Anne Bird What child doesn’t love a picture book? They’ve got everything: delightful illustrations, catchy rhymes, and imperative messages about what it means to be both a kid and a human being. Sometimes, picture books go a step further and serve as a tool for social justice—which is why Little Netta’s Gift, written by Mike Brown and illustrated by Selim Nurudeen, caught my eye. Little Netta’s Gift is a charming story about a six-year-old who, following Christmas and her birthday, sends party guests home with all the gifts she’s just [...]

Godspeed: A bone-chilling novel set in the hot springs of Wyoming By Laura Anne Bird I didn’t think it was possible for me to fall for a novel about construction—yes, construction—but I did, and deeply, because Nickolas Butler has worked some serious literary magic with his fifth book, Godspeed. Godspeed is the harrowing and searingly beautiful story of Cole, Bart, and Teddy of True Triangle Construction. With a harsh winter looming, the three business partners and longtime friends find themselves in a race against the clock to finish a multi-million-dollar house nestled next to a hot spring in the mountains [...]

On learning a first language and discovering 19th-century Brit lit By Laura Anne Bird Cracking open Teaching English to Refugees, a mind-bending volume of philosophy, theology, and social justice, made me feel like I was in college again. I deeply appreciated this nod to my academically stimulating past, so it’s no surprise that I’d fallen in love by Chapter 2. In his quirky hybrid memoir, Robert Radin shares his experience of teaching adult refugees from far-flung, war-torn places like Iraq and Somalia. He writes beautifully about defying his students’ expectations of what “should” happen in the classroom by, among other [...]