@cherylklein
I notice things for a living. Editorial director, Workman Kids; author of THE MAGIC WORDS: WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS and five picture books, most recently IT’S HARD TO BE A BABY; 6yo mom; Virgo/goofball. Opinions my own.
Transphobia is a cancer of the heart and mind.
It is a useless fear, based on ignorance and cruelty.
Trans people are not responsible for a single one of the problems we face.
Do the world a favor and grow the fuck up.
I do not! But hi Kelly!
I think this isn't very complicated: when misogynists need to make an argument that women are sub-human half persons, they argue that any kind of sexual attraction to women is a weakness, because otherwise all the heterosexual men might have to worry about what those sub-humans think
There needs to be like 5 "too nice to work" holidays controlled by each state. Like a snow day, you don't get any advance notice. The stations and alerts just put out the message that the next day is too nice to work and everyone is off.
Screenshot from NY Mag feature on how much people make in NYC: "Bronx Day-Care Worker $31,000 $16,600 from day-care profits $14,400 from trainings and consulting Last year, I lost a lot of kids. I live in the Bronx, and a bunch of families in my neighborhood lost their child-care vouchers. We're talking about people who make as much as I do; most of the moms I work with are home health aides. They can't afford full-time child care. If I have 16 kids, I can pay myself for 40 hours of work. But last year, I didn't, and obviously I'm still doing the same amount of work. I've been running the day care out of my home for more than seven years. It's a profession I entered out of necessity and have stayed in out of passion. I pay for everything - food, cleaning supplies, toys - and we have to meet the same requirements as a large company in terms of paying for liability insurance, which can feel pointless in this industry. I mean, if something happens to one of my children, I lose my license. End of story."
Screenshot from NY Mag feature about how much people make in NYC: "Consultant $17,000,000 $9.5 million from consulting fees $7.5 million in stock in companies that went public The big-picture way that I make my money is consulting; that work covers my day-to-day. Separate from that, I had stock in a couple of companies that went public. Because I made money later in life, my tastes and needs are a lot simpler. I don't spend money on things like having multiple homes, or flying private, or watches, or boats. I make enough money that I do what I want and I don't think about it. I also don't believe in leaving my kids a crazy amount of money because everyone I know who has that is fucked up, so why would I do that to them?"
When people in the future ask what America was show them this
(Psst: Wednesday)
Are you a teacher, librarian, caregiver, or citizen of the US? Then you will want this book, which provides a gorgeous, thoughtful introduction to Indigenous history, life, and culture -- a modern heir to the classic THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE. Check it out!
I don’t think Trump and his people are capable of engineering “distractions,” I think the mind-numbing chaos we see every day is straightforwardly the result of giving the dumbest, cruelest, most corrupt, most selfish people of a generation near-unmitigated power
THE KIDS IN MRS. Z'S CLASS
The next two books in the innovative chapter book series created by @katemessner.com are here!
Congrats to @kylelukoff.bsky.social on the release of SEBASTIAN METZGER SOLVES A STICKY SITUATION and @traceybaptiste.bsky.social on the release of FIA HOSEIN FINDS HER BEAT.
I felt like this listening to the new podcast about Stephen Sondheim as a person. Do I WANT to know if he loved reality TV? Can’t some people stay gods?
NO NO NO YOU DON’T
GUYS LET ME PLEASE SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF FREE TAX USA
federal is free, state is $16, handles even my chaotic freelancer taxes just fine, same step-by-step “designed for normies” kind of interface as TurboTax but NOT EVIL
tell everyone you know
www.freetaxusa.com
Really interesting & useful thoughts here
Interesting idea! This is the book’s tenth anniversary….
This #InternationalWomensDay, I'm thinking of the mothers keeping their families together as they flee south Lebanon. I'm thinking of the preteens getting their periods for the first time in Gaza amid blockade. I'm thinking of the 165 Iranian schoolgirls killed in Minab who deserved better from us.
I both love the Looking at Picture Books newsletter because smart people talking about picture books in depth is extremely my jam, & I am annoyed by it because people should not be allowed to be good at that many things
This is WUTHERING HEIGHTS! Narrated by a random guy visiting a lonely house where the housekeeper talks about her employer’s daughter’s love affairs.
One was an accountant and I barely knew him; the other was a children’s literature professor who gave me all his review copies and thus determined the course of my life.
A photograph of some thin green stems in a flowerbed — presumably daffodils or croci — promising spring soon.
Green shoots! Green shoots! After the winter we’ve had here in NYC, just these stems are very heartening.
The asymmetry of the value placed on human life is so striking. Israel has a goal to recover 40-year-old remains; to do so, it invades a sovereign country, and the lives of 26 Lebanese are an afterthought. Their names not even worth printing in the New York Times.
I’m feeling the end of this @theferocity.bsky.social poem on a national level right now. We’re all suffering from white boys being sad once.
That should be EMMA GOLDMAN VS. AMERICA, but I was drinking wine. This feed regrets the error.
A photograph of a hand holding the aforementioned book, with a cover featuring three rows of b&w mugshots of Emma Goldman with various emoji-like graffiti on them.
New book for me: LOUDMOUTH: EMMA GOLDMAN VS. THE UNITED STATES (A LOVE STORY) by @dheiligman.bsky.social. I’ve been fascinated by Emma since seeing RAGTIME in 2024 & teenagers need to know about firebrands like her. Excited to read!
Le editeur, c’est moi
(Pardon my French, literally)
Hear me out, @npr.org... new weekly show featuring authors, editors, agents, publishers, prize judges, fanfic aficionados, TV scouts, and READERS of all kinds. It's called "BookTalk" and you've already got your new host IN STUDIO!
The national suicide being committed by the Republican-led United States has no historical precedent. Centuries from now (if humanity survives that long), historians will struggle to explain how such a thing was possible.
It takes real galaxy brains to mass cancel solar and wind projects and then start a pointless unpopular war that sends oil prices soaring.
This reminds me of a thing I was thinking about a certain type of MG novel: If a kid from now wanted to know more about a mysterious deceased parent, she could just go online! Social media, blogs, forums…. Odds are good she could find WAY more about a millennial mom or dad than she wanted to know.
Fellow Sondheads: the first episode of “Loving You” — the new podcast by two of Sondheim’s friends about the man behind the music — dropped today!
pca.st/episode/f21f...
(Written as a nonfiction book editor who loves historical images and photo research, ALWAYS has a limited art budget, and HATES having to pick and choose what I actually can afford to buy from Getty at $375 a pop.)
Someday I want to write an epic screed against all the stock-photo sites that charge hundreds of dollars for historical images they do not own the copyright in ... but those sites are by far the easiest way to find & access those pictures easily and in high resolution!