You’re so lucky! I’d love to be able to read it again for the first time! 😊

Tonight, my 13yo son dragged me out of bed because his ELA teacher told him about a book called Speak and had I heard of it? Do I have it? Where is it on the bookshelf? 🥹🥰 Tonight, my 13yo son is reading auntie @halseanderson.bsky.social’s book with afterword by @jasonreynolds83.bsky.social

Teachers have back up plans for back up plans for back up plans. I double check my emergency preparedness whenever there's a similar tragedy that makes the headlines. Suffice it to say, it's an area of my professional life that never has the time to gather dust. And that's the problem.

My child was called down to the principal's office today for indelicately calling out racist/homophobic/sexually inappropriate content in an email thread among his fellow middle schoolers.
The at-home consequence is mac'n'cheese, ice cream, and The Martian (with popcorn and cotton candy).

open.substack.com/pub/cmsthoma...

All relationships require investment and work. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and help blaze a path forward that prioritizes this relationship, and I hope you’ll join me.

Now I’m ready to start sharing. What does it mean to love a book? “Love” implies relationship; what is at the heart of the relationship that exists between reader and text?

If you’ve ever heard Ishmael Beah speak, you can imagine this phrase in his thoughtful, meditative tone and you will understand how these words have stuck with me over time. I’ve been a little obsessed over the years, and in my recent absence from Substack, I’ve been piecing together my thoughts.

My copy of A Long Way Gone is in literal pieces held together with tape and a binder clip. A few years ago, standing in line to have it signed by the author, I felt a little weird. But he took it from me and said “Ah! This is a book that has been loved!”
open.substack.com/pub/cmsthoma...

Same!

@CMSThomas
What the Heart Wants: The Books That Don’t Get Returned
Saturday
1:30pm
Build Your Stack Pavilion