Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Harold Underdown

@hunderdown.bsky.social

2.7K followers 250 following 1.8K posts

I'm a children's book editor, teacher and workshop presenter, owner of The Purple Crayon website -- www.underdown.org I post about #kidlit, but I do have opinions about other things and will share them as well.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 24d

I'm excited to announce "Publishing Trends, Market Shifts, & Opportunities" is now open for sign-ups! Yes, what's happening now in #kidlit, but *also* how to follow trends yourself and decide how to respond. October. 14 and 16, $59, will be recorded.

www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshop/pub...

Publishing Trends, Market Shifts & Opportunities: A Two-Night Mini - Highlights Foundation

www.highlightsfoundation.org

6 14 14

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Chris H @chris-bh.bsky.social · 14h

#HillfortsWednesday
Between 1795-1816 the hillforts of #Dorset were part of a chain of visual shutter relay telegraph stations for the Admiralty connecting Plymouth to London. The chain included the high Hillforts of Lewesdon, Bulbarrow and Hambledon and at the racetrack by Badbury Rings
1/14

2 9 10

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 47m

In NYC, it's Houston Street.

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Maia Kobabe @redgoldsparks.bsky.social · 3h

It's Banned Books Week. If you are an author, please join @authorsabb.bsky.social! If you work in the publishing industry, please join @pubprosabb.bsky.social! Canadian authors, you can now join Canadian Authors & Illustrators Against Book bans: linktr.ee/caiabb. Working together feels good! 📚✍️👏

The black and white cover of a zine titled Do you make books? Yes? I want YOU to join Authors Against Book Bans! By Maia Kobabe. The image shows author Maia Kobabe holding a stack of books and pointing at the reader

WHAT IS AABB?
A coalition of writers, illustrators, editors & other book creators, standing united against the unconstitutional movement to limit the freedom to read. We support the availability of diverse voices in our libraries, in our schools, & in our culture. We pledge to band together against the oppression of literature, to speak when our voices are silenced, to go where our bodies are needed, & to fight to ensure this freedom.

Our concern is not only for the books, but for the children, families, educators,
librarians, & communities who suffer when the freedom to read is challenged and taken away.

WHAT CAN AABB OFFER YOU?
- Regional groups working on legislation to protect authors & the freedom to read state-by-state
- Online trainings on digital security, public speaking, & how to counter book challenges in your community
-Affinity groups for BIPOC authors, queer authors, authors with disabilities, indie, nonfiction, romance writers & more
-Support if your book is challenged or your school visit is canceled!
-A very active discord community

Maia: I’ve been facing intense challenges to my book since 2021. Knowing that I am not alone in the fight against censorship is what keeps my spirits up!

Watching the folks in AABB share information, co-write legislation, show up to library & school board meetings, & speak up to publishers about the need to protect diverse books & minority authors has been amazing!

This is a weird & scary time to be an author, but you are not alone! Join thousands of us fighting for the freedom to read, the freedom to write, the freedom to teach, the freedom to learn, & the freedom to share our stories!
-Maia Kobabe, 2025

43 74

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 9d

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶

🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈

#FollowTheRainbow

240 2K 5K

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 2h

So, that video clip is from 2019. Is that when he said that, or did he say that in 2025? Thanks.

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

Pritzker: "It's unconscionable. This has never happened before. They're calling out troops onto the streets of a state that doesn't want them and they're not even telling us where they're gonna go, what they're gonna do. This hasn't happened I don't think since the Civil War."

590 6.6K 19K

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Cheryl B. Klein @cherylklein.bsky.social · 4h

Many years ago I wrote on Twitter that I wanted to publish a MG novel about scoliosis (which I wore a brace for from ages 10-16). @katemckean.bsky.social said “I rep a manuscript for that!”, she sent it to me & I bought it, & it became BRACED, the debut by now-bestselling author Alyson Gerber.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 18h

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

1 2 16

Reposted by Harold Underdown

KidLitGN @kidlitgn.bsky.social · 4h

#Agents, #editors & #publishers we have SO MANY kids-YA graphic novel pitches at kidlitgn.com! Reply to any pitch you want to see with your sub guidelines, or add your guidelines here: kidlitgn.com/submission-d... #KidLitGN's 2025 pitch event ends Oct. 31 #pitchevent #kidlit

KidLitGN – Hosting Pitch Events For Creators of Kids through YA Graphic Novels

kidlitgn.com

7 11

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Johnson: "He has defunded our education system. He has defunded our transportation system. He's firing black women across this country. He's defunding our healthcare system. This president is absolutely out of control... Chicago is going to stand firm in protecting humanity."

350 5.5K 19K

Reposted by Harold Underdown

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 9h

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

110 880 2.1K

Reposted by Harold Underdown

skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 23h

Today's big story. Today's reminder that yes, state library associations *can* do something.

South Carolina school librarians have been fighting incredibly hard against the censorship bring brought across the state by their Education Superintendent and not being seen for it.

skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 1d

**NEW**

Today, the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school students and school librarians. They're challenging the constitutionality of the state's book banning law and a memo outlining the state's content censorship policy.

bookriot.com/aclu-sc-laws...

Image of lady justice beside a stack of books.

10 42

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Kelly Barnhill @kellybarnhill.bsky.social · 8h

It really is

Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 9h

This @clarajeffery.bsky.social column is really worth your time.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

It’s time for soft secession

How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California.

www.motherjones.com

3 9

Reposted by Harold Underdown

The Horn Book @thehornbook.bsky.social · 8h

#Nonfiction #HBReviewoftheWeek BE THE LIGHT: HOW SHE BECAME ANGELA DAVIS by Daria Peoples (Greenwillow Books/@harperkids.bsky.social): sbee.link/n7uc64er9x

Review of Be the Light: How She Became Angela Davis

This picture-book biography of the educator and “passionate activist for equality and justice for all” emphasizes how the events of Davis’s (b. 1944)...

sbee.link

1 1 1

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 11h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule

He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.

newrepublic.com

130 1.3K 3.3K

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 9h

Fascinating story about the Nobel prize in chemistry. Had you heard of MOFs before? I hadn't.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Nobel prize in chemistry awarded to scientists for work on porous materials

Trio honoured for developing revolutionary materials for applications ranging from gas storage to drug delivery

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Judy Goldman @judygoldman.bsky.social · 23h

My agent stepped away from agenting and I’m looking for a new one open to repping my picture books and middle grade mss. Set in Mexico, where I’m from, they are filled with the wonder of my country, its traditions, and its people. #SearchingForAnAgent

1 2 7

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 23h

Despite what some adults seem to think, teenagers are fully human.

5 30

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 1d

It is indeed.

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Kelly Barnhill @kellybarnhill.bsky.social · 1d

It is a very good day when Curtis Yarvin has an attack of the Sads.

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 2d

Panicked Curtis Yarvin—JD Vance's neo-fascist guru—plans to Flee USA.

“I feel that I personally have to start thinking realistically about how to flee the country.”

www.thenerdreich.com/panicked-cur...

Panicked Curtis Yarvin—JD Vance's guru—plans to flee USA

‘I feel that I personally have to start thinking realistically about how to flee the country.’

www.thenerdreich.com

5 4 28

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Rachel Bitecofer @rachelbitecofer.bsky.social · 1d

Country legend Zach Bryan has released a song that puts country over his own bank account.

The backlash from country fans will be massive- they’ll force him off country radio like they did to the Dixie Chicks but he doesn’t need radio access anymore

American hero 🇺🇸

250 1.5K 6.6K

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

Under the Third Reich, most Germans generally lived in the law-bound normative state, while Jews and other disfavored people were victims of the arbitrary and violent prerogative state.

The dual state is characterized by the facade of normalcy obscuring the fact of an authoritarian state.

The “dual state” theory was invented to describe Nazis. The Supreme Court could take us there.

Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.

www.motherjones.com

30 280 630

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 1d

And though I came to forget or regret all I have ever done, yet I would remember that once I saw the dragons aloft on the wind at sunset above the western isles; and I would be content.

6 28

Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 1d

Zohran and his team are getting ready.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Opinion | ‘They’re Not Avoiding the Things They Don’t Know’

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 1d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 2d

140 2.8K 8.6K

Reposted by Harold Underdown

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 1d

See that small, moving splotch?

That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS

last Friday

10 160 550