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A Lit Life

Latest Podcast Episodes & Posts

The Best Holiday Gift Ever

December 24, 2024 in Restorative Reading & Writing for Wellness
It’s Christmas Eve! A couple of weeks ago, I released my gifting episode: Gifts for Restorative Reading & Writing. It was such a popular episode and everyone LOVED the homemade coupon I created for you to give to a friend and enjoy a...
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Celebrating Family & Food: Challah for Shabbat Tonight with Sara Holly Ackerman and Alona Millgram

December 23, 2024 in Kidlit Love Podcast
On this episode of the KidLit Love podcast, I’m talking with Sara Holly Ackerman and Alona Millgram about their newest picture book: Challah for Shabbat Tonight. This beautiful picture book celebrates Jewish joy and intergenerational love as it follows a girl and her grandmother preparing for Shabbat dinner by baking traditional...
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Follow the Enthusiasm: Shaken with James Preller

December 19, 2024 in Kidlit Love Podcast
On this episode of the KidLit Love podcast, I’m talking with James Preller about his newest middle grade novel: Shaken.  This book is about a girl who has dedicated her whole life to soccer and finds herself with a serious concussion after a play went wrong in the game. The aftermath...
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Here’s What To Do With Your Used Notebooks

December 17, 2024 in Restorative Reading & Writing for Wellness
As we move through December, I find myself alternating between filling my home with holiday spirit and decluttering EVERYTHING as I think about starting fresh in the new year.Can you relate? And while I’ve recently sorted and refreshed my bookshelves, it’s been a long while since I have done the same...
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Getting the Inside Scoop on Still Life with Alex London & Paul O. Zelinsky

December 16, 2024 in Kidlit Love Podcast
On this episode of the KidLit Love podcast, I’m talking with Alex London & Paul O. Zelinsky about their picture book: Still Life.  This delightful book invites readers into the world of art…but that world isn’t always what it seems.  Come listen as we talk about the middle-of-the-night moment that inspired...
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Starting From Within: Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi

December 12, 2024 in Kidlit Love Podcast
On this episode of the KidLit Love podcast, I’m talking with Shifa Saltagi Safadi about her new middle grade novel: Kareem Between.  It’s a coming-of-age novel-in-verse about a Syrian American boy and his struggles, big and small, as he navigates middle school. It’s powerful, it’s emotional, it’s lyrical,  it’s quintessential middle...
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Gifts for Restorative Reading and Writing

December 10, 2024 in Restorative Reading & Writing for Wellness
It’s gifting season and our Inboxes and social feeds are flooded with gift guides and recommendations, often with the same overlapping recommendations.  That’s why I have something different for you! Today, I’m sharing a collection of unique gifts for the reader and writer in your life (and YOU!) who is working...
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Magic and Emotion: The Bakery Dragon with Devin Elle Kurtz

December 9, 2024 in Kidlit Love Podcast
On this episode of the KidLit Love podcast, I’m talking with author and illustrator Devin Elle Kurtz about her debut picture book: The Bakery Dragon. This book will take you on a magical journey with Ember, a tiny dragon with a heart of gold and a taste for treats on a...
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ABOUT

Stephanie

A book-loving, notebook-hoarding bookologist on a mission to change lives one book and one notebook at a time.

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Stephanie's books

Paperweight
Paperweight
by Meg Haston
I read this hauntingly beautiful book on the recommendation of my teenage daughter. She told me it was powerful, told me I wouldn't want to stop reading it...and she was right. Meg Haston invites readers into the mind of Stevie, causing ...
The Gifts of Imperfection
it was amazing
The Gifts of Imperfection
by Brené Brown
I haven't stumbled across anything written by Brene Brown that I did not love and this book is no exception. Written so conversationally as if Brene was literally speaking directly, and only, to me, I could'n help bu be personally moved ...
I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
it was amazing
I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
by Anne Bogel
True to its title, this book was simply delightful. I felt like I was talking with a long-lost friend, a fellow book-lover whose life was just as entangled with the plots, settings and characters of fictional books as they were those in ...
Some Places More Than Others
it was amazing
Some Places More Than Others
by Renée Watson
It was almost like I was reading a book that was written just for me, even though the daily lives and locations of the characters were vastly different. The theme of love, self-worth and family connection was prevalent on each and every ...
Touching Spirit Bear
it was amazing
Touching Spirit Bear
by Ben Mikaelsen
This book shook me to my motherly core. I read this with my 13-year old twins as part of a school assignment and was swept into Cole's story of literally fighting for survival and for love. My children were drawn to Cole's story of survi...

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I’m trying a new reflective writing technique: 100 I’m trying a new reflective writing technique: 100 I statements. Let’s see what appears on the page…

Thanks for the inspiration @xmaslen01 ✏️📓
This book was a gorgeous exploration into love, lo This book was a gorgeous exploration into love, loss, family and the complications among them. Tasked with clearing out her family’s home after both her parents passed, Plum wades through the objects of the home and the emotions of her heart. It’s filled with lyrical writing and an invitation to consider our own roots, our own stuff and our next moves.

#ALitLife
#Memoirs
Surprise! I’m here with a bonus episode to close Surprise!

I’m here with a bonus episode to close out the end of National Library week with a delightful middle grade biography of an important bookish figure: Ursula Nordstrom.

Plus, for the first time ever, I invited an additional guest on to share the book love with me. Come listen!

@mother_goose_librarian
#KidLitLove PODCAST LINK IN BIO!
#ALitLife
#MiddleGrade
A Note From My Nudge Notebook… This week, I was i A Note From My Nudge Notebook…

This week, I was inspired to write a really terrible first draft of a picture book inspired by a conversation with my father and grandfather AND the writing advice from inside this incredible middle grade biography by Nancy Hudgins: BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. Ursula Nordstrom will now stand on my writing shoulders forever.

What acts of inspired action are you taking from the books you’ve read this week?

#NudgeNotebook
Middle grade novels hold a unique kind of magic an Middle grade novels hold a unique kind of magic and Ann Braden unlocks that magic with every novel she writes.

Her newest book is no exception.

HIJACKED BY GOATS is a heartfelt middle grade novel that delicately captures Josie’s inner world and the sheer number of compulsive and overwhelming thoughts that battle for her attention. Officially diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Josie progresses through residential treatment and outpatient therapy as she navigates recovery and a kinder way of treating herself.

Ann delicately captures the challenges Josie faces, the overwhelming thoughts and feelings that won’t let her rest and the brave choices she makes to move through them with the support of new friends, family and knowledgeable professionals.

While every middle grade reader might not be able to relate to Josie directly, they WILL be able to relate to going through something hard, wishing away particular thoughts or feelings or knowing someone who is struggling with their mental health. So will every adult reading this book, too.

This book so beautifully captures the entirety of the human condition and invites every emotion to the table, holding out a hand to those that need it and providing a window of empathy to those that need that, too.

It’s an incredible book and I’m forever grateful for having read it.

@annbradenbooks
#KidLitLove
#ALitLife
#MiddleGrade
#OCD
#Bibliotherapy
This. I know this face. I’ve made this face. I now This. I know this face. I’ve made this face. I now have better words to explain the significance of it and the love it holds. Thank you, Ann. ❤️

HIJACKED BY GOATS by Ann Braden

Coming September 2026
Full review coming soon.
@annbradenbooks
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