Five Things to Tell You Vol. 17
Delightful recent reads, fun things online, and all the April book releases!
Well, hello there! So happy to see you today! Settle in with your favorite snack and let’s dive in …
My reading has been all over the place lately ~ Icelandic cattle farming, nonfiction about homelessness (those recs coming soon!), light audiobooks ~ I covered a lot. Here are two of my recent reads that I wholeheartedly recommend:
Read Red Dog Farm by Nathanial Ian Miller if you love to read about rural life and farming, appreciate earnest stories of younger adults finding their way, and want to know as much as you can about Iceland. I deeply loved this novel.
Read Back After This by Linda Holmes if you love the world of audio production, want a dog in every story, and appreciate more mature characters in your romance novels. This was such a treat on audio, with the author actually narrating it!
Recently I had the pleasure and honor of attending TWO events at the main theater of a local university.
First was a trip with our entire 7th grade to listen to a Holocaust survivor, Peter Feigl, speak about his experiences and lessons for youth today. He is 96 years old, and I feel oh so very fortunate to have been able to witness his stories and message. You can watch the livestream of his speech and see his diary here.
And then last Saturday, I attended the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour with my sister, niece, and two of my friends. We’re all educators and laughed so hard the entire 2+ hours of the show. I know non-educators can attend, but I can’t imagine it would be nearly as funny! If you work in public education and this tour has a stop near you - GO.
I talked a lot about middle schoolers last Saturday, and guess what?! Still a thing! My AP sent this to us recently and I was so proud of myself for actually knowing almost of these already. If you’re not steeped in the teens yourself, check out the We Are Teachers 2025 list of teen slang to catch up before these all become sooooooo cringe. but really, bffr, if adults are publishing them in newsletters, they probably already are.
Want a creative distraction that will keep you from doomscrolling news or social media on your phone? I love popping onto Quick, Draw with Google to try my hand at a few sketches every now and then.
I also love showing this to students and letting them use smart pens to really get into it. Yes, it’s helping train AI, but it’s also a fun way to get the creative juices flowing. Best on a phone or tablet.
And finally …. well, HELLO THERE, April releases! There are so many new books I am excited to dig into soon (remember, this is my favorite book release season!) ~ I hope you find a few to put on hold or pre-order as well.
I did actually read ahead a tiny bit, and LOVED both Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones (my review) and Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (my review)!
You can just tap on the image above or click through here to see all of the titles over on Bookshop!
Remember, this is not a list of ALL the books releasing in April 2025, just a list I spent hours and hours curating over the last six months of the books I personally am excited about.
Want some new releases that are already on shelves? Take a look at my past months’ release lists!
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡
Thanks for stopping by!
I am ALWAYS here for Nathaniel Ian Miller content. That book was so beautiful! I thoroughly enjoyed Linda's novel, too- dare I say, it was my favorite from her? I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, my friend!
I think you may have been the one to remind me to prioritize Red Dog Farm, Amy! THANK YOU! I think that this was my favorite of Holmes' too - so many layers and I was so happy that it didn't focus on the dates, but instead the relationships and professional life. As for the weekend, I sure am! Same to you :-)