The kids’ graphic novel book club I started last fall is still going strong, with about 4-7 kids attending each month. This month we read Lucky Scramble by Peter Raymundo, about a kid named Tyler who goes to a Rubik’s cube competition. Our icebreaker question was “What’s your favorite kind of puzzle?” and a lot of the kids said “Rubik’s cube,” even though none of us could solve one. (I said word puzzles, like wordle, and it turns out all of the kids also do the NYT puzzles!)
We discussed the different characters and storylines, what we expected and what surprised us, parental pressure, and attitudes toward competition and winning. We each had a copy of the book for reference, and the kids are so good about citing page numbers so we can all be on the same page, literally.
I asked them what they thought they could do in six seconds – the length of time champion speed-cubers can solve a 3×3 – and that turned into “What can you draw in six seconds?” So we moved over to the tables, got paper and pencils, and tried it! Turns out, not much – but after having only six seconds to draw something, a minute feels like a long time! So we did a one-minute drawing, a two-minute drawing, and finally a five-minute drawing (during which one of the kids turned out a staggeringly impressive dragon drawing).
Last, the kids voted on which book to read next. The choices were Curveball by Pablo Cartaya, Pebble & Wren by Chris Hallbeck, and Puzzled by Pan Cooke. The first two got one vote each and Puzzled got two votes, so that will be our February book – but all three books got checked out. It was a good afternoon!
WeNeedDiverseBooks: 189. Less than last year both in terms of numbers and percentage of the total, though I do suspect myself of undercounting/tagging.
I wish I remember where I heard about Once Upon A Time We Ate Animals: The Future of Food by Roanne Van Voorst, but I requested it mainly based on the intriguing title (I love speculative fiction – and nonfiction). Van Voorst is a “futures anthropologist” and her premise for this book is that we are currently in the middle of a shift from “carnism” (eating meat and animal products) toward vegetarianism and veganism. The book is nonfiction, but spliced in are short fiction pieces set in the future, looking back on a past in which (many) humans ate animals. Whether you’re an omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, or other, this is a fascinating book, and will make you think differently about the way you eat – no matter which way that is currently.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life was published in 2007, but I didn’t get around to reading it until 2022. It is a year in the life of the Kingsolver family at their homestead, where they’ve committed to eating only what they can grow or source locally for one year. There are many good reasons to eat local, from climate to animal welfare to supporting the community you live in, though you don’t need to devote your life to growing all your own food and raising chickens (unless you want to!). There are farmers’ markets and CSA shares and local groceries in a lot of places – other places, unfortunately, are food deserts, and there’s plenty of advocacy to be done there – and when you eat foods that are in season, they taste better too. (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle also includes recipes.)
Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food by Chris van Tulleken draws the reader’s attention to how much of the “food” we eat isn’t really food at all (as the subtitle indicates). Van Tulleken introduces the NOVA framework for classifying foods, from (1) unprocessed/minimally processed to (2) processed culinary ingredients (e.g. butter) to (3) processed food (e.g. canned beans) to (4) ultra-processed food (e.g. Coke, Doritos). One of the shocking pieces of information in this book was that the FDA does not regulate foods, or the ingredients that go into foods, anywhere near as much as you might imagine; there are giant loopholes for additives; companies can just say that various chemicals are safe without having any real scientific evidence to back that up.
This Monday was the one-year anniversary of the 
Endlessly Ever After has become a mandatory staple since last December; it’s the book we always end with, but it’s different every time because of its pick-your-path nature. (Our storytime group is beyond excited that there is going to be another one in, I think, 2026? Laurel and Dan, if you need beta readers, we are at your service.)
As you can see, we lean toward bedtime books and fairy tales, including fractured fairy tales. I can already tell All at Once Upon A Time is going to be a repeat read; it goes so well with Endlessly, and the kids – and grown-ups! – who come to Pajama Storytime are old enough to understand and enjoy the humor. That’s something I love about Pajama Storytime: I get to read some wonderful books that are simply too long or complex for my morning storytime, which is mostly toddlers. There are great picture books for that age, too, and I love them, but Pajama Storytime lets me share more books with a different audience.
But then – I forget where, and I’m sorry because I’d love to give credit for this – I heard about a “My First Book Club” program at another library, and I decided to give it a try. We had our first meeting in July; I was thinking that people might have a bit more free time in the summer, and it could also help rising kindergarteners meet each other and get used to a semi-formal aducational environment if they hadn’t already been in a preschool program.
For “My First Book Club,” there is no need to read the book(s) ahead of time; I request enough copies for everyone to follow along as we read together. In July we read Meet Yasmin by Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Hatem Ali, and the Geisel award-winning See the Cat: Three Stories About A Dog by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka. I asked the kids to make some predictions, observations, and ask and answer questions about the story; then we decorated bookmarks with a flower pattern like Yasmin.
Here’s the “I Heart Back Matter” part of this post: Back matter is the stuff you find at the end of the book, after the story. It’s more common in nonfiction (think glossary, sources, index), but a lot of picture books, early readers, and especially graphic novels also throw in a little bonus content: a recipe, an art project, step-by-step instructions for how to draw the main character. This is where I got the model for Yasmin’s flower-patterned bookmark. (More on back matter later.)
In August we read Fox and Chick: The Party and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier and What About Worms?! by Ryan T. Higgins, and colored some What About Worms?! 
Finally, a perk of coming to the first meeting: the kids got to vote on what they wanted to read next. I pulled three books from our collection: Bedhead Ted, Things in the Basement, and Witches of Brooklyn. Witches of Brooklyn won the vote, so that will be October’s book!
Jenny Arch 