Tootfinder

Something I do when reading to my kids that I hope helps a bit with all of the patriarchy in children's literature is to randomize the genders of the characters, including the occasional non-binary options and various neopronouns, and sometimes swapping mid-story (especially when there's a metamorphosis, like in "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"). There are so many things that are asymmetrically distributed between genders in books for babies and children, but if you randomize the genders, you can blunt that (I hope).
#parenting #patriarchy #gender

Just finished reading "The Language of Spells" by Garrett Weyr with illustrations by Katie Harnett. An *excellent* book, not high fantasy but instead a tale of an ordinary kid who happens to get caught up in some extraordinary business when she makes a friend.
I absolutely love the parenting example that the book sets, the ways it deals with grief, its unique conception of magic (and of dragons), and its steadfast commitment to the personal over the epic perspective.
Meets and exceeds the "will I recommend it to my kids" bar that quite a few things I've read recently have failed to clear.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon