🪷Book Junky

Human beings process information through narrative, through story. We think in stories, remember in stories, plan for the future in stories, worry in stories, dream in stories and connect with one another through stories. When we read to children we embody our deeply human birthright as storytellers

Do we really need to explain to people that it is really, REALLY important to read to young children? Like, you, personally, need to read to your child - your voice, your face, your hand gestures, your lap, your arms, your closeness. What kind of parent doesn't know this in their bones?

This is what it is all about for many of the book banners—the ones that still fight to remove books long after universal vouchers are passed and they can take public money to educate their kids how they see fit. “Parental rights” are only meant to apply to those they deem morally fit to have them.

“She asked the powers at NASA to let her add a safeguard to prevent that error in a real flight, and they laughed it off as too unlikely… When an astronaut did make that blooper during the Apollo 8 mission, it caused necessary navigational data to vanish, and they called Hamilton in to get it back.”

I know this isn’t useful but it’s weird how “the president should be coherent” was a Very Important Thing just a few years ago and then suddenly wasn’t.

Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...

Tribal leaders are urging voters to use an official drop box for their ballots as postal delays and late postmarks put votes at risk, especially in rural and tribal communities. When your ballot arrives, fill out the entire ballot and get it to an official drop box early!

Endless corruption.

Random note; since my dad passed away last December, I’ve been handling all of my mom’s mail and accounts. It is incredible. How many scams are aimed at the elderly in this country, including my companies that superficially seem legitimate. Every week her mail is full of this crap.

Four Trump regime schemes were completely dismantled this week. Awesome: www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/newsom-tak...

When they do this, it's not enough to reject the demand. You've got to shove it back in their face, and ask why they never ask Republicans to denounce the racist mass murderer who is their party's top donor and who was given the keys to the federal government to cause mass chaos.

🚨BREAKING: The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a lower court’s block on the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) new rules restricting mail voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Thank you! Folks are finally paying attention to Mississippi! Keep making noise y'all. We can do this! Make them pay attention!

Y’all realize this is happening HERE in the US right? I mean I know Ohio isn’t exotic or politically explosive enough for y’all to use it to bash democrats but this is happening right here in the US...UNDER REPUBLICANS. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/u...

“When we put people in solitary confinement, we create mental illness and we exacerbate mental illness,” says an attorney with the ACLU of Colorado. “What is happening to folks in the jail right now is an acute emergency.”

ANOTHER Black man was found lynched. Demetrius Fleming. Hanged. Roanoke Rapids, NC. At this point, Black, if you must go out alone, get yourself some self-defense lessons and a CCW permit if possible. Too many of us are falling into trees.

Tyson Foods just settled a price-fixing lawsuit and has almost doubled its profits this year compared to last. Its CEO makes $34.5M — 798x more than his median employee. Remember this as it closes plants in Illinois and Utah, laying off 3,200 with little notice.

You cannot appeal to rigorous academic standards and argue for the inclusion of racist pseudoscience, the most fallacious, damaging, and discredited idea of the past 500 years. You might as well teach doctors to recognize the four humors.

The Navy is reportedly getting ready to strip the USS Doris Miller of its title, and may even be renaming it to the USS Donald Trump. The change is just the latest effort from Pete Hegseth to erase the anything deemed “DEI.” Miller is an American hero. His service will not be erased.

Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton coined the term “software engineer.” She directed the Software Engineering Division at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab & led development of the on-board flight software for NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer. She was born #OTD in 1936 & turns 90 today! #WomenInSTEM

"The Ku Klux Klan never dies. They just stop wearing sheets because sheets cost too much." — Thurgood Marshall

Teachers, librarians, & homeschoolers! I'm offering a virtual author-in-residence program for the 2026-27 school year with on-demand writing workshops as well as a live Zoom visit with Q&A from readers. Learn more & sign up here! katemessner.com/kates-virtua...

“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...

Please don't let the people of Puerto Rico get lost in the noise. Keep talking about this. www.reuters.com/pictures/pue...

EXCLUSIVE: Family members share with MeidasTouch that women aboard the USS Boxer have been “begging” for extra pads and tampons as basic feminine hygiene supplies run out at sea.

Two Black mayors took cities that the country loves to write off and made them measurably safer. That’s not a fluke. That’s a blueprint. Chicago and Baltimore just posted numbers that should be front-page news. They’re not. We need to talk about why. 🧵 www.theroot.com/opinion-blac...

Ossoff on Mike Collins: "What he's saying to the people of Georgia is after cutting their healthcare, throwing 300k of them off their health insurance, doubling health insurance premiums for more than 1 mil Georgians, he's then going to take their tax dollars and pay it out to violent criminals."

Sen. @ossoff.senate.gov on Navy sailors trying to jump ship due to horrific conditions: “We have to step back & recognize this entire war is based on lies... Iran still has uranium. Hormuz remains closed. A catastrophic failure by the commander in chief + his team.” (Follow: @acyn.bsky.social )

This is the reality of what's happening on the ground but the MSM, stock market, & administration seem determined to convince folks otherwise. This is 1 of the main reasons I've been pushing #StayReadyCrew to ignore the noise & keep planing/building your stash. www.usatoday.com/story/grocer...

The president is refusing to spend taxpayer money assisting Americans suffering from natural disasters solely because their states didn't vote for him. I know there are a thousand scandals at the moment, but this one deserves some more oxygen at every level.

I’m gonna need this on a mug, a t- shirt, and embroidered on a pillow. Or maybe a tattoo…

Last year they cut librarian jobs. Now the Grossmont Union High School Board is adding millions to the athletics budget www.kpbs.org/news/educati...

And they steal your tax money to pay themselves for it, too, thanks to voucher schemes! I feel so hard for this young generation. Books stolen from them. Education stolen from them. Vaccines stolen from them. Public spaces stolen from them. PLUS they have to interact with peers raised with this.

i've been covering national security for decades, on and off. i've never heard of anything like this. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

They really are the Gestapo, and they just keep escalating their use of force. The Department of Homeland Security is now moving to equip ICE officers with gloves capable of delivering electrical shocks.

Trump said a lot of crazy stuff yesterday about vaccines. None of it is backed by science. Vaccines are safe and effective, and decades of evidence underpin that. If you’re confused about how Trump’s actions could impact you and your family, see the article below.

Don’t let this get lost in the noise. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

I wasn’t joking when I told you she’s a trail blazer. Here’s the story from when she retired. Now you know why they asked her to come back & kick some TX GOP ass😂❤️💪🏾😤 kfdm.com/news/local/t...

The so-called president of the United States is a massive money launderer and cut off by the bank that discovered it. Yet the story barely registers with the legacy media. What a disgrace.

Librarians and Booksellers Will Be Arrested For Doing Their Jobs in Arkansas bookriot.com/arkansas-act...

Re-sharing this banned books resource center from my publishers at @mackidsbooks.bsky.social and the rest of the Macmillan team. Scroll down for lots of ways you can get involved and protect our #FreedomToRead.