Welcome, my friends, to In This Otherwise Lovely Book!
In this blog I will attempt to share any wisdom I may have, or to which I have been happily adjacent, about social justice themes in the media, especially as it relates to parenting.
I will be tagging all of my entries by title of work as well as themes addressed, and by the ages of kids for whom the book/movie etc. discussed is appropriate. Please feel free to let me know any other search tools that would be helpful.
I welcome comments, contributions, and additions. Please note that I will firmly delete any comments that derail this conversation. If you need to debate whether this blog needs to exist, Chad, you can do that somewhere else. :)
Finally, this blog has been inspired and deeply influenced by the tireless and amazing work of Debbie Reese on her brilliant website, American Indians In Children's Literature. Honestly, if you only have time to follow one blog about Children's literature, follow hers; mine can only ever be a shadow in comparison.
I thank you, Ms. Reese, from the bottom of my heart for: your amazing creation; your endless hard work; your kind responses to my questions every time I reached out to you; and for the inspiration that you gave me that helped me dream of, and bring to fruition, this page of my own.
Thank you also to my children, who have endlessly put up with my meddling in their development and my obsession that they be able to see and critique problematic media; to my long-suffering partner, who has allowed me to criticize his favorite movies (#yourfaveisproblematic) at great personal cost :) ; to my dad, who is always happy to read what I write; and to my mom, who teaches me every day me to leave the world better, and more beautiful, than I found it.
- toreyanna
