MMGM and #IMWAYR: Books and bookstores galore!

Hi everyone! It's been so long since I've posted, since I haven't really been reading much. Instead, I've been doing the following:

• Graduating from grad school
• Applying to jobs
• Stressing
• More stressing
• LOTS OF STRESSING
• Becoming increasingly interested in architecture
• Becoming re-interested in Taylor Swift (she's so good)
• Listening to the new Frankie Cosmos album
• Going to the movies (see the end of this post)
• Taking a trip to Boston with my dad!

That last bullet deserves expanding upon! Much of my family history took place in Boston, and I was born there, though we moved across the United States when I was a toddler and have stayed put since. Because of things that are kind of complicated to explain and therefore I'm not going to, I haven't taken a plane trip or left my current U.S. state since I was 5. As you can imagine, I am definitely now older than 5, so finally taking a plane trip across the country was a big deal! It was also immensely fun. We went to three art museums, and wandered around the city, and visited the places where my parents used to live!

We also visited bookstores. Apparently, the Boston area has about FORTY independent bookstores. FORTY!!!!! That's unhinged. It is like pulling teeth to find indie bookstores in my area. In Boston, there's so many that there is a bookstore tour to catch all 21 in Boston itself...and another tour to catch the 19 that are north of Boston. We literally drove by indie bookstores that we didn't even have time to visit. And there are indie bookstores that are topic-specific, like Lovestruck Books that is focused on romances. (That was actually the one we drove by but didn't visit.) Is this a normal city thing? Or just an old city thing? Or just a Boston thing? Y'all will have to tell me, because I know it's not a thing in my urban area. Barnes & Noble has an iron grip on these parts.

While we didn't visit forty bookstores during our trip (which was perhaps a skill issue, but what can you do), we did visit two, one of which we visited twice because we love it so much. I'll show you that one first!

Brookline Booksmith

Brookline, MA

https://brooklinebooksmith.com/

DOES THIS PLACE SPEAK FOR ITSELF OR WHAT. I used to say BookPeople in Austin, TX was my favorite bookstore, but I think Brookline Booksmith is at least tied.

Brookline Booksmith is much smaller than BookPeople, but it has such amazing curation for such a tiny store. They had comics from small publishers that I had never seen before, including one that I share later in this post! They also had a display table highlighting publishers who lost grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (thanks to our horrible president), with the hope of driving sales for these companies. And they have a lovely manifesto out front:

If written works are made of trees, does it complete the cycle to have a tree made of written works?

This is the stairwell to the basement, where the "Used Book Cellar" (get it? bookseller? book cellar?) resides:

And this is a newer side of the store that houses more ridiculously cute and fun gifts than most boutiques where that's all they sell:

Look at the fruit:

The vibes in this store are immaculate. As much as I love BookPeople in Austin's homespun aesthetic, the fairy lights, typewriter-styled signs, and aesthetically pleasing displays at Brookline Booksmith make for an experience that is as fashionable as it is profound. We visited this store at the beginning of our trip, right after we landed, and then again at the end, bookending our adventures (get it?) before getting on the plane the next morning.

I'm going to need to start a countdown of the days till I can go back to this place. Except I don't know when I'm going to Boston again, so maybe it will be a count-up of all the days I've been deprived of this bookstore, until my return.

May I remind you that this perfect store is one of FORTY bookstores in the Boston area. I don't even know why you'd need any others, to be honest, and yet there are more! Like this one:

Harvard Book Store

Cambridge, MA

https://www.harvard.com/

This store is across the street from Harvard University (though it is technically unaffiliated with the school). I didn't love it as much as Brookline Booksmith, but it's still pretty cool. Take a look:

It has ladders. And a downstairs zone for used books (like Brookline Booksmith). I also love this emergency exit door that doubles as a "currently reading" list for the booksellers:

And this emergency exit door is also pretty legit:

All right! So that's bookstores. Now I'd like to share a few books with you! One of them was a find from Brookline Booksmith that I started while out of town, but the rest are things I read at home, before or after the trip. Let's talk about them!

The Magic Fish

Written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen

Middle grade/young adult · Graphic novel · 2020 · Re-review

Add it on Goodreads · Learn more and preview the illustrations

· · · The publisher says: · · ·

Tiến loves his family and his friends…but Tiến has a secret he's been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together.

Real life isn't a fairytale.

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through?

Is there a way to tell them he's gay?

A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that’s accessible for readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings.

· · · · · ·

I got to share this graphic novel with a few other people recently, and it remains my favorite graphic novel of all time. (And I've read 159 graphic novels and counting, so that's far from faint praise!)

I read this book right when it released in 2020, and wrote an extremely long review that I won't be linking to because I'm afraid I may have filled it with spoilers and I'm too nervous to check. Regardless, I'm not going to write another full review here, but I will share a couple things.

The Magic Fish is kind of like a multi-POV graphic novel. (Though you'll never have to worry about getting the perspectives confused.) The core perspective is that of our real-world characters, Tiến and his mother Helen, whose deep bond with one another sustains both of them, despite the challenges they are living through (with Tiến being afraid to come out of the closet, and Helen feeling stuck between two worlds as a Vietnamese-American immigrant).

The other perspectives in the story are three very different fairy tales, told one after another within the story. The book flows seamlessly between the fairy tales and Tiến and Helen's lives, drawing thematic and even visual parallels between both universes. We talk about seeing ourselves in stories, but in The Magic Fish, we see the characters see themselves in stories. We're reading about people reading about people. It's very meta, and it's executed mind-blowingly well.

In moments, The Magic Fish is heartbreaking. In other moments, it is so deeply warm and compassionate. It is mature and complex enough that grown adults will be thinking about it for a long time, yet the story's structure is straightforward enough to be accessible for young readers.

I found this absolutely amazing interview with the book's creator, Trung Le Nguyen. It is spoiler-free and includes panels from the story, and I think it's a much better way to learn about this book than listening to me drone on and on. I highly suggest checking it out if you're on the fence about this book.

I remain baffled why this book is not more popular and has not won more awards. There is nothing like it, not before, and not since. It is a truly original and affecting story, and I think anyone who wants to read good books or tries to maintain a birds' eye view of the kidlit universe should check it out.

Belly Full of Heart

Written and illustrated by Madeline Mouse

Adult (NOT KIDLIT) · Comic book · 2024

Add it on Goodreads · Preview the illustrations

· · · The publisher says: · · ·

A comic book ode to ooey-gooey homosexual lovers of the past, present, and future.

Like the rush of eating dessert before dinner or the tantalizing allure of itching a mosquito bite, Belly Full of Heart is a quick punch to the gut (romantically). Filled with illustrated vignettes of those moments where time slows and nothing exists except you and them, this collection covers topics such as being held, staying held, and squeezing the ones you love really hard. Read it beneath the blankets or gift it to the person who makes your heart pound.

· · · · · ·

This is a really short comic book (40 pages) all about queer love. Madeline Mouse includes many short comics (around 2 pages each), illustrated with gorgeous, colorful watercolor-and-line art, that zero in on the perfect minutiae of day-to-day life with a partner. One comic is about swimming together in a lake. Another is about a couple’s shared possessions. Another is about a pickup truck in love with another pickup truck (yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds). Another is about insisting that your partner eat the last strawberry.

This book is really quite wonderful. I wouldn’t have found it were it not for Brookline Booksmith. I love that Mouse created an entire book dedicated to the joy, hope, and contentment that romance can bring. I feel like there are a million and one ways to have toxic or unloving relationships, but this book feels like a reminder of what love and romance should be.

One thing: THIS BOOK IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR KIDS and is not marketed as such, due to suggestive themes.

Anything

Written by Rebecca Stead and illustrated by Gracey Zhang

Picture book · 2025

Add it on Goodreads · Preview the illustrations

· · · The publisher says: · · ·

Newbery Medalist Rebecca Stead’s first picture book is a transporting tale about the power of an honest wish, the courage to speak it out loud, and the imagination to bring it to life.

What’s more powerful than a secret wish? A wish you say out loud.

Anything paints a tender picture of a father and daughter moving into a new home. Dad brings a birthday cake for the new apartment to celebrate their new beginning and tells his daughter she can wish for anything (or, more precisely, “three Anythings”). Over the course of the day, she wishes for some of her favorite things, including a rainbow and “the biggest slice of pizza in the whole world."

But she keeps some of her wishes inside. Because what she really wants is to go back home to their old apartment, with its big blue bathtub and space in the closet for hide-and-seek. When she finally admits this last wish, her dad takes her on a journey, and by the book’s final pages, she is home . . . in every way that matters.

Pairing an enchanting story from Rebecca Stead (author of the Newbery Medal-winning When You Reach Me) with delightful artwork from Gracey Zhang (illustrator of the Caldecott Honor-winning Noodles on a Bicycle), Anything is pure magic. A story that will resonate with every young reader, it is a powerful reminder that sometimes making a wish is a way of telling ourselves we're ready for something new.

· · · · · ·

Rebecca Stead is my favorite author, and this is her debut picture book. It’s unsurprisingly wonderful.

I think this is the kind of picture book that parents and kids will adore, and that kids will ask their parents to read to them again and again. Stead has always had a knack for capturing both what it’s like to be a kid and what it’s like to have a loving (yet human) parent. She does so here, just in less words than in her MG novels. I hope kids will see themselves in our unnamed protagonist, and see their parents in her deeply sweet father.

I wasn’t familiar with Gracey Zhang’s illustrations before, but she is an award-winning author-illustrator of two picture books and illustrator of five more, so she knows what she’s doing. Her art is timeless. It reminds me of classic picture books in its simplicity, with a limited primary color palette and plenty of white space, and in its inclusion of delightful, silly details that kids will love pointing out. (There are a few pages I’m obsessed with now, and I know I’d have been even more obsessed with them as a kid.) She has absolutely nailed the art in this book.

Please read this?! There’s like no reason not to.

One more thing:

On Sunday, my dad and I went to the movies to see Elio, the new Pixar movie, and I LOVED IT. Elio is such a delightful, lovable protagonist, and the story’s themes of loneliness and finding your people really resonated with me. I think it’s the best Disney-or-Pixar movie I’ve seen since Encanto, which came out four years ago.

Elio had the worst box office opening of any Pixar movie ever, and while I know that Pixar and Disney don’t need our money (they’re fine), I do encourage you if you feel like it to visit your theater and see this movie! There’s always pressure on companies like Pixar to make less original stories and more sequels and remakes because those do better at the box office, and I think it’s important for us to celebrate original stories when we have the means to do so, so companies keep making them!

Heads-up: there are a couple scenes in Elio that may be a tiny bit scary for little kids, so you might Google those if you plan on bringing any kiddos with you.

One more thing after the one more thing:

I'm back to hosting monthly Kidlit Lovers' Meetups, so don't forget to sign up for the mailing list if you want to get on Zoom with us and talk about kids' books and other fun stuff! I'll be sending a survey out soon to schedule the meetup in July!

That's all, y'all — take care! ✨✨